How to set up a summer fete
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Summer fetes are a brilliant way to raise funds for your local school, nursery or play centre. Here’s our ultimate guide to throwing a summer fair to remember.
We’ve got tips on how to get started - including what insurances and licenses you need - along with how to get all the parents involved.
Plus, you can find all the local fairs and fetes happening near you this summer in our local listings.
Before you get started - set up your summer fete committee
Setting up a small fete might seem like a doddle of a job but in actual fact it can take time, patience and a great deal of organising.
If you're planning it as a small PTA team, be prepared to multi-task and take on lots of different jobs.
Or better still, appeal for further help by putting up posters or handing out leaflets at the school. It's always useful to have lots of extra people to donate ideas and take responsibility for different jobs.
Once you have your team or 'committee' in place, you're ready to move on to the planning stage.
Planning a summer fete
There are numerous things you need to consider when you’re planning a summer fete.
Picking a date
Deciding on that all important date for your summer fete should be one of your first jobs.
Make sure it doesn't clash with any other local events, school exams or national events like key football matches or the Wimbledon final for example.
Think about health and safety
You’ll need to do a risk assessment of every activity at the fair … and the fair itself.
Contact your local council for advice. If you are a member of the PTA, you can also download a risk assessment template from their website.
Also, make sure you have someone on hand who is a trained first aider or, if it’s a bigger event, you could contact St John Ambulance and see if they could send a first aider. You need to make a donation for this service.
Make sure you have the right licenses and insurance
Check your insurance policy to make sure the fete - and all the activities - are covered.
If you are using third party companies for things like bouncy castles then they will also need their own public liability cover.
If you’re holding a raffle and selling tickets in advance of the day it will be drawn, you may need a licence. And if you’re serving alcohol or have live music you might also need a licence.
Contact your local council for advice.
Have a wet weather plan
It’s Britain, which means even though it’s the summer, it’s quite likely to rain.
As such, think through a ‘wet weather’ back up plan.
Can you hire gazebos to provide some shelter from the rain? Or have some wet weather activities like muddy puddle jumping competitions?
Line up volunteers
For a really successful summer fete, you need a LOT of people to help.
Line up volunteers as early as you can, to do everything from helping on the food and drink stalls to helping to set up the fete.
Think about food and drink
Don't forget you’ll need some stalls selling food and drink.
Think about what this could be - do you do the catering yourselves or invite local cafes to set up stalls?
And also check what health and safety points you need to consider when serving refreshments.
Work out how much you’d like to raise
Start with an amount you’d like to raise from the school fete.
Then work out if this is achievable, how much you’ll need to raise on the day and how much you can afford to spend on outside entertainers for example.
This will help you price your raffle tickets and so on.
Summer fete themes and attractions
Now for the fun bit - deciding what stalls and activities to have.
This can include anything from tombolas and raffles to face painting and a mini market (where local businesses will come and sell their products).
You can also create new and interesting activities that aren't usually associated with traditional school fairs - dance or singing competitions for example, a performance by the school band or a talent show where pupils and parents can demonstrate their skills.
Here are some genius ideas from our Netmums community:
1 Set up a goal competition
Get a dad to be the goalie and then create a league table to see who can get the most goals past the goalie in one minute.
2 Create a toddler ride
Section off a bit of the school car park and create a toddler ride that little ones can navigate or race around. Ask parents to bring in any ride-ons, scooters or bikes before the day of the fete.
3 Set up a crafts stall
This is great for crafty kids. And if you have this stall under a large gazebo, it would also be useful as a wet weather activity.
Set up stations for making different items that the children can then take home with them.
4 Set up a massage stall
Speak to any local beauty therapists or spas and see if they want to set up a massage stall at the fete. Charging for 10 minute head and neck massages is a great way to boost your funds.
5 Hire a ‘main attraction’
Picking a theme is a great way to get people excited about your event.
You could throw anything from a Hawaiian Beach Party fair through to an Wild West-themed fete. And why not hire a ‘ride’ that ties in with your theme - from a surf simulator to a bucking bronco.
Just make sure you have the necessary insurances in place.
Fundraising
The whole point of a summer fete (aside from having plenty of fun of course) is to raise lots of money for the school.
