This new blog series is all about playgroups sharing their ideas and experiences so that other playgroups can get inspired and find out what has worked and lessons learnt. We’ll be chatting with playgroups about topics like fundraising, membership drives, getting people to join the committee and other aspects of playgroup life.
This is a great opportunity for playgroups to learn from one another and perhaps try something new!
In our first of the series, we chatted with Jess, Committee Member at Rainbow Playgroup in Ballajura, about their end of year Community Disco they held as a fundraiser.
1. Was this the first time you held a community disco?
Yes, this was our first time running a community disco fundraising event. We wanted to get our name out there to increase our memberships plus make extra funds for our annual Christmas party.
But most of all we held the disco so that the children could get together with other playgroup friends and community friends and have an amazing night full of delights, games and dancing.
2. Tell us about the logistics of the event – what did you charge, what was included in the price, what else did you include on the night to increase fundraising potential?
We charged $7 per ticket which included a drink and two slices of pizza. On the night we had more fundraising opportunities by selling cans of drink, water and treats (both handmade and store bought) at a reasonable price. We also sold glow products for the children to use during the event and held a raffle with big ticket items donated by our local community businesses and members. Nothing sold was over $2.
3. How did you promote the event?
All promoting was done through social media (Facebook and Instagram) and we asked our playgroup members to share the post on their Facebook page to attract more people. We also held a giveaway of 2 x tickets for the night.
4. What were the things that were most successful/worked really well?
We had an overwhelming response of support for the night and were donated a lot of goods for the raffle and bake sale.
This support from friends and community members throughout the planning of the event made the night run smoothly and gave us all a huge amount of satisfaction. It was such a successful event, we are already looking to plan another event again.
5. What, if any, would you change next time/didn’t work as well?
Other than that, there were more positives than negatives.
Little things from Playgroup WA….
Depending on your venue and where you are located, you will need to check with your local council when and if you need permission to hold events such as these. In this instance, Rainbow Playgroup had to apply for a special one off hire.
It’s also worth noting to check what conditions your playgroup may need to comply with such as what types of food and drink you’re able to sell etc. Some playgroups won’t need to do this if they are the sole user of the building and of course, different councils have different rules so always check first before you plan an event along these lines.
Do you have a story you’d like to submit? Get in touch with us at publications@playgroupwa.com.au as we’d love to share it!
Playgroup WA has been supporting, servicing and establishing playgroups throughout Western Australia since 1972.
