JUMBLE SALE
CHEESE & WINE
TASTINGS
COFFEE MORNING
BRING & BUY
ANTIQUES ROADSHOW
BARN DANCE
DINNER DANCE
INTERNATIONAL EVENING
CABARET/CONCERT/READING/SHOW
ART & CRAFT DEMONSTRATIONS
SALE OF WORK OR CRAFT FAIR
BRIDGE/WHIST/BEETLE DRIVE
KARAOKE EVENING
QUIZ NIGHT
BARBECUE
RACE NIGHT/CASINO NIGHT
RAFFLE/TOMBOLA
GAMES/SPORTS TOURNAMENT
GARDEN PARTY/BAZAAR
DUCK RACES
JUMBLE SALE
Key points in organising a good Jumble
Sale are:
1. VENUE - is it accessible?
2. JUMBLE - where will you get your
goods to sell?
3. LAYOUT - have you got enough tables,
rails etc, and can the customers get round all the stalls? (Could a
customer in a wheelchair get round all the stalls?)
4. HELPERS - have you got enough people
to man the stalls?
5. PRICES - they all want a bargain,
but you want a profit! Select the best items for separate display; put
realistic prices on them; DON'T HAGGLE - hold out for your marked price.
6. REFRESHMENTS - tea and biscuits
will make people stay longer, and spend more money.
7. RAFFLE: raffles and tombolas always
go down well, and a raffle drawn just before you want to finish your sale
should keep the customers with you throughout your event.
8. PUBLICITY - if they don't know,
they won't come!
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CHEESE & WINE
A simple and economic function to
arrange, but there are many possible variations on the theme - First, find
your wine merchant who will offer discount prices, sale or return, and glass
loan. (They do exist, honest!) What wines does your merchant want to promote?
Would he include a tasting? Then find your cheeses.
Some embassies have trade delegations
who will offer promotion packs, and your local supermarket or delicatessen
may be prepared to offer a range for tasting.
Provide appropriate entertainment.
A disco is probably not the ideal companion to Brie and Beaujolais - On the
other hand, a younger audience may find a Mozart recital hard to take! You
know your market - it will be worth taking some trouble to get the right
combination.
Venue is very important, and could
be a central feature of the event. Is there an interesting house or hall
in your area? In any event, it must be warm and convivial. We know that people
make atmospheres, but Brahms and dinner jackets in a Dutch Barn in November
could be hard to sell!
Price your tickets as if you had to
pay market rates for everything: if your tickets are too cheap you will give
the impression of a cheap event.
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WINE/BEER/FOOD TASTING
First, find your expert!
If you have a local gourmet society,
or even just some friends who are interested in food and drink, tie your
event to their interests, and don't be afraid to discuss the idea with some
of your prospective market: if they feel they have helped to plan the event,
they may well help to sell the tickets.
Harmonise all the features of your
event: it may be fine to hold a beer tasting in a redundant engine shed (and
probably very successful), but a senior vintner discussing the finer vintages
of claret would be more at home in the banqueting suite of a smart hotel.
Prices according to the product and
venue, the range of tastes to savour, and whether or not you get a percentage
of sales from the event.
Aunty Dot's fruit cake and country
wines could be just as popular as The Wines of Burgundy, if you sell your
tickets in the right place!
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COFFEE MORNING
An enduring favourite because of its
flexibility, a coffee morning can be as large or small as you wish. It can
be simply an opportunity to meet other people over coffee, or it can be combined
with any number of other activities (raffle, bring and buy, Party Plan etc)
You could hold one in your front room,
or you could take the local hall.
One prize in the raffle could be a
jar of coffee for next month's coffee morning!
BRING & BUY
As above, a very flexible format,
though a large scale B&B takes some organising. As the name suggests,
you are asking people to bring an item to sell, and then to buy other goods.
Begin with a respectable show of items
for sale. If the B&B is the main attraction, get your supporters to give
their contributions well in advance.
