Fete Stall Ideas

If you’re looking for inspiration for fete stall ideas for your next event, you’ve come to the right place! We have this resource in our Toolbox as a handy printable guide also - access it here.

Adopt an Animal

Ask families for donations of good quality soft toys or scour second-hand stores or online shops (gumtree or ebay. Give them a good wash and dry.  Once they’re all clean, tie a name tag around their necks and adopt them out for a fee. If you want to involve your IRL animals, check out this article.

Asteroid Blaster

An easy sideshow for the kids to make. All you need is some very large water pistols and some empty soft drink bottles – 2 litre ones are good. The object of the game is to have a ball balancing on the top of the bottle and it has to be hit by a blast of water from the water pistol. If you dislodge the ball, you win a prize. Spray paint your bottles with whacky colours and make your balls look like little planets. Experiment with different balls – table tennis, golf etc. to find what suits the force from your water pistols. You don’t want everybody to win, but you also don’t want it to be too hard. You can vary the degree of difficulty – every ball has to be dislodged or only one.

Auctions

SILENT AUCTIONS are auctions that are held without an auctioneer.  Instead, your guests write their bids on a sheet of paper and the highest bidder wins the prize.  You can set a minimum bid amount, you can even set a minimum increase bid amount - if a participant doesn’t follow these rules their bid is void.  You can use this method for several items at the same time so try and get as many items donated as possible!

Traditionally for CENT AUCTIONS you purchase a sheet of 100 tickets for $1 (hence the name “cent”), these days you tend to charge a bit more $5, $10? That will also depend on the quality of your prizes.  You will have your prize items displayed (or a photo of) with a bowl in front of them.  The participants can choose which prize they would like to win and add one of their tickets into that bowl.  The participant can choose to put all of their tickets in the one bowl or spread them around.  At the end of your event you draw out the winning ticket and that person can collect their prize.

Baby Animal Farms

Very popular with young children and a great stall to give the preschoolers to organise.  Several companies offer this service bringing a variety of small animals suitable for children to feed and pat. 

Badge Stall

Hire a badge making machine – let children colour in their own artwork and then make into a badge, always very popular.

Balloon Car

Engage a car yard or rental car company as your sponsor, or a sponsor that has a company car and have them bring one of their car to your event. Fill the car to capacity with inflated balloons and punters can pay to guess how many balloons fit into the car. Correct or closest guess wins the prize. This is a great branding opportunity for your sponsor and with some great salesmanship, you could even get them to donate a prize – perhaps a luxury car hire for a weekend or depending on how good your negotiation skills are maybe even a car!  Your sponsor will get enormous exposure for their brand.

Balloons

Either ask a sponsor to provide printed balloons and helium to give away or ask your local balloon shop to set up a stall. You can also look at a balloon twister to provide entertainment.

Bar

Bars can be big money spinners at fetes but you need to check your state regulations local authority on whether you will need a permit or license. Guidelines on this change quite regularly and you need to ensure that you are doing the right thing. Have a roped off ‘adults only’ area with plenty of seating and umbrellas for shade during the day and fairy lights for evening. You’ll want plenty of ice and eskies and access to a fridge as well. Not sure about the rules? Check out our regulations overview.

Barrow of Booze

Purchase yourself a wheelbarrow (or see if you can get one donated), fill it with beer, wine and spirits. You can lay some straw/hay or shredded paper underneath to fill it up a bit first. You’ll have not trouble selling raffle tickets for this – but you cannot sell tickets to anyone under 18 – and someone will go home very happy.

Beat the Goalie

Set up a soccer goal on a grassy area. Punters pay to kick the ball and try to get a goal without being stopped by the goalie. Each goal receives a prize. Having a goalie that everyone recognises will encourage people to want to have a go. Perhaps the school principal, head coach, PE teacher, a local ‘celebrity’ or even contact your local soccer club to see if they can provide a goalie for you.

Book Stall

Second hand books and magazines  are always popular – add DVD’s and videos to your stall to increase your range. For a twist on this, wrap the best books in brown paper and write a little bit about the genre and encourage people to buy a ‘mystery book’.

