15 Valentine’s Day Fundraising Ideas for Schools

Valentine’s Day can be a fun and festive event for all ages, from kids who associate the day with pink and hearts to high school teens that look forward to flaunting their sweetheart in the hallways. As with any holiday, Valentine’s Day is no exception to decorations and events. Valentine’s Day’s casual nature makes it an excellent holiday to use as a promotional tool for your next fundraiser!

Using an integrated platform like FutureFund can ensure you have all of the things you need to set up your next fundraiser for success. Combining some of the fun ideas we’ll lay out in this article with the incredible fundraising benefits of FutureFund is one surefire way to knock your Valentine’s Day fundraiser out of the park.

Categorize Your Fundraisers

There are so many different ways to raise money for your kids and their school. When you’re planning an event, choosing a fun theme or category can help you come up with some really fun and creative ways to fundraise. Using a tool like FutureFund can help with the organization as well, through features like 24/7 online support and built-in payment processing.

In this article, we’ll outline a few different categories of events you can plan for your child’s school:

• Physical Activity
• Get Creative
• Keep it Simple

Each category has different pros and cons to attract attention to your fundraiser. However, the great thing about widely known holidays, like Valentine’s Day, is that the branding and promotional material is already thought out for you! It’s easy to get people excited about something they’re already quite familiar with.

Physical Activity

Dance the Night Away

One of the most classic and timeless Valentine’s Day events you can throw to raise some money is a good, old-fashioned dance. Kids love to get dressed up and dance around to their favourite tunes – so why not sell some tickets to raise some dollars! Not only can you throw a super fun dance for limited money, but you can also use the opportunity to sell concessions or homemade treats as another way to fundraise.

Daddy-Daughter / Mother-Son Dance

One of the appeals to a daddy-daughter or mother-son dance is imagining your little one getting married and sharing a special dance with their parents (especially when they’re still small!). Dances, where kids can bring their parents, are an awesome option for younger children, and these events can go swimmingly for elementary schools. If you don’t want to sell tickets, you can also provide the option for staff and parents to donate an amount of their choice to attend or purchase something for their child, like a rose or bowtie.

Throw a Sadie Hawkins Dance

If your kids are older and attend middle or high school, a more “grown-up” themed dance may be a bit more popular. A Sadie Hawkins dance is an event where the girls invite a date of their choice, straying from traditional norms of the boys asking out the girls. Decorate the gymnasium with some heart-shaped balloons and set up a photobooth for a great way to genuinely sell some great memories.

Put Your Heart Into It

Although dances are super fun and a great way to get kids involved, other activities surrounding physical health and activity can garner excitement. Relay races, jog-a-thons, or other pseudo-marathons for children are a great way to bring attention to the cause you’re raising money for. Asking for sponsorships while splitting the profits between the school and a relevant charity will help tug on the heartstrings of staff and parents alike, which can help you reach your goal!

Get Moving!

Running isn’t the only way to get kids and adults both moving for a good cause! If you’re needing to raise some money for the school, what better win-win than to ensure your little ones get active, too! Challenges, like jump-a-thons or skip-a-thons, where children are challenged to compete with one another for how many times they can jump rope or skip around the courtyard, keep everyone having fun while getting their heart rate up! Active events are also opportunities to sell snacks and drinks.

Get Creative

Host an Art Show

When Valentine’s Day rolls around, everyone is looking for cute gifts to give their sweethearts. Older children, like high schoolers, may be looking for a nice card to accompany the box of chocolate they’re planning to buy their significant other. Plus, opening up an art show to parents and staff can also entice them to purchase homemade gifts for their loved ones. Task the art classes or more artistically-inclined students to make up a variety of hand-lettered cards to sell and see how fast they fly off the shelves!

Gift Baskets 

Challenge each class to come together and create an awesome gift basket to raffle off to their friends and family. If each student donates an item or towards an item, each basket can feature some really attractive items that people will be enticed to try and win! Each class can have a theme for their basket; for example, a comfort basket that features fuzzy slippers and lavender bubble bath. Plus, a gift basket is a great gift for Valentine’s Day, so it works with the overall holiday theme.

Tea Time!

Who doesn’t love a good tea party? This event could be a great idea for younger children to get dressed up and festive for. Sell additional tickets for kids to bring their favourite stuffed animals, and be sure to offer complimentary drinks and snacks for their furry friends! Feel free to organize a list of volunteers to supply some treats and beverages to sell as well!

Host a Baking Class

What screams Valentine’s Day more than heart-shaped sugar cookies? Have the kids brainstorm some of their favourite recipes, and then sell tickets for family and friends to attend and make some sweet treats to bring home. If you have the right connections, you could also partner with a cooking store or restaurant to collaborate on a more professional event (but still have the kids help out, of course).

Host a Bake Sale

Although the concept may seem simple, there is truly no better way to enjoy a morning or afternoon than to sell some homemade goodies to people in your community. Encourage kids to bake some of their favourite treats with their parents or grandparents and bring them in to sell! Pair the bake sale with a coffee station and one of the school’s sporting events to have a surefire turnout where you can raise some money towards your goal.

Keep it Simple

Book Drive

Similar to a Read-a-Thon, you can support the bright young minds at your child’s school by hosting a love-themed book drive. Have the students donate their favourite love stories for other students to enjoy, and ask parents and staff to donate to the cause! If you have some avid writers among the student population, ask them to submit some of their original love stories for a friendly competition, where the winner gets a selection of fun Valentine’s candies!

Flower Drive

When you think about Valentine’s Day, what better way to celebrate a day of love than to sell some flowers! Although it may seem cliche, flowers are a great way for kids and adults alike to express their love and gratitude for an important human in their life. You can typically buy flower arrangements, or various types of flowers to arrange yourself, for an affordable price if you purchase in bulk. Plus, supporting a small local florist is a great way to give back to your community.

 Donations for Kindness

If you’ve ever been to an auction where individuals are raffling off acts of service, think about how awesome it would be to bid on getting a child to go and sing to the local elderly at a nearby nursing home. Come up with a long list of acts of kindness for the students at your child’s school and assign a few to each class or grade. Then, invite parents and staff along to bid on having the children perform these acts of kindness on behalf of the Day of Love.

Gift Exchange

Prepare a selection of cute gifts for students to buy for their sweethearts, such as personalized chocolates or small labeled balloons, and offer them at the front office. Kids love to feel special on Valentine’s Day, especially teenagers, so head over to your local dollar store and stock up on some festive knick-knacks!

Get the Arts Involved

If your child’s school has an art, drama, or theatre program, having them sell commissioned pieces or performances is a great way to bring attention to the programs but also raise money. Have the art program offer portraits for students to purchase for their sweeties. Get the drama team to offer up fun personal dance classes for couples to take. Have theatre kids offer customized songs to serenade for hire!

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

Overall, fundraising doesn’t always have to be boring. Partnering with a PTA-focused platform like FutureFund can help keep you focused on what matters – raising money for your kids and their school! Want to give it a try? Book a demo to learn more!