Somehow it’s April already, which means two things. One – it’s almost my birthday. Two – summer will be here quicker than you know it. If you’re looking for youth fundraiser ideas, one way of doing this is to sell Summer Kits.
In the summer, parents take their children to all sorts of different places – the beach, lakes, parks, museums, etc. For days out like these, they’ll usually need to take a bunch of stuff with them. A Summer Kit youth fundraiser provides everything the parent might need for the day out, making things easier for them – convenience they’re willing to pay for.
What would go in a Summer Kit?
This will depend on where you live, what attractions are nearby, the weather, etc, but here are some ideas of what you could include in a Summer Kit:
- Bottles of water
- Snacks (that won’t melt)
- Balls
- Beach games
- Bucket & spade
- Beach towel(s)
- Kite
- Sunscreen
- Quarters (if they’d need them for a parking meter)
- Disposable camera
- Coloring book & crayons
- Inflatable toy/beach ball
- Hand sanitizer
- Tissues
Tips
- Combine youth fundraisers – You could combine a Summer Kit fundraiser with an Entertainment Book fundraiser, by including an Entertainment book in the kit.
- Coupons/vouchers – Do you have a popular tourist destination near you like a theme park, water park, etc? These kinds of locations often provide coupons for discounted entrance fees, especially in nearby restaurants and grocery stores. Including a couple of these in a Summer Kit doesn’t cost you anything, but provides added value for parents.
- Food – It’s hard to include lunch materials in a Summer Kit, unless you’re preparing them to be sold on just one day in the summer. To help give parents food options, consider including a fast food gift card as part of the kit.
Reduce costs
- Buy in bulk – A case of 24 bottles of water can cost just $3-$4, so instead of purchasing separate (expensive) bottles to include in the Summer Kit, buy items like these in bulk to reduce the cost of putting the kits together.
- Special offers – Grocery stores and drugstores often run promotions on sunscreen in the summer – an item that’s usually quite expensive. Buy One Get One Free offers on items like these will effectively halve the cost of buying these items.
- Dollar store – Many of the items listed above could be bought from a dollar store, again lowering the cost of putting together your Summer Kits.
How much should I charge for a Summer Kit?
This will depend on what you include in the kit. First of all, you’ll need to accurately calculate how much you’ll be spending to put together each Summer Kit. Don’t forget to include miscellaneous costs, like boxes if you’ll be buying these to provide the kits in.
Once you know how much each kit will cost you to put together, add a markup of 50-100%. This would mean that if it costs you $10 in materials for each kit, you’d sell it for $15-$20. If it costs you $20, you’d sell it for $30-$40.
Another option is to offer different levels of Summer Kits with different price points. A Basic kit could cost $10, with a Deluxe kit costing $20 and an Ultimate kit costing $30 – the more expensive the kit, the more items they get. This could encourage more buyers who might not need some of the items in a larger kit.
Promotion
There are a number of different ways you can promote your Summer Kit youth fundraiser:
- Flyers – Send these home with your youth for them to give to their parents. Give them extras for their parents to hand out to their friends, colleagues, etc.
- Local businesses – Contact local businesses and see if they’d be willing to promote the Summer Kits – perhaps with flyers on the counter, a poster in the window, etc.
- Church – If your youth group is run through a church, make an announcement in a service
- Local media – Contact local newspapers and TV news stations to see if they’d be willing to do a story on your youth fundraiser
Research
Before you buy anything for the Summer Kit youth fundraiser, do some research. It would be a shame to buy loads of materials for kits, only to find out there’s no demand from local parents for a Summer Kit.
Therefore, put together some order forms beforehand to research if parents would like to buy a summer kit. If you’re providing different levels of Summer Kit, this will also give you a good idea as to whether one type of kit is more popular than the others.
On the order forms, provide the following details:
- How much a kit would cost
- Everything that will be in the kit
- When it will be available
- Who to return the order form to
- How they can pay (consider providing an option to accept credit cards)
If possible, take payment for the Summer Kits before buying the materials so that you don’t have to pay for it out of pocket initially.
We have many other youth group fundraiser ideas to help you raise money for your youth group or charities that your youth group supports. This idea is also part of the Evening Fundraiser Extravaganza.
Question: What else would be good to include in a Summer Kit? Let us know in the comments below and we’ll update the list above with your suggestions.
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