Bottle Stall

Collect empty bottles and jars and ask parents to donate items that can be used to fill them and also ask parents to send in ready filled bottles. A great safety idea is to empty the winning bottle contents into a paper bag – much safer than having children running around carrying glass.  Another great idea is to use disposable food containers, like the ones they pack sushi in.  They are cheap to purchase and very safe.
You can also have a stall that is filled bottles – jams, sauces, drinks, etc. You can wrap a $50, $20 and $10 note around some bottles to make the major prizes. Depending upon the number of bottles you have, you can either make everyone a winner, or select your ratio of wins to prizes. You can put winning numbers on bottles, or you can make it that every even number drawn wins a prize. Check out our Tombola article here.

Some ideas for filling bottles include:

• Coloured pencils, crayons, small activity pad, felt pens, beads with string or wire to make jewellery, marbles, pencil sharpener, rubber, McDonalds toys, hair-ribbons, scrunchies, clips, comb, brush, sticky tape, drawing pins, small post it notes, whiteboard marker, paper clips, rubber bands, lollies, chocolates
• Homemade jam or marmalade
• Bath bombs, bath crystals, soap, hand cream,
• Makeup – unused make-up samples cotton wool, cotton buds, lip gloss.
• Nail file, nail polish, hand cream, nail clippers, cotton wool
• Nails, screws, bolts, screwdriver, tape measure
• Small candles, potpourri
• Bandaids, bandages, cotton wool, cotton buds, small scissors, antiseptic cream
• Quality bottles of oil, sauces, relishes, jams. (No alcohol)
• Perfume, bath salts, bubble bath

Bubble Wands

These brightly coloured wands blow HUGE bubbles and are a big hit with all ages.  Make sure you set your stall up on grass as they can become messy.

Bust-a-Balloon

Great fun and easy to run, simply have balloons attached to a board with a number behind each board. As the punter busts the balloon they win the prize corresponding to the number behind. You can buy cheap toys as prizes and have a couple of major prizes for interest – maybe a $5 note.

Cake Dance

This is a great idea to add some fun to your fete. Basically, it is a raffle, but your customers have to work to win their prize! All you need is a nice cake that is the prize – someone could make it, donate it whatever. Promote it as a really special prize and the ticket holders have to be present at a certain time for the dance. Offer only a limited number of tickets, say 40 at $2.00 each.

When you sell all your tickets you have $80, you then get all ticket buyers together and they stand around a circle standing on a number (eg on a cardboard sheet)  40 numbers all up. You put raffle tickets in the hat and get someone to pull out a number, that number is then taken away and you get everyone to walk around the circle (to music) when the music stops they jump on a number the person missing one misses out!!!  Just like musical chairs!!!  Play until there is only one person left who is the winner of the cake and your committee is $80 in profit if the cake is donated.

It may take a little time to play, but it will provide a lot of fun for people attending your event, and of course, you don’t have to make the prize a cake, it can be anything of value.

Cake Stall

Send home empty cake boxes the last week before the fete with requests for cakes to be delivered to school on the day before the fete. With new food regulations is also a good idea to ask parents to include a list of ingredients with the cakes. Check with your local authority (see our articles here) regarding health regulations as many councils now have a requirement that any cakes that are sold must be prepared in a commercial kitchen. If this is the case in your area, ask for ingredients to be donated and organise to have a bake up in your school kitchen. Also, check out the Cake Stall templates and resources in our Toolbox.

Candle Making

Candle making is a centuries-old art. Today you can offer an exciting attraction at your fete with original candle dipping and carving. Participants are given wicks which they dip in a selection of coloured waxes. When it is the right size, it is carved and moulded into a variety of exciting shapes. The built-up layers of wax make the candles very bright and colourful. This is an activity that any age group can participate in and best of all, they get to take home a great souvenir of the fete.

Cane Toad or Cockroach Races

Cane toads, cockroaches, whatever, we all hate the little so and so’s – but what a great fundraiser they make!  You can eradicate the pests and make some money at the same time. BUT WE DO REMIND YOU, THEY ARE LIVING CREATURES AND YOU CANNOT ABUSE THEM.

What you need to race them is a field of runners. If you live in Queensland, you’ll have no shortage of cane toads, if you live in NSW, you’ll have no shortage of cockroaches – is somebody asking about Stage of Origin?

Gather up a decent number of the little darlings.  You will need to identify them – maybe make a little jacket for the cane toad or mark them with non-toxic face paint.   You then offer these fine pedigrees for sale at auction. Once they have been purchased, you are ready to race.  the new owner can take their purchase home with them after the races or leave them to be dealt with humanely.

