My kids attended Catholic schools, we learned that traffic was always better when the kids had a set time for a 'performance' of some sort.

Does the school have a music, drama or art program? When a child performs (or shows their art) at least one parent will have to bring him/her to the venue and stay to watch.. (Often grandparents will also want to see their grandchild).

For our Carnivals, the beer booth was always a draw....probably not an option for you.

ML

I would not have anything attached to kids bringing an adult. As a child, my parents would never attend something like that and I was always acutely aware of it and cannot count the number of times I missed out on "incentives" due to this. Good luck, I certainly do not envy those who organize such events.

Sounds like you have everything you need for a successful fund raiser.
My objection to some of the more recent ones I have attended was that they were heavy into the jewelry. Years ago I went to one from a Catholic school that had such a nice variety that I was able to ice up multiple Christmas gifts.
My only suggestion: Unless I have missed it in all the bazaars that I have attended, is a floor plan of the vendors.
For example, each year I go to one at a country club because there is a woman who sells toffee that my DH likes. It would be nice to know ahead of time if she is going to be there and where her table is.

The more you can layout in wide hallways, the better. Rooms with doors can be bottle necks. I think a map for attendees, including potties, would be very helpful. I think you need a draw, so having any of the vendors or other volunteers hold classes of crafts, especially holiday oriented, would be helpful...floral arranging, beading, making ornaments, gift wrapping, bow tying, cookie baking, whatever. Is there any way you can connect it with holiday decor? Have kids decorate trees for ribbons? How about themed trees for different classes...history, math, English...

Take a hint from retailers...make people walk the maze so they have to go by all vendors, then have the food stands at the back....

Set up an event on Facebook and ask all the parents to join and invite their friends. Also, look into advertising on websites for local free and low cost events. In San Francisco, we have a website called sf.funcheap.com. DH and I use it often to find things to do. It gets something like 40,000 hits a week. Maybe Columbus has something similar.
Good luck!

When my women's club participated in a similar event, every vendor was asked to donate one item and they made up gift baskets with the items. Then they sold raffle tickets for the gift baskets.

Good luck with it.

Thanks everyone for your input. My kids all went to catholic schools until this last one! He's escaped as his older brothers say, and I jokingly say he's gone over to the dark sideâ¦needless to say, parent response in the parochial vs. public schools to PTO fundraising is night and day.

As I'm quickly finding out, filling all the different sub chair positions with parents is like pulling teeth. I'm about ready to bail myself.

We do collect an item from each vendor and sell raffle tickets and raffle off the items. I do think a layout of all the vendor booths would be very helpful, so will look into doing that.

I also may send out an email to all the vendors and find out if any might be interested in doing a craft demonstration. This is a high school, so while there is a choir/band not sure if that would be a draw or not.

I probably am feeling what many parents of high schoolers do and that is by the time they get to high school you're tired of volunteering and chairing events!

Carol, just a thought. The high school in our town does a house tour as it's fund raiser.
Not sure if this is easier than your bazaar.

We also do the house tour fund raiser and it takes a lot more work, volunteers and time than a bazaar.

Set up a cake walk in the gym~those big kids like to eat, and most likely would participate. You will need to get volunteers for baked goods, or *you* could initiate local bakeries, Mrs. Fields, grocery stores, Target/Walmart and such businesses to make a donation, or ask other parents to take on this task. The cake walk was always a prosperous activity.

Since it is teens, hip hop music might be the best choice, or a mix it. I'm sure you could get one of the kids who has downloaded a good selection of music and a docking speaker system to volunteer~you should personally check out the music.

I know this is an 'old school' idea, but the kids might think it's fun! Here's a great site for instructions.

Here is a link that might be useful: cake walk

Maybe have a class for parents to learn twerking...and have the teens judge the best twerker! (And have a chiropractor on board or a masseuse for the after judging!)

Improving foot traffic:

You have to reach people who are not connected with the school.

Post a listing on Craiglist.

See if your town will allow signboards to be put up at major intersections, or signs posted around town the day before.

Alert any assisted living facilities or the like about the event. They are often looking for good ideas for short trips for their residents.

Ask vendors if they will post a poster in their store (if they have a storefront).

