Ideas sought

[bunn]

I'm doing a stall for the Oldies Club at a show in Exeter next week, and I'm trying to think what I could do on the stall to make a few extra bob. I already have a range of Oldies badges, car-stickers, wristbands to sell, and am just about to make a few notecards. I'll have leaflets to give away, and a full list of all the 100+ oldies we are promoting at the mo for people to goggle at.

Any inspired ideas?

The main thing is raising awareness, getting people interested in dogs and volunteering - but it would be nice to make a little cash too!

I don't suppose any of you are coming to the Wag & Bone show on 5th August, but if by some chance you are, do come over to the Oldies Club stall and say hello.

Comments

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Is this the sort of show that children are likely to come to? Children love competitions. Would there be space for a low table with a few colouring pencils on? Children could do a colouring competition - 50p per entry. That would keep them busy while you chatted to their parents about the Oldies Club. It might also win over the children so they pestered their parents to buy them the other goodies, or volunteer etc.

People often seem more willing to pay money for an outside chance of winning something (e.g. lottery, raffles etc.) than to pay money for an actual item. So you could have a tombola sort of thing - draw a raffle ticket out of a box, and a few specific numbers will win a prize. Investing money in a few cuddly soft toy dogs could work - as long as it was arranged so that only one ticket in 200, or whatever, won one, so you would be pretty much guaranteed to make more than you spent.

What about the laws on charity collecting? Are you allowed just to have a box for donations. People might be moved by your publicity, and want to put in some spare change there and then. "The spare change in your purse will buy a tin of dog food for a needy dog"...

[(Anonymous)]

I like the childrens drawing comp idea, though I'm not sure how busy it will be or if we will have space. Might take along some pencils and paper and see how it goes. I was vaguely thinking of a tombola, but everyone does those...

You tend not to get that many younger children at these events, so far as I have observed - but summer holidays might bump that up a bit. I suspect dog shows are a bit dull for many under-10s, unless they are really dog-mad. I'm going to be looking and counting now!

At the moment we are classed as a non-registered charity, but with a bit of luck we will be a proper registered one soon. Either way we can collect, so I'll definitely have a donation box.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Oops, that was me. I got logged out.