Charge an entry fee for each race, and give a percentage of this back as prize money, say 25% for the first out of the circle and 10% for the last – the balance of the monies is profit for your charity.

A circle is an ideal race track.  Mark a decent sized circle using a piece of string, a stake and some chalk. A diameter of about three metres is ideal.  Then mark a small circle inside the larger one – 50cm should be about right. Then you let the games begin. Keep your thoroughbred stallions in a bucket or calico bag, let them go in the inner circle and start yelling.   They’re off and racing ……

The winner is the first thoroughbred to break out of the big circle.

You can run several races over the course of an evening. Make sure you have someone ready to collect the thoroughbreds after each race – you can also re-auction them after every race.

Remember, it is highly illegal to run a book on any of these races and at the end of the night, you must dispose of your thoroughbreds in a humane manner.

Car Smash

Get in contact with your local wreckers and ask them to donate a car, they will possibly even drop it up and pick it up for you!  Then, offer your guests the opportunity to smash the car with a hammer eg. $5 for 1 minute of hitting with a sledgehammer or $3 for hitting with a small hammer.

Chocolate Wheel

Always a big winner – ask local businesses to donate goods and prizes. Selling 100 tickets at $1 each you can always raise good money from this sideshow. Check your State regulations regarding raffles.

Cob of Corn

An idea that has gained popularity at school fetes, street markets and other events is a piping hot cob of fresh corn.

Contact your local fruit and veg markets to obtain the best price on corn. You will need sturdy skewers, a chopping board and a mallet to insert the skewers into the corn. You will also need some extremely large pots filled with boiling water to cook the corn and gas burners. Approach your local hire company for these items. It is recommended that you keep children away from the area – this should be a parents only activity.

Have plenty of butter, salt and pepper handy and you will be on a definite winner! As a sideline, freeze the animal-shaped soft drinks you buy in supermarkets – kids love them and you can make an excellent profit margin, especially if you buy wholesale, or make fresh lemonade.

Coconut Shy

This stall is a traditional British fairground attraction where coconuts are set up on a stands and wooden balls are thrown at them in order to knock the coconut from its stand. Knock them down and win a prize.

Coffee & Tea Stall

If you don’t provide ‘real’ coffee these days, you’ll really upset your crowd!

Approach your local coffee shop with a view to setting up a cappuccino machine. Many coffee shops now have portable coffee carts available. Serve Devonshire teas with home-baked scones. Alternatively, you can arrange for a coffee van to come to your site. They will often donate an amount per cup sold or a percentage of their takings. You will need to negotiate this with individual suppliers.

If you give stallholders or stall convenors a free cuppa during the day they’ll really appreciate it :-)

Coins in the tub

Find a decent size tub, old bath, inflatable pool etc, fill it with water and place some small tiles or other targets on the bottom. Contestants drop coins into the water to try and land on the targets. If they are successful, they win a prize.

Community Group / Local Business Stalls

A great way to showcase your sponsors is to offer them a stand at your fete. You can also donate space to local charities. As an incentive to get people to visit these stalls, have a raffle prize just for visitors to these stalls. Give your stall holders a bunch of raffle tickets and each person that visits is given a ticket to go into this special draw.

Cow Poo Lotto

All you need is a grassed area and a healthy cow, and you’re good to go! Mark your grassed area in a grid and number each square. Sell your squares – the price can vary depending on how many squares you have on offer. Ensure your cow is contained within the marked grass area and that it is well fed. The anticipation will build while you wait and then the square that the cow decides to do its business on is the winner. Check out our full article on this charming fundraiser here.

Craft Stall

Set up a craft group months before the event to make craft items. Some call them ‘Stitch and B!@#’ clubs!

Regularly ask for donations of craft materials in your newsletter, there are many people who cannot sew but are more than willing to donate raw materials.  If you can’t establish a craft group you can always scour your local markets for a suitable stall and ask them to pay a percentage of takings. Craft stalls are particularly good if your fete is on Mother’s Day weekend. Think about dividing your craft items up – jams and pickles into a gourmet food stall, skincare and bathroom luxuries in a pamper stall, toys and baby clothes in a baby stall. You can also create themes around colours – a blue stall, a red stall and a pink stall. Click here to see Craft Stall Ideas.