This is not the same as a Jumble Sale:
you want tins, jars, handicrafts, bric a brac. Don't be afraid to refuse
jumble or other forms of rubbish - they will lower the tone and depress the
prices of good quality donations.
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ANTIQUES ROADSHOW/AUCTION
Separate or combined, both these events
require the involvement of professionals. You need to find the venue and
the public, then leave the conduct of the event to the experts.
Of course, you can organise refreshments,
raffles and side stalls to help things along a bit!
BARN DANCE
First, find your Barn! A Barn Dance
can be large or small, but the venue is critical. Seating capacities and
dancing capacities are not the same thing, so check with the venue before
you price your tickets.
The caller is the most important single
ingredient in a Barn Dance (ceilidh, Hoe-down, Irish/Scottish/Western night).
A good caller will advise on bands, if you don't have one in mind, or may
supply records for smaller events.
Think about refreshments, cabaret
turns, raffle, side shows.
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DINNER DANCE
Simplest, perhaps, to book the whole
package from a hotel which runs these events all the time. However, you can
do it all yourself
Again, venue is critical. If
they do not have their own caterers, how will yours get in? Is there a kitchen?
Is it fully equipped? Is there space for the band, electricity where they
need it, enough space for dancing, enough space round the tables for your
serving staff?
Give careful thought to the menu:
will the food stay hot and still look nice by the time you've brought it
from the kitchens to the table?
Give careful thought to the entertainment,
after dinner speakers etc. Make sure that your entertainers are fully briefed
on the type of audience, and make sure that they are appropriate to the
audience.
You can't do a cheap dinner dance,
so make it good; don't cut corners, and charge accordingly. If you're putting
in all this work, you want to make a good tidy sum at the end of it. DON'T
UNDERSELL.
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INTERNATIONAL EVENING
Food, entertainment and decor themed
to a particular country. Embassies may help with recipes, and even speakers.
If you know someone who has made an interesting journey, perhaps they could
talk about their adventure while you serve food from the region they visited.
CABARET/CONCERT/READING/SHOW
The first and last essential for these
events is to match the venue and the type of entertainment. A nice old hall
may fit nicely with a Shakespeare reading, while a nightclub may be more
conducive to a disco or live band.
You may have the opportunity to use
a celebrity, or a professional; if so, build the event round them. However,
your local sixth form or amateur dramatic society may be prepared to help.
Maybe even the readers from your local
Church might take the parts of Ayckbourn or Shaw characters. Again,
be careful with pricing, and take full account of the cost of refreshments,
programmes etc.
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ART & CRAFT DEMONSTRATIONS
Two main ways in which this can be
done: a formal presentation by one or more artists or craftspeople, or an
opportunity for your audience to wander round and see them practising their
skills.
They can always sell their products,
and they might give a commission to the organiser's charity.
A celebrity artist will be worth a
full evening in their own right; the local craft guild may be pleased to
show off before a new audience. Alternatively, there may be all sorts of clever
people in your own community, just waiting to be asked to show what they
can do!
Prices for tickets, raffles, and refreshments
have to be determined when you have decided on your format. £10
per head to see Delia Smith, including a buffet prepared under her supervision
may be quite reasonable, whereas it would be a bit steep to walk round the
village hall to see your next door neighbour's knitting on show!
SALE OF WORK OR CRAFT FAIR
Do you know any people who are good
with their hands? If so, would they come together to sell their own handicrafts,
either as donations or on a 50/50 or commission basis?
Any hall, or indeed any large space
(weather permitting!) can be used for this event.
Admission can be free, as long as
you price the goods fairly. Remember, every item of craftwork cost so much
in materials, and then took time to make. Offering a 5lb fruit cake for sale
at £1.00 could constitute an insult to the cook!
If you are going to operate on a profit-share
or commission basis, make sure all your stall holders have the terms IN WRITING
before the event. Alternatively, charge them for the pitch: that way, your
administration is much simpler.