You can also go around town and see if any other stores would be willing to have a poster up for a week or two.

And some completely unsolicited advice, based on this:

"As I'm quickly finding out, filling all the different sub chair positions with parents is like pulling teeth. I'm about ready to bail myself. "

Sometimes, when you really can't get anyone to volunteer to help, or not nearly enough people, then it's time to cancel holding that activity and time to come up with something else. Volunteers get burnout. And if not enough people in the organization are willing to do the work to pull off the fundraiser, then it's time to stop holding it. (Not this year, but for future years.)

What happens is that when the announcement is made that the event is cancelled, either new people who care enough about it step forward to manage it, or everyone breathes a sigh of relief that they don't have to go through that again.

There are other fundraising ideas out there. Maybe this one has reached retirement age.

How many sub chair positions do you still need to fill? I don't know how your school goes about contacting the parents, but if you could send out a general email with an SOS that help was needed, I'd do that. I'd mention that in a school population of x number of students, I've only had x number of parents sign up. If they don't already know how much money has been raised in the past, and what it's used for, I'd mention that. Then I would list the jobs that still needed to be filled with a brief description of time and duties involved. I'd also mention this is a PTO event and even though they might not be able to work at the event, their support by their attendance and/or whatever else you can think up is needed. Guilt. Go for it.

There's a bunch of websites here to look into to list your event.

Here is a link that might be useful: Columbus Holiday Bazaars

Another Buckeye here. If you are holding it on a Saturday, my only suggestion is that you have the bazaar when Ohio State is away- and not playing Michigan!

Veteran of countless holiday bazaars-as both a vendor and an organizer. Just want you to be aware that unless this is a long time tradition, dont expect a huge turn out. DO NOT go to a lot of expense in terms of time or supplies to promote because you wont get a lot of return.

Craigslist, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are your best options for promotion. Heck, even Pinterest! Feature a vendor and go from there. But DO NOT feature a commercial vendor. At every single holiday bazaar between now and Christmas there will be at least one scentsy and one MLM jewelry vendor. Focus on the handmade, on the potential holiday decor (always a good seller), and the homemade food goodies.

See if your local TV station has a community calendar, and also check the radio stations. They will often do free PSAs for fundraisers for schools.

Dont forget lawn signs-usually best option. Have kids make up some colorful bazaar signs and post them around if you can. And the day of-have some kids with signs directing people to the event. But do not spend any money on promotions or give aways...they just do not pan out.

And next year-dont sign up to chair the event!

I still think it's a good idea to get the the kids to participate. Who knows, when they get older and have children of their own, it may trigger a memory and actually make them *want* to participate rather than using anything short of brute force. Let's face it, parents are helping less, yet still expecting more of schools/teachers. If that 's going to be the case, go thru the kids. I'm a believer in giving kids responsibility, which in this case, helping out with a school fund raiser certainly is. Enlist their help and maybe it will be the kids getting their parents to volunteer.

I know the original question was re:foot traffic, but 9 times out of 10, if you don't have kids in that particular school, you won't attend, unless it's Grandparents or maybe other relatives.

As for the cake walk, I'm sure there are a few kids who wouldn't mind solicitating for cakes/cupcakes/cookies, or even baking them themself. How possible would it be to have it mentioned in homeroom? Or hand out flyers after school? My theory is, if the kids aren't asked, how do they know help is needed? They don't automatically jump up and volunteer. Make the kids feel needed. We know sometimes that doesn't happen at home, and I think kids need and want that. What's the harm in trying?

Do a search for facebook groups in your town. There are a few near me that do online yard sale. Also; does the school have a FB page? You may even think of making a FB page for the bazaar

Thanks everyone, I will take note of all your suggestions. Yes, we have a school twitter/facebook so will take advantage of that.

The issue I have with this whole thing is it's really not a big money raiser for us. We sell poinsettia's, and raffle tickets for the vendor donated items, and charge each vendor $35 for a table. So all in all, we make about $3000-$3500.

Not much $$$ to me for the effort required. But, it is what it is, and I am having the school office send out an email to all parents with info I've sent them. Maybe I'll get a huge response! :-)