Crockery Smash

Let parents get out their frustrations by smashing stuff! Set up a display on shelving of old crockery which you can collect through donations or by cleaning out your local second hand charity shop. Parents may not need added incentive to smash the plates but you could add photos of some well known villains to the plates. You’ll need some small wooden balls or possibly old billiard balls or similar to smash the plates and also make sure that you have gloves and plastic drop sheets to catch and clean up the broken pieces. Punters pay for three throws at a time. Do check with your insurance company regarding their policy on this one though!

Decorate a Biscuit

This is a simple stall that kids just LOVE.  A simple packet of arrowroot biscuits, icing mixture and plenty of toppings (sprinkles, jellybeans, M&Ms, licorice, chocolate, etc etc).  Kids buy a bickie and decorate to their heart's content! This works just as well with cupcakes!

Discos

Discos are always really popular with children and school discos can raise large amounts of money. If you are having a night time event, consider running a disco in conjunction with it. Alternatively, you can run a disco at the end of the day to keep kids busy while the grown-ups all pitch in and help pack everything down! Check out our comprehensive disco organiser guide here.

Donut Stall

Your local donut store may be interested in setting up a stall cooking fresh donuts. Or get motivated and do one yourself. Or order in bulk donuts wholesale and sell them at a profit. Alternatively, how about churros? Yum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ducky Pond

Fishing plastic ducks out of a pond is an age-old favourite. Insert a little metal hoop onto the duck and a small hook into the end of a bamboo rod. Number the base of each duck and make even numbers winners. You only need a small prize like a mini chocolate bar.

Dunk-a-Teacher

Without a doubt one of the most popular activities with the kids! Your amusement ride provider should be able to help you with a dunk tank. If you can’t source a dunk tank, consider making your own stand for a wet sponge throw – just as effective!

Emergency Services Visit

Kids love anything that flashes and makes noise, so why not ask your local police station, fire station or SES if they could attend your fete. The kids (big and little) can explore a fire truck or police car and the emergency services can answer questions and provide information and education to the community. Services like the SES or even St Johns Ambulance are sometimes available to man or help man your first aid tent.

Face Painting

Always popular with the little kids. Select your designs in advance and make sure everyone can reproduce them. Photograph the designs and laminate the images – this makes it easy for the little ones to make their choice. Look at temporary tattoos for older children. You can also book in professional face painters who will pay you a percentage of their takings.

Fairy Floss

A school fete just wouldn’t be the same without fairy floss. You can hire in a machine (your amusement rides can probably provide one) or sell pre-packaged floss if you don’t want the mess of making it yourself.  Leftover pre-packaged floss can be sold through your tuckshop. You can also have specialist floss vendors come to your fete and sell floss, popcorn, etc. on your behalf. This is a great way of adding colour and atmosphere to your event without any financial outlay.

Fairy Stall

Sooooo popular with the girls. Make wands and halos and advertise for mums who can sew and make up some easy fairy costumes using tulle. You can add pirate costumes to keep the boys amused.

Farmers Market

Think of having a farmers market at your fete to attract extra visitors.

Fashion Parade

Ever-popular, approach a local boutique to sponsor the event.  Instead of choosing women’s fashion, look at children’s and teen’s fashions. For a really fun fashion parade feature used clothing from your second hand stall – have some of the students and teachers act as models – and include a selection of teachers modelling used school uniforms. Guaranteed to be a big hit.

Find a Fossil

In a large container (inflatable pools / kids sandpits work well) bury a selection of dinosaur skeletons, bones, mini dinosaur toys in sand.  You can add additional treasures eg. shells, coloured stones.  Using plastic spoons and paintbrushes, allow the guest to ‘dig’ through your prehistoric land and find their fossil.  The small toys and treasures could even double as a prize that they can keep.

Flower Stall

Take a trip to the flower market the day before – you can make up bunches yourself or buy them ready-made. If you don’t live in a capital city with a flower market, source a local flower farm. Make sure you place your order well in advance to avoid disappointment.

Flower stalls are a particularly good idea your fete is mother’s day weekend. Don’t just make bunches, do some simple arrangements which make lovely gifts. We ran a profile on a very successful mother’s day flower market.

Farmers Market

Think of having a farmers market at your fete to attract extra visitors.

Fly On The Wall/ Sticky Fly

The first thing you’ll need to do is find a victim, I mean volunteer (the principal or deputy principal are good options or maybe even a well known local business owner or politician with a sense of humour). Then you’ll need to find a sturdy wall to use and lots and lots of rolls of duct tape. Have your volunteer stand on a chair or box to get them off the ground and charge per piece of duct tape to stick them to the wall. Check out our full article here.

