Summer is watermelon time. Get a large number of watermelons and have a Watermelon Fundraiser! Find a grocer or supplier and offer advertising in exchange for supplying the watermelons. If this is a large store or dealer, ask if they’ll be willing to donate the melons, or let you have them for cost. Rural areas may be able to wrangle with a local farmer for a batch of melons.
Contact a mass merchandiser and ask if they’ll donate white cotton t-shirts in various sizes, and get dollar outlets or your local Wal-Mart to donate dye. Tell them the fundraiser details, and offer advertising as you did to the watermelon supplier. Find several volunteers from your organization and have a tie-dye day or two, in time to have the shirts ready for the event.
When tie dying the t-shirts, leave them white at the neck, shading to pink in the middle, and on to dark red. Make the bottom light green changing to dark green at the hem. Paint black seeds on each shirt with fabric paint to complete the look. Have a table at the event to display and sell the shirts. $10 each is a reasonable price and allows you a profit!
Find a shady park where watermelon juice and seeds will not be a problem. Have several big tanks or children’s wading pools, filled with ice water to chill the melons. Offer all you can eat watermelon for $5 per person. Less for children under a certain age, with the very young eating free is a good idea.
Fun games to play include seed spitting (split into age categories), rind throwing, and seed carrying. Charge a small entrance fee for game participation for more profit. A free watermelon t-shirt is a nice prize for each winner.
The seed spitting contest will need a light colored sheet spread on the ground. Each contestant will stand at a line and spit toward the center of the sheet. Give them several chances, measure, and record the distance each time. Bright sidewalk chalk makes a good marker, and will come out in the wash.
Rind throwing requires half-moon sections of watermelon rind about an inch and a half thick. Have people throw them like a boomerang or Frisbee into an open space. Again, give them several chances, and measure after each throw.
Seed carrying requires moving seeds from one container to another. Contestants carry the seeds across an open space of grass while balancing them on pop sickle sticks, or carrying each seed between two sticks. Soak the sticks in water overnight, or longer, so the seeds don’t stick to them as easily. You can also have a seed relay race for little tykes.
This is a fun summertime fundraiser for any group. Remember to have plenty of water buckets, hand towels and hand wipes – things can quickly become sticky!