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BRIDGE/WHIST/BEETLE-DRIVE
The same principle could be applied
to most games, though these have, over the years, proved most successful
because they combine social interaction with competition and skill.
You need someone who knows the game
you are to play, to referee the night. You will need playing tables, which
for card players means small square tables with non-reflective covers, though
sometimes you can get the players to provide their own!
You charge admission, which can be
individual, team or table, and provide light refreshments. You must also
provide prizes for the winners. You can run a raffle, so long as it does not
interfere with the game.
Remember, your players will be sitting
in one position for a long time. A warm, draught-free venue is essential.
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KARAOKE
In the old days, you would have gone
down to the pub and stood round the piano. Now it's all laser-discs and high
technology, but the idea is more or less the same.
Hire the Karaoke machine, with the
little man who knows how to work it. He also knows how to get people involved,
and will ensure that you have a good night.
A light supper and a raffle could
be included, but resist the temptation to put too much on; the Karaoke will
stand on its own, and anything else will be a distraction.
You need a good-sized venue, and a
licensed bar is essential! Most of the money you make will come from
the tickets, so take great care to get the price right.
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QUIZ NIGHT
A very popular form of event in many
areas: you may be able to get an established quiz given over to you for the
night, or have one organised for you by the local pub or club.
If you are running one yourself, you
will need a warm, convivial venue. Set a maximum number of players per team,
and lay out your tables accordingly.
Take great care appointing your quizmaster:
if your teams come principally from the local youth club, they may be out
of their depth with questions about quantum physics, Berlioz or macro-economics!
You provide the main prizes and spot
prizes (which could be a cash portion of the entry fees); you make money
on entry fees (individual or team?) and the inevitable raffle.
BARBECUE
Another very flexible format. For
a (very) small fee, people will bring their own food to be barbecued. You
can charge more if you supply the goodies. A band, some entertainers, somewhere
safe for the children to run off their energy, wet weather cover and a
bar could also influence the saleability of your event.
Remember too that you can barbecue
far more than just sausages and burgers, though some dishes are better pre-cooked,
and finished over the coals (especially formerly frozen chicken drumsticks).
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RACE NIGHT/CASINO NIGHT
Call in the professionals!
You can hire the whole package, including
people to run the betting. For a Casino Night, you definitely need an expert
on all the games, the odds, and the main ways of cheating!
Race nights are more straightforward.
Sealed films (or videos) of six-horse/dog races can be hired on their own,
if you have the equipment and expertise to run them yourself. Alternatively,
they come with a little man and all the necessary equipment.
Equally, if you don't have a resident
expert, you can hire someone to run the Tote (or betting system).
The audience bet on the outcome of
each race; the seals are broken in public view, and the tote pays out a percentage
of the money placed in bets.
Prior to the event you can "sell the
horses" (owners can name their horse, and stand to win a prize), and ask
local companies to sponsor the races.
You need to supply prizes for the
owners of the first three horses in each race (provided by the sponsor).
You could keep the last race card clear to auction the horses on the night.
A pie and pea supper, or similar,
may help the evening along and perhaps a small cabaret, but the event can
stand on its own. Charge appropriate admission and consider a raffle or tombola
(but not both: we don't want them going home shell-shocked!).
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RAFFLE/TOMBOLA
Both of these need good quality, brand
new prizes, or alternatively, items of unique interest. In a raffle,
tickets are sold for the chance to win one of a number of prizes. When
all the tickets are sold, or at a given point in time, a draw is made to
determine the winners.
A raffle should never have too many
prizes, because of the time it takes to draw them out; the audience may lose
interest after the twelfth small prize.
A tombola is similar to a raffle,
except that tickets are allocated to prizes in advance. The customer
buys a ticket “blind” (usually sealed in an envelope or crimped round the
edges). They then open their ticket to see if they have won.
There is no need to wait for a draw to take place. A tombola can hardly
have too many prizes.
