The mufti day trick (a whole prize table in one school day)
This is the best play in P&C fundraising: announce a mufti day where the “entry fee” is a raffle prize donation instead of a gold coin. Kids get to wear their own clothes; every family sends in one item; by 9:30am the office has a mountain of prizes that cost the P&C nothing.
Theme it to the raffle: Easter eggs and bunny bits before the Easter raffle, then chocolates, lollies and toys for the Christmas one. Sort the haul into hampers — by class, or by theme — and suddenly you have twenty prizes instead of one.
The only real cost is presentation: cellophane, wrapping paper, and empty boxes from your local grocery store. Ask nicely and the grocer will often donate the boxes and sometimes the cellophane too — they get a thank-you in the newsletter, you get a prize table that looks like a department store window.
The class hamper trick
Give every class a theme and let families donate one item each: Movie Night, Pamper, Backyard Summer, Pasta Night, Chocolate Everything, Local & Handmade. Twenty families × one item = a hamper worth raffling, and the kids campaign for their own class basket.
Local business favourites
- Café and restaurant vouchers — the easiest yes in town
- Hairdresser, barber or beautician vouchers
- A term of swim school, dance or karate (studios love the exposure)
- Butcher tray or fruit box — the classic meat tray still sells tickets
- Trades: a lawn mow, a car detail, an hour of handyman time
School-made gold
- Front-row seats at the Christmas concert or presentation night
- Principal for a day (costs nothing, causes chaos, sells hundreds)
- A reserved parking spot at pickup for a term
- Class artwork — a canvas every parent in that class suddenly must win
The prize ladder
One headline prize gets tickets moving; ten small ones keep everyone hopeful. A good shape: 1 big (donated weekend away, big voucher), 3 medium (hampers), 6+ small (vouchers, trays, plants). List every prize on the ticket or the poster — in NSW the prize should be stated up front, and a long prize list is its own advertising.
Two things to leave off the table in NSW: firearms (never) and prizes that are mostly alcohol (a bottle in a hamper is fine; a wall of wine is not). The rules, in plain English.