Busy parents with kids are looking for cost effective, quick getaways to recharge their batteries and have a little fun on their own. Why not help them out by staging a Stay-cation Fundraiser Raffle? By negotiating a partnership with one of the nicer hotels in your community, parents and other couples will be more than willing to buy a raffle ticket or two. Husbands may even buy an entire roll!
There are a couple of ways a Stay-cation fundraiser can work. The first way is to negotiate with a hotel for a donated luxury suite for one or two nights over a weekend. If the room boasts a Jacuzzi tub and complimentary robes, all the better!
Figure out how many meals the lucky winners will require and get them restaurant gift certificates or coupons for discounted meals from a variety of restaurants with different cuisines. Don’t forget breakfast. Be sure that the hotel suite includes breakfast in bed! Other great extras to include in the room are donated fresh flowers, cookies and a gift basket of beauty products.
Another way to sell more tickets is through beefing up the prize with free entertainment in the evening. If you’re lucky enough to live in a larger city with live theater, musical events or comedy clubs try and wrangle a couple of free tickets by promising the businesses no cost advertising during the raffle. The same idea can work in a smaller town with movie theaters playing the latest film releases.
There is one more important detail to make your Stay-cation prize even more exciting–include transportation! Either locate a donated luxury rental car, have a limo service donate time and a chauffeur, or find a really cool loaner from a willing source. (Just be sure that all the insurance papers are in order.)
You can decide to promote your Stay-cation as either a ‘couples only’ prize or include the kids if you can negotiate with the hotel for kid-friendly activities. While the parents are out to dinner and a show or relaxing in the spa, provide a supervised game night for the kids or fun activities if there is an indoor or outdoor pool available.
Make the kids feel special when the family checks into the hotel by giving them an arrival goodie bag. The bags can be customized for age appropriate items after the winner is announced with games, books and candy donated from local stores.
Rather than a one-time raffle, another way to raise money with a Stay-cation is to choose a period of time, perhaps three or four different weekends in a month, and advertise that if people stay at the hotel your school will receive a rebate for every room rented. (Some hotels will rebate $20 or more per room.) Negotiate with the hotel for meal coupons or other incentives like free drinks in the bar if the hotel has evening entertainment.
Because a Stay-cation Fundraiser does not require a lot of time planning, it could become a winning revenue source twice a year!
