We have some suggestions as to how you could run your Christmas fair bazaar virtually using Classlist.

You can use Classlist events and announcements to communicate and get your parents excited about your fair - and get them spending money too!

Activities in your Fair

• Live Zoom event for the opening and closing of the fair.  It could also stay open throughout
• Side zoom rooms with activities during the day, crafts, grotto - families buy tickets to take part
• Competitions and virtual treasure hunt that families buy tickets for
• Raffles - tickets bought online
• Live auction of Class group art projects during the event
• Items for sale online - children's decorations, Christmas trees, branded items
• Local business sponsor presentations and offers

Announcements

Send one each day on the run up to the fair to promote different stalls and competitions etc and send out photos. 

eg Monday teacher's stand photos....Friday - raffle prize photos - see below.

How about 'the 12 days of Christmas' of announcements in the run up to your fair?

Your event

Set up a Classlist event with tickets for each activity, for the raffle, for each stall. 

See below for suggestions.

The link to your main Zoom event can be included.

Live event in main zoom call 

Eg you could have a free opening event with intro and music, and a closing event with the competitions and raffles, with side events in between.

• Entertainments - local 'celebrity' or popular member of staff to open the event and compere 
• Music recorded by children at school
• Winner of various prizes - guess the bear's weight, hamper,  cake competitions
• Raffle draws  
• Auction of Class group art projects
• Christmas singalong
• Local businesses pay to have a 5 minute demo slot in the 'main hall' during the fair.   Ask them to try to make them instructive or have an offer so parents want to watch.

Side rooms - Zoom events

Parents pay for them or their children to attend online sessions on the day of the fair eg crafts, wreath making, Santa's grotto, Treasure hunt, biscuit decorating.

Use zoom personal meeting rooms for 40 minute sessions.   

Craft live demo

A separate Zoom room.  People pay beforehand for access to this room at a specific time.  Then there is a live session showing the children how to make their craft.  Parents have to attend with children.
Parent pays for craft ticket

• Either parents are told what materials to get in advance.  Or you bulk buy craft stuff, package in advance and send home from school to ticket purchasers after quarantining the items.
  Sessions is run live session in separate Zoom room to main fair

Virtual Santa's grotto

• Another Zoom room, parents attend with their children. 
• Pay for a slot with Santa via a grotto ticket.
• Choose a time slot from a SignUp list.
• Families log in at the given time and have a short Christmas story with Santa featuring the child's name.

Treasure hunt

There is a separate zoom room during the main fair.

Parent pays for treasure hunt ticket and for their child to take part. 

The organiser shares a series of photos.

The aim is to correctly identify where the Fairy/Elf/Santa is in the photo so you have to answer by selecting the correct place amongst about 20 answers.  The next photo then comes up and you do the same.  Ultimately, the winner is the child who does this faster and this is announced during a live session at a specific time.

Stalls

Teachers' stand

• Selling children’s crafts.   
• PTA provides the teachers with some materials for making decorations or presents.
• Teacher takes photos and they are sent out in an announcement to each class.
• Either have a ticket type for each class.  Or add an event question "if buying teachers crafts, what is your child's name and class?"
• Parent buys ticket online. 
• It could be a voluntary donation in multiples of £1 (£1 tickets).
• Crafts are sent home from school with the child.   If parents don't pay the child isn't left out.

Book, good quality and toy sale

• Parent send photo of items in with a private message
• Announcement sent out with all book and toy photos in - each is numbered
• Alternatively they could be added to the Marketplace.
  Toys and books only have about 3 prices
  You have tickets called 'Toy £3' and a sign up list with each named and numbered item that parents sign up for.  You would need to monitor that they paid.
• If a parent wants to purchase, you liaise with the relevant parent for collection, pick up, ensuring that quarantining of the items is maintained before pick up.

Christmas trees and puddings on pre-order

Take orders for Christmas trees from parents and bulk buy at a discount.   You can take a cut and no-one is spending more than they would if they bought one direct.

Children's presents stall

Host a COVID-friendly Christmas shopping experience for the children. 

Select a choice of a few gifts that the children can choose from to give to their parents and grandparents. (Just have 3-5 options of gifts in total.  Some children won’t be able to decide quickly if there are lots of choices!) 

The gifts can be set up on a table in the school entrance for the children to visit by class.  If the PTA aren’t allowed into school it could be placed outside somewhere where the children will feel the parents haven’t seen the presents.

Parents pre-pay on Classlist to purchase tickets for each recipient for whom they would like their child to buy a gift. Set a fixed price for all presents to make this easy.  If parents have multiple children remind them to purchase enough tickets for each child to pick presents. 

In the ticket notes section, parents can write the message to appear on the gift tag - "To Granny, Merry Christmas! Love, Henry".

Once orders are taken from the pupils the PTA can buy the gifts and wrap them.  Ask a member of staff to deliver them to each class room in a box this year as you won’t be allowed in. 

Local businesses

You can go further and offer an exclusive shopping experience for your families with local small businesses offering an array of Christmas present ideas to shop from the comfort of their own home. Stall holders can be asked to make a £25 donation to the PTA, to reserve a place at your virtual fair. Let's shop small and support our local businesses while raising money for charity.

You can send parents announcements with photos and links of the local businesses.

Plan your Christmas Fair communications so that you send one announcement a day with different categories of info each day.

Competitions

Cake competition

• Parent pays for cake competition ticket
• Parent send photo in with a private message (decorated and cut to show inside) .
• Announcement sent out with all cake photos in
• During the fair cakes are shared on screen and judged in live session

Guess the bear/sweets

• Guess the name of the bear / weight of the cake / sweets in a jar. There is a separate room where if you pay, you can guess the name of the bear/number of sweets etc.  
• Photo of bear/jar sent out as announcement
• Parent pays for bear ticket and enters guess
• Live session where the winners are announced. 
• Prize held for 72 hours after make up, untouched, to ensure that they are quarantined.

Raffles

Hampers 

Each class is responsible for a hamper.  This can be done with socially distanced drop off to one parent, or children bring items into school where they are left in a box for 72 hours before giving to Class Rep.  Collated and made into an attractive hamper.  Photos taken of each hamper.  
Parent pays for hamper ticket.  This could be open for a week before the fair. 
Announcement sent out with all hamper photos in
During the hamper photos are shared on screen and tickets drawn in live session

Money Raffle

The money raffle can be exactly as done in school.  You buy a ticket online.  The prizes are probably £20, £10 and £5.  You pay your money, say £2, submit your name and then names are drawn from during a live session when the hampers are drawn too.

Raffle

Announcement sent out with all raffle prize photos in

Parent pays for raffle ticket
During the fair raffle prize photos are shared on screen and tickets drawn in live session

Setting up your event

Add tickets to your event to collect payment for the above activities, raffles, purchases

eg

Ticket type  1 - Teachers crafts stand - either have a ticket type for each class.  Or 1 ticket type and add an event question "if buying teachers crafts, what is your child's name and class?"
Ticket 2 - Cake competition entry ticket
Ticket 3 - Hamper raffle
Ticket 4 - entry to craft session
Ticket 5 - meet Santa in the virtual grotto
Ticket 6 - bear competition ticket - ticket question 'if you are guessing the bear's weight, what do you guess?
Ticket 7 Raffle tickets (£1 - they can buy multiples, or have several ticket types)
Ticket 8 - Treasure hunt ticket
Ticket 9 - buy a book or toy - just add a couple of price options eg £1, £2

Ticket 10 - Christmas Trees

Plus Christmas puddings branded with school.

Donations - £1, £2, £5, £10

etc

See our E-book - Events & fundraising with a twist during Covid-19