With Christmas just around the corner, this time of year can be quickly overwhelming for all of us. But, I wanted to share a post with a light hearted idea about a school secret santa shop that will hopefully keep some Christmas spirit and joy alive in all of us in schools.
Today, I’m talking about having a school secret santa shop. But, it may not be what you think..
In our sector, we see so often how much our students want to be independent – but just can’t. Or, how family members really struggle to take our students out shopping with them. We may even have single parent families, or families who are struggling to get everything done. And this is where the secret santa shop comes in.
What is it?
It’s pretty much like it sounds. It’s a ‘shop’ that you can set up in your school to sell items. Students can purchase items from the ‘shop’, have them wrapped (or wrap them up in class as part of some additional learning) and then give them to friends or families.
Why do that?
I know what you’re probably thinking. December is crazy enough in our schools without adding something extra to our plates. But, if everyone works together – there’s not that much extra work that needs doing and there are SO many benefits for doing this. Some are..
- It can raise funds for your school. Buy some gifts in bulk, and speak to local stores to see if they’ll be willing to donate anything to your shop in return for some exposure. Small local businesses are always really grateful for this, as it helps to get their name out there too! Then, sell the gifts at the shop. The money raised can go to your school/classroom.
- You can use it as an enterprise project. Create gifts with your class that you can sell at the shop. You could design Christmas cards and have them printed by a local business and sell these. You could design canvases or make necklaces/bracelets.
- It gives your students a chance to be independent. They are able to go and purchase a gift for friends or family.
- Your students families will really appreciate it. Not many of your students will be able to go out and buy presents for family members – and some parents may never know what it feels like for their child to purchase them a gift – until now!
- It teachers your students about money and budgeting. They have $20 – but they want 3 x $10 gifts. Now what? Can they afford it.. no. Or maybe they have to buy for 2 people, and they have $10 to spend. What budget can they spend on each person?
- Provides additional learning opportunities. Have a set 30 minutes for staff to sit with students and help them wrap their presents – working on fine motor skills, problem solving, handwriting.
Those are just some quick benefits from the secret santa shop – but I can assure you, the benefits and learning opportunities are pretty endless with this!
Where to get the gifts?
Like I briefly mentioned above, reach out to local businesses. Can anyone donate anything? Do staff have any gifts at home that have never been used – or are unwanted – that they can donate? Can your school give you a set budget to go and buy some gifts at discounts from stores?
You can even make things with our students, as mentioned above.
What to charge?
So, the main secret to success here is not to overcharge. A lot of families may not be able to afford to send much money in, so you want things to suit all budgets. Even if it’s just selling some poinsettia flowers for $1-2. You can speak to local garden shops and see if they’re willing to donate you any flowers – or purchase seeds through the year and grow flowers yourselves to sell at the secret santa shop!
How do I run it?
First, you want to send home letters with your students to let them know about the secret santa shop. Be sure to include what it is, what students can buy, what the prices range from etc.
Have some members of staff in charge of the secret santa shop. You can rotate these as well to ease up on taking staff out from classes. Some staff can set up the stall with all the gifts. Other staff can then take over on the selling side for 30 minutes, then swap.
You could even have it set up so that 1 class goes to the secret santa shop at a time – and the staff in that classroom put the money into the ’till’ or ‘pot’ themselves, recording who purchased what and payment made.
You can then either have staff there to wrap the gifts up, or you can do it back in class and all wrap your gifts together.
What do we do with leftover gifts?
Well, they are things that aren’t perishable, keep them for next year! Put them away safely in an office and next year you already have some great gifts to start filling your shop up with.
Have you ever had a secret santa shop in your school? Let us know in the comments down below any tips or experiences that you can share with us.
P.S. If you found this blog post helpful, please consider sharing it with your friends and colleagues to give them a fun Christmas idea too!
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