Christmas Tree Walk Fundraiser

We have been fund raising for our community building renovations and decided to have a Christmas Tree Walk/Soup Supper fund raiser. We asked individuals, business owners and organizations such as 4-H groups, church groups to provide a decorated Christmas tree with whatever theme they chose to do. We ended up with 18 trees decorated and lit with lights. We had two Christmas trees bought by organizations that donated them to be silent auctioned off the night of the event. The rest of the trees were just displayed for the evening of the event. We put the silent auction trees in the middle and circled the rest of the trees around them. We turned the ceiling lights off and just had all of the tree lights lit. What a site to see.

On this night we served chili soup and chicken noodle soup along with a variety of desserts which many volunteers from town donated. With a free will offering to be given for eating. Ahead of this night we got items donated from businesses for a raffle which we drew at the end of the nights event. Items donated were a $500 beef certificate, Christmas reindeer, electric drill, hockey tickets and a Nebraska polo shirt. We sold tickets for the raffle at our bank and grocery store ahead of time and sold some at 2 ball games and then during the soup supper. All in all it was a very successful night. We ended up serving 270 people in 1-1/2 hours time. We planned it time wise after the high school Christmas program which is held on a Sunday afternoon. We put up signs on our main street and signs in front of the school at the program besides the fliers we had out ahead of time. Submitted By: Brenda J., Bertrand Agricultural Society, Bertrand, Nebraska

We have included a number of do-it-yourself fundraising ideas in this section that offer a break from traditional product sales. They were developed by groups just like yours in an attempt have a little fun with their fundraiser. Some of them are tried and true while others show a lot of creativity … and even wackiness in some cases. All of them are obviously not appropriate for every group, but sometimes, with only a little modification, your might find some fund raising ideas that are perfect for your group. If you have an idea for a do-it-yourself fund raiser you are willing to share with others, please send it to us via email. Include anything and everything you would want to know if you were hearing the idea for the first time.