Food Trucks

Food trucks are becoming a very popular alternative to running your own food stalls. You won’t make as much money from them but it can alleviate the challenges of finding volunteers for food stalls. There is a lot of debate about what to charge food trucks to attend your event. Some organisers will charge a flat rate ‘stall’ fee, others will agree with the food vendor on a percentage of their income that will be taken and some charge both a flat rate and a percentage. Think about what works best for you and negotiate with the vendors if necessary.

Free Dress Day

A great source of revenue for any school is a free dress day. There are many variations on how you can raise money.

Charge a gold coin to each child who arrives in free dress, or use the day to raise items for other events within your school – leading up to your school fete the children have to bring in specific items in return for free dress – one week it could be bottles for the bottle stall, the next it could be cake mixes for the cake stall and so on. You will find you will get a lot more donations this way than simply asking the parents to send the items in.

This activity can also be used in a workplace where employees are allowed to go casual, or follow a theme for the day. Many large charities use this method to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars Australia wide. See our article for variations on the theme.

Hot Food Stalls

By far one of your most profitable areas. Ensure you have the traditional hamburgers, hot dogs and hot chips add an international flair with Chinese and Asian food, halal food, curries, Greek food, etc… Food stalls are traditionally the most popular and will raise a lot of money for you. Ensure your food is well priced. If it is overpriced, you will be left with food at the end of the day. Well priced food will all be sold.

Be aware of food regulations when planning your stall (check out our regs page here). Contact your local council well in advance to ensure you comply with regulations.

Look within your school community for ethnic groups such as Asian, Indian, Greek, Italian. Encourage them to convene food  – these are always extremely popular. Seek sponsorship from local butchers, poultry suppliers and supermarkets for ingredients.  Contact major bakeries and flour millers for donations. The more donations you receive the more money you will make. Have a working bee early in the morning to bake fresh scones for the Devonshire tea stall.

Human Slot Machine

This one is hilarious! Three Volunteers stand in their ‘slot machine’ and randomly present their piece of fruit. If they all match, the player wins!!

Gourmet Foods Stall

Pickles, jams and preservatives, gourmet biscuits and cakes are all very popular.  This stall can compliment the craft stall.

Guess the weight / Guess how many

Fill a jar with whatever you like - lollies, marbles, lego - and charge a fee for people to guess how many in the jar or you can have a single item and have people guess the weight of the item to win it. Make sure you write down names, contact details and their guess and the winner can be announced at the end of your event.

Guess Who

Ask 10 - 15 of your school’s teachers to bring in a photo of themselves as a baby (or child). Have a separate board with current photos of the same teachers.  The goal is to match the correct baby and current photo.  You could add little clues with the photo’s to keep people guessing.  You can give small prizes for individual guesses or have a major prize if someone matches every one correctly. Variation: Teacher’s Pet! The game is the same as above but match the current photos of the teacher to their pet.

Gumboot Throw

Think of this like a shot put event. Have a line for your throwers to stand behind and a large, clear area for them to throw in. Have a line marked a reasonable distance away and whoever throws the gumboot over the line wins a prize. Alternatively you can have a prize for throwing the longest distance but be sure to mark each person’s attempt with their name and contact details to notify your winner.

Hair Colour Stall

Really popular with the kids – spray on wild colours for great fun. A good alternative to face painting for older kids. You will need to buy several cartons of spray colour as it is very, very popular.

Hoopla

Very easy to organise. You simply lay prizes out on a table – elevate them on a box – the cardboard boxes you buy from dollar shops are ideal. Give your punter three turns for a set price. You will need hoops that are just a fraction larger than the box they have to fit over.   The prize is won when the hoop surrounds the box. Depending on the price you charge to have a go, you can give every child a small consolation prize.

Hot Chips

You can’t have a school fete without hot chips. Always one of the best sellers. Have a stand-alone hot chip stall or combine it with burgers. Hire deep fryers from your local party hire store or organise a hot chip van to come in and vend on your behalf.

Hot Food Stalls

By far your most profitable area. Ensure you have the traditional hamburgers, hot dogs and hot chips plus add an international flair with Chinese and Asian food, curries, Greek food, etc… Food stalls are traditionally the most popular and will raise a lot of money for you. Ensure your food is well priced. If it is overpriced, you will be left with food at the end of the day. Well priced food will all be sold. 