So you'll need to have a fairly strict approach to the day's proceedings. The best place to start is to appeal for free products you can sell on or use as part of a competition.
Aside from the usual second hand stores, competitions, cake stalls and face painting, there are several other things you can do to boost your profits ...
Approach local businesses
Companies are often bombarded with requests for free product or special offers that can be used for raffles and fetes.
But on the flip side, a school fair also provides them with an opportunity to make direct contact with lots of potential new customers, so it's in their interests to take part too.
Sit down with your team and try to come up with a proposal to suit both you and the local business before presenting it them.
You might decide to charge them a small fee for their stall space or ask for 20% of their total takings as a donation to the school. A small product donation that you can use in a raffle or tombola could also be part of the deal.
Hold an auction
Anything from discount vouchers and nearly new items donated to the school through to impressive looking cakes can be used as part of an auction.
This is a fun and exciting way to raise money. You'll need a confident speaker to take charge of the proceedings and a responsible person to take care of the funds.
Organise a raffle
The staple part of any school fete, raffles can be big money spinners if done well.
The best way to ensure a healthy stream of funds is to start selling tickets as early as possible, in advance of the show. (You might need a licence to sell raffle tickets in advance of the event, so contact your local council’s licensing department for advice.)
Send the tickets home in book bags, sell them on the gate when people come in and get volunteers to walk around the fete selling them to anyone who hasn't bought one.
Organise a bake sale
It's not particularly original, but it does make money, especially if you get a good selection of cakes to sell.
And hopefully lots of parents will be inspired by the new series of Great British Bake Off, airing later this year.
Have a tombola
Another summer fete staple. Try this top tip from one of our Netmums members, Susan P …
‘Last year we had a non-uniform day before our Summer Fete, but instead of sending in the usual £1 to wear own clothes, we asked for tombola donations to be sent in instead.
‘We just asked that in return for coming to school in their own clothes, children bring in something NEW for the tombola, an unwanted gift, toiletries, a game, a book, chocolates, etc.
'It was the first time we'd tried it and we were absolutely inundated with stuff! For the first time ever, the tombola prizes lasted until the end, and they were very high quality prizes.’
Marketing your summer fete
The most effective way to market your event to parents is to distribute leaflets, send out emails to the school database or do a little write-up in the weekly newsletter.
It's best to start doing this as early as possible so you can create more of a build up to the big day and get the date clear in people's minds.
Perhaps start off by appealing for unwanted toys and books that you can sell before moving on to the events.
Once you have exhausted all of the usual school routes, you could look at appealing to people outside of the school by producing leaflets that you can leave at the local library for example.
Likewise, you can put posters up and even look at producing a press release to submit to local newspapers or radio stations. The key is to keep the marketing activity free (or at the very least as cheap as possible) so there is little or no impact on your total takings.
5 top tips for your summer fete
You've picked the date, got the theme and made sure you've got all right insurances.
Here are five final top tips for making your summer fete a big success ...
1 Make it feel busy
A busy fete always creates an air of excitement so make sure you think of various ways and means to give it that quintessential 'buzz'.
Positioning stalls relatively close to each other so people can wander through each one without having to walk several metres across the school field is a good way to create that busy feel.
2 Get creative
Think outside the box - local businesses can help in terms of basic product, but what about any local hotels, restaurants, spas or salons?
Meals for two, facials and massages all make great raffle/auction prizes and give the business promoting the prize good publicity in the process.
3 Think about timing
Time the events well - if you leave the auction until the early afternoon, it will keep people hanging around for longer (and therefore spending more money).
Offering everything as soon as the gates open will mean a quicker flow of traffic which ideally you want to prevent.
Draw up a programme so you can see exactly what is happening and when.
4 Have enough change
Have a couple of people in charge of money on the day - from collecting the proceedings to making all the stall holders have enough small change.
5 Talk to your local fire station
For a small donation, your local fire station might agree to sending along a fire engine to your summer fete.
This ia great one for kids of all ages ... and a brilliant way of combining fun with fire safety advice.
What are your top tips for raising money for your child's school? Head to our Coffeehouse forum, below, and share your tips ...
