The girl across the street is trying to raise $2000 for a trip to New York. A teacher at the school is taking a group of kids, but it is not sponsored by the school. (As a teacher myself I will get different travel companies putting brochures into my box at school with travel packages for students and if enough kids sign up then the teacher gets to travel for free. The school usually will allow bulletin announcements, signs to be put up, etc... but it technically is not a school event but a great opportunity for the kids)
The kids have to come up with their own fundraiser! We just found out on Thursday that there is an $80 deposit due on the first. So we made 14 cookie bouquets (7 in a pot with a bow and 7 in a chinese take out box. 5 cookies each) and set up in front of walmart for a few hours. Only sold 4 
At $15 each we made back the supplies cost, but still need to fundraise the $80. I'm really surprised it was a hard sell........ does anyone have any ideas? The bouquets are cute and I've sold them for $15 to my friends and things, but since it isn't a special occassion it is harder to promote I guess.
Any suggestions are appreciated! They are going to try and sell some at church tomorrow........
My first thought...... sell them individually. A cookie on a stick, wrapped (using a fold over baggie w/o the zipper is cheap!), and tied with a ribbon. See if this goes over better! For some people, a couple of bucks vs $15 would be more reasonable.
OH....one other thought......make sure that you let the "customer" know what this is for........and.....make sure that the GIRL is the one doing the "selling". This topic came up during a meeting not long ago and everyone agreed that they are more willing to donate to a child's cause when the child is actually the one doing the work, not the mom/dad/leader/sponsor.
Kid was the one there......... We had a sign saying what it was for. The girls parents are very very poor (no electricity) so this might be her only opportunity to go on a trip. It would be easier to garner a little support if maybe we exploited her background, but how do you do that? Decided not to mention it, but.......
I agree with selling them individually. With craft fairs I have done (a whole 2 
) the individual cookies always go first, then the bouquets. You also might want to incorportate more "bake sale" type items like brownines, drop cookies, maybe choc dipped pretzels, etc. Good Luck!! 
I agree too! Sell the cookies individually along with other baked goods. People seem to love to buy lots of individual items. I sell to a variety of party and gift basket companies who sell my cookies individually and they always sell out within a day or two. Good Luck!!!
And maybe try a higher-end location? It'll be hard to sell your cookies when they can go in Wally's and get a "comparable" (incredibly inferior, of course) product for less than 50 cents.
I was also thinking different location. I don't know about your WalMart, but ours always has someone trying to sell something. Half the time you can't figuire out what it is they are selling or why they are trying to sell anything. Also, so many times the people sitting out there don't have things displayed nicely, things don't look nice...(trying to not be rude here)...so I'm at the point where I don't even pay attention anymore. Sorry to say, but it's true! It seems like our WalMart will let anyone out there. If yours is the same, perhaps people are like me in their thinking?!
If you indivudually wrap them up and try some place else perhaps you would have better luck?! And do you have any locally owned businesses who would be willing to help out? I live in a small town, so it's not unusual to see different things at cash registers asking you to support "one of our own" for whatever reason. Is that an option? I'm racking my brain, trying to think of different things.
Hopefully the kids had some luck at church. My son goes to a private Catholic school and whenever we have fundraisers some one is always at the back of church after Mass selling and we get a wonderful response there.
Also, if you wanted to still sell the bouquets is it possible you could have
the local paper do an ad of sorts? Again, I'm from a small town, but I know if you are doing things non-profit they are willing to donate newspaper space. Perhaps write up something about the trip and the kid(s) and then let people know about the bouquet fundraiser?
Sorry this is so long...just trying to think of some ways to get those cookies sold and get that trip earned for the young girl 
HTH. Jodie
Everyone, those are very good tips! I agree about the walmart but the other locations we tried kicked them out INCLUDING THE CHURCH (where they weren't even on the property but on the corner)
I took them to work today and sent out an email trying to appeal to the girls situation and that worked so I was able to raise the money and some for her down payment! Now she'll have to figure out how to raise $2000 minus the $80 for the trip, but the trip isn't until spring break...
Everyone, those are very good tips! I agree about the walmart but the other locations we tried kicked them out INCLUDING THE CHURCH (where they weren't even on the property but on the corner)
Oh, my goodness! I believe businesses kicked them out...if it's not about their profit they don't care. Unfortunate but true. But a church?! That's awful! Not very Christian-like...but then I shouldn't judge.
How nice of you to help out so she now has her deposit. If it was this hard to get the $80 getting $2,000 will be tough but it sounds like she has lots of time to come up with fundraising ideas. Should be able to come up with some things to do around the holidays.
Jodie
A couple of suggestions:
1. Do you know of a business/corp/etc that will "sponser" her? I know that there are times, here in my small community, when a child is not able to come up with the $$ for an event and a business will step in and sponser them. It's worth looking into.
2. Can you help line her up for "work" over the next several months? Things like babysitting, raking leaves, helping an elderly citizen with errands, etc........or even a part-time summer job at the library shelving books, etc, etc, etc.
3. What about the teacher that is taking this group of kids......does SHE have any ideas? Any connections to a group that would help this girl out?
Hope that you are able to help this child succeed in raising her funds! It appears that it could be the "trip of a lifetime" for her! Best Wishes and best of luck to her!
How about Craigslist or eBay? I am still absolutly shocked by how much business I get from CL...
craigs list... you are absolutely right on.. my daughter put my business on there, and I was getting so many phone calls, and it was like, where did you get my name from... Craigs list... who would've thought!!
Craigs list is a good suggestion.
I can't really give her odd jobs and stuff to do since I am having her sister (it is a complicated situation over there, A lady her husband and their 3 kids plus the ladies mom and her two other kids who the lady is more a mom to her sisters than her sister, sometimes the grandma's boyfriend and now the ladies cousin, husband and 3 kids... wow!) Anyway the I'm having the lady come over to clean my house to give her some extra money to buy groceries and things and I'm already paying her more than I can really afford, but I want to help them out... So the sister who is more like a daughter is going to have to do fundraisers outside of my pocket book.
Was that convoluted enough?
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