Be aware of food regulations when planning your stall - contact your local council. Look within your school community for ethnic groups such as Asian, Indian, Greek, Italian. Encourage them to convene food. Seek sponsorship from local butchers, poultry suppliers and supermarkets for ingredients.  Contact major bakeries and flour millers for donations. The more donations you receive the more money you will make. 

Ice Creams

Ice creams are always a popular treat, especially on those hot days. It can be difficult for a school to set up its own ice cream stall because of the need for refrigeration. Booking an ice cream vendor is the ideal solution. You can choose from soft serve, speciality ice creams or prepackaged favourites.

Jump Lotto

Use skydiving displays to raise revenue for your school, and involve a fun and colourful skydive display as well!

How does this work? Your school holds a raffle by selling lottery tickets where the purchaser places their name and details on the tickets. On the day of the fete the ticket holders place their tickets on the ground in a designated area, and the ticket the skydiver lands on is declared the winner (lots of fun and excitement, and a fun way to raise revenue!)

Karaoke

Karaoke has become really popular with children. Consider running a Karaoke disco. This is an especially good idea if you are having a nighttime event.

Kiss a Pig

Many schools have had success with this fundraiser.  Here’s how it works…

Approach your principal, teachers and admin staff to participate in this fun event. They must agree to kiss a pig in front of the entire school. You will need three of four candidates and only one will be picked as the lucky ‘kisser”.   Make sure your candidates are well known to the kids and good sports.

The kisser will be the person who raises the most money in the fundraising drive – but your candidates don’t actively raise money – they don’t want to have to kiss the pig so they don’t want to raise the most money!  They are free to raise money on their opponents’ behalf.    You can commence this fundraiser well in advance of your fete. You will need to place secure jars, each marked with your candidates’ names, in secure areas around your school.  Anyone can vote for the candidates by placing money, or pledge forms, into the jars.

On the day of the fete set up a Kiss a Pig stall.  Make it really bright and fun with lots of colour and balloons and have large photos of your candidates. Make sure you promote the event throughout the day. The lucky pig kisser will be the candidate who raises the most money. Kids will go all out to ensure their principal has to kiss the pig. You can have this event as the grand finale for the day and you will be able to collect money right up until the last minute.

Make sure you book an animal farm for your fete and have them provide the piggy to be kissed. If your mobile farm doesn’t have a piggy, look for another animal – a camel from the camel rides, or a donkey make great substitutes. This is a great community spirit builder and the kids will get a great kick from seeing an unpopular teacher have to kiss the pig. Here’s our Kiss a Pig article

Ladder Climb

The ladder climb is a wire ladder with wooden rungs, it has a swivel at either end of the ladder. It is attached to a frame – at the top of the frame, you attach a $50 note. Anyone who can climb the ladder without falling over wins the prize.

Laser Tag

Played around inflatable objects, laser tag involves tagging opposing team members. These mobile arenas are extremely popular with older children. You will need a large area to house the inflatable arenas. It is great fun for all ages and really popular activity.

Lemon Balance

Contestants have to balance a coin on top of a floating lemon and count 5 seconds. They win 5 times the amount of whatever coin they choose to use. Give it a try - it’s not as easy as you’d think.

Lob-a-choc

Another one that is really popular with kids. You can do a couple of variations. If you have access to a sturdy child’s paddling pool, cover it in large mesh chicken wire. The idea is you place the chocolates on the wire – the players throw a gold coin at the chocolates. If the coin lands and remains on the chocolate, they win the chocolate. Use mini chocolates – and make sure the chicken wire is large enough for the money to fall through. Add some larger bars to make it interesting, but put these towards the back so they are harder to win. If you don’t have a paddling pool you can vary this by using shallow plates – but specify that the money must land on the chocolate to win, not the plate. Make sure you buy plenty of chocolate as this is very popular. We have an awesome article on this one too – check it out!

Lob a Dunny Roll

This one takes little explanation! It’s a great one to be sponsored by a plumber… Have a toilet or two (without any water!) and have your players stand behind a white line. Make it closer for the very little kids. They get three toilet rolls to throw into the toilet. Lots of fun!

