We did a mystery dinner theatre. We bought one of those party kits that have the facts you have to reveal, improv-ed the script ( with a few guidelines and some practices... so it wasn't pure improv, but we didn't have set lines), and some of our parents cooked food. We charged 10 bucks a pop, the people got a burger, french fries, and a shake (It was a 50's themed show) and entertainment. It gave all of us students a chance to perform and it paid for our competition fees (I was in show choir) for the entire year.
We also set up a mini-camp for our 5-7 graders. They paid 30 dollars and got a "free t-shirt" and they learned a small show choir show. The Sophomores and Juniors got to choreograph the show and help out at the camp. The campers got to learn a small show with dance moves. We concluded camp with a pizza party and a performance for parents at the end of the week. The also met twice during the school year and then performed at our local county fair.
We also did a Fine Arts Day Spaghetti Dinner where students sang/played instruments and art was displayed. Another thing we did was sell advertisements in our programs for musicals. Parents could buy them and so could buisnesses. We made enough money on those the one year that the entire cast got to go to a dinner theatre a couple hours away.
Caroling and singing telegrams are also great ways to get extra cash. Although I've never done this, I think that getting some thermoses of coffee and hot chocolate and going out the day after thanksgiving and selling hot beverages in the lines of people waiting for stores to open in the bitter cold would make a ton of money!
Check in with local restaurants. We had a pancake breakfast at Applebee's. They provided everything, except servers. The students were expected to do that. We sold the tickets and everything was pure profit. Other restaurants also do things where you give out flyers to people and every one redeemed during a certain time at a restaurant gives you ten percent of the bill of the people redeeming your coupon. It's easy and requires little work.
And the weirdest thing I ever had to do to raise money was trash pick-ups. We had a contract through a nearby community arts organization to pick up trash at certain events. Although it was gross, smelly, and hard work, they paid pretty well. We had around 10 trash pick-ups a summer and each one grossed us around 300-400 dollars. Like I said, it wasn't glamourous work, but it paid and we always had fun (oddly enough).
Hope I gave you some new suggestions! Good Luck!
"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song." -- Maya Angelou
Updated On: 6/22/07 at 12:01 AM