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"...

[the-marquis.livejournal.com]

Drat! LadyofAstolat beat me to all the good ones! :)

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

Children also love stickers. While you have the child's attention you can get the parent.

[(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.

[chainmailmaiden]

Here are a few more competition ideas, they do require slightly more financial outlay than the drawing one, but have always been popular at fairs/shows I've been to:

Guess the name of the dog, with a soft toy dog as the prize.

Guess the number of dog treats/biscuits in the jar, with the jar of treats/biscuits as the prize.

Guess the location of the bone - have a picture of a garden or a map, overlay it with a grid of numbered squares and get people to pay to put their name down for the square they think Fido has buried his bone in. The prize could be an squeaky toy bone or an edible treat one.

As to other things you could sell, I can't think of anything else you could do in a week, but for future events once you're a registered charity there would probably be quite a few things you could get printed up like pens & mugs. I get sent catalogues at work, by people who will personalise just about anything including lollipops & other sweets. Next time I get one I can forward it onto you if you'd like - we don't buy anything from them so the catalogues usually go straight in the bin.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Oh, I do like the 'find the bone' idea! I think I'll get a couple of random prizes - that way I can either use them both for find the bone, or have one for the drawing comp, if there is space.

I've seen the 'guess the number of treats' and 'guess the name of the dog' thing done before, so I was thinking someone else might be doing those already (also we did a 'guess the name of the dog' thing online a couple of months back).

We have mugs, but the problem is that as we are all scattered all over the place, it's difficult having stocks of things that might break. Things like key rings, wristbands and badges are small enough to post on to whoever is doing the next show.

I've decided I'm going to sell poo bags: you never know, someone may have forgotten theirs, and I can always take them home again if nobody buys them. I have special biodegradeable ones with a builtin scoop that you can't usually get in pet shops.

Am pleased how the cards I've done have turned out: I reckon I got 50 for about £8, which is good value, and even Polo says they look quite nice and saleable (amazing, as they all have different dogs on: usually he moans they should have cats instead!)

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Am not sure if I shall have time to get any printed now, but that's definitely a good idea for awareness, specially if they have the web address on. We have a few kids who are active volunteers and put up posters for us and so on.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Do you think black and white stickers, or black on colour, would have sufficient charm, or would they need to be full colour?

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

It depends on the age. Mine are happy with any type of sticker, but for older ones black on colour or full colour may be better (although full colour would work out more expensive)

Maybe some of the children who are currently involved may be able to make further suggestions. I'll try to ask a few older children myself.