Decide in advance what the winning
numbers are going to be, and obtain your prizes accordingly. Often,
winning numbers will be those ending in 5 or 0, with special prizes for those
ending in 00 : you could add in “special numbers” if you wish, such as 333,444
etc, or, if your project is at 45 Acacia Avenue, your star prize could be
Number 45.
Don't give too much away: if your
prizes are worth £50, you should aim to take £500 or more, even
if the prizes were given.
Resist the temptation to hold back
the winning tickets: many people do this, but it is not recommended practice,
it is probably illegal, and if the public find out they'll never trust
you again!
Commercial sets of tickets and prizes
commonly have 30 or 40 prizes to 1000 tickets. You may wish to offer more
by having some very small consolation prizes, especially if there are to
be children at the event.
However, if you get embarrassed when
people don't win, you should not run a tombola!
IMPORTANT: IN ENGLAND AND
WALES AT LEAST, BOTH OF THESE NEED TO BE LICENSED IF TICKETS ARE TO BE SOLD
TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC, OR IN A PUBLIC PLACE.
CHECK WITH YOUR LOCAL LICENSING
AUTHORITY, IF IN ANY DOUBT.
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GAMES/SPORTS TOURNAMENT
These events should only be attempted
if you are interested and involved in the game or sport yourself, or if
you can get a club to run the event for you.
Having said that, any competitive
game or sport can be organised into a tournament, though a Monopoly tournament
could take a long time to reach its conclusion!
You will need to organise the prizes
and the registration procedure.
Does the tournament need to take place
in one venue, in one day, or could the ties be spread about over a given
period of time?
Scrabble players could meet in each
others homes, and submit agreed score cards as proof of their result; the
final could be arranged in a hall or club, with admission charges for spectators.
Alternatively, a 5-a-side football
competition could be run on a school playing field in one day, with several
games in play at once (but remember that each game needs a referee and line
officials).
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GARDEN PARTY/BAZAAR
For this, you need a good team of
helpers, and a good venue. As many stalls as you can find, well laid out,
and a mixture of things to do and things to buy: twenty tombolas will make
for a very dull event.
If you are going to include jumble,
make sure it is in a well-contained area: a little jumble goes a long way
towards making an event look untidy, and you should be prepared to refuse
inappropriate stalls or donations of things to sell.
A local celebrity to open the event
at a given time will help the publicity.
There is nothing wrong with letting
other organisations, charities or commercial concerns buy a pitch at your
garden party, unless they take up space that you could use for your own
fundraising stalls.
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DUCK RACE
For all fans of Christopher Robin, this is
really a posh version of "Pooh Sticks"! You need
an industrial quantity of plastic ducks - the kind you have in your bath
(go on, be honest, you know you love your rubber duck!)
You also need a river (or other water course, but it needs to be flowing) and a bridge or other dropping off point.
Number all your ducks, in such a way that the numbers won't come off in the water.
When you have sold all your ducks, assemble the spectators round
the drop-off point. You can either drop all the ducks together from
a bridge, or line them up using a suitable obstacle. Once released,
the winner is the first to cross the finish line!
There are two ways of making money off this event - you can sell
the ducks, with the owner of the winning duck getting a prize, and you can
also run a "book" on the event (but see the warnings above on getting professional
help if you are not absolutely sure how to do this!)
You could add a couple of variations to this. Most people "sell" the ducks for the duration of the race, and collect them back for future use. You might, however, let the owners personalise their duck, to make it more streamlined or aquadynamic.
You could also run a competition to design the most effective Pooh Stick.
PLEASE REMEMBER : Check with the owners of the river, or whoever is in charge of what goes on - 1000 ducks might be a hazard to shipping on the Thames!
AND ALSO : Make sure you collect ALL the ducks at the end of the race - we don't want dolphins choking on your leftovers!
AND FINALLY : BE SAFE! Any activity involving water is
potentially dangerous. Watch for small children who may get over-excited
and fall in, and make sure all your helpers have secure stations from which
to carry out their tasks.