Lolly and Sweet Stall

Ask for donations from parents and repackage them into plastic bags. Refer to recipes on our website. Lolly necklaces are always a popular item and can be easily made by children.   Confectionery warehouses are a good source of cheap lollies. Check out our resources for stall convenors in our toolbox :-)

Lucky Bucket

Fill a bucket with water and place a gold coin at the bottom, in the centre of the bucket. To have a go you drop a 20c coin into the bucket. If it covers the gold coin, you win the coin as a prize. An easy attraction for children to run.

Lucky Dips

Lucky dips are irresistible to most children. A toy or novelty wholesaler should be able to provide you with cheap toys suitable for the lucky dip. Also source hair clips, hair slides, ribbons, necklaces, earrings and rings. Wrap in bright colours and put in brightly coloured containers – plastic rubbish bins covered in wrapping paper are good. It is a good idea to have one for boys and one for girls. You can make the dip harder by filling the container with sawdust so the children have to rummage around to find their prize – but make sure your prizes are well wrapped.

Lucky Plate

Another easy sideshow using a paddling pool. Fill the paddling pool with water and float a small china plate in the water. Put a $2 coin in the plate. Draw a line about 2 metres from the pool. If you can throw a 20cent piece onto the plate, you win the prize. Practice as you set up the stall to decide the best distance for the line. The 20c coins will usually bounce off the plate.

Lucky Socks

You will need a Hills Portable Clothes Hoist and hundreds of used socks!  The idea is to set up your Hills Hoist and then peg the socks to the lines.

You can run this stall in a couple of ways. You can let your customers actually select a sock, which will have a lucky number inside, or you can number each sock and let your customers buy tickets, like tombola.

You could put your prize inside the sock – mini bars of chocolates, scratch it tickets, small toys – or you could have the lucky ticket inside the sock that corresponds to your prize table.

Maybe your local hardware store would generously donate the Hills Hoist and it could be the major prize?

Alternatively, you can string up lines using rope.

Ask for donations of socks to use on the stall. We wrote a tip on this one a little while ago called What’s in the Sock?

Money Tree

A money tree is a really novel way to raise money at a school fete. It is simple to put together, cost effective and an attractive prize. You simply need to buy (or have donated) a small topiary tree in a nice pot. 

Buy a selection of Scratch It cards (select your own amount). You then punch a small hole in the card, pass a small piece of coloured ribbon through the card and tie it to the tree.   Make sure they are placed evenly across the tree. 

You can also vary the idea by using dollar notes wrapped and tied with a small piece of ribbon, or gift vouchers. Make it seasonal by using a Christmas tree. You can use your money tree as a raffle, chocolate wheel or tombola prize.

Mural Building

Grab a large roll of butcher's paper, sell off sections at a time.  Once the current section has been decorated, roll it back up so you can’t see what comes before you.  At the end of the event unroll the paper to reveal the mural masterpiece.

Mutant Toy Stall

Ask for your families to donate broken toy pieces or unloved, no longer used toys (not stuffed animals).  Charge to create your own ‘mutant’ toy.  This will require a few adult volunteers to man the hot glue gun and assist putting the pieces together. Check out our article on mutant toy stalls here.

Name the …

Have an item like a baby born doll and sell tickets to name her. At the end of the day, the winning name is pulled from a box and the person who selected that name wins the doll.  Alternatively, you can have 100 names already selected and sell the names.

Paper Aeroplane Contest

A simple idea that can generate a lot of competition (especially from the blokes). You can either have a target (prize) or the longest distance travelled wins. Charge per sheet of paper (say $2) and have a pen handy for them to write their name on it. You can charge extra (up to $5) for a sheet of paper and a paper clip combo (for weighting).

Photo Booth

You can either hire a photo booth or DIY one yourself. Great for themed events. All you need to do is supply some props and charge per photo.

Pick a pop

Grab yourself a piece of ply and cut out a design in any shape (Have a little fun!) Drill small holes all over your design, just large enough to hold a lollipop stick.  Pick your number of winners and colour in the sticks.  The great thing about this is everyone's a winner - you can win the lollipop or if you’re lucky and pull a coloured stick you can win a bigger prize. Note: that you don’t need to use ply, cardboard does work as well.

Ping Pong Bounce

You can use disposable cups or pringle containers for this. Make them different colours to reflect the level of difficulty. Then all you need are a whole bunch of ping pong balls. Charge for 3 attempts and if successful, they win a prize based on the colour of the cup or container. To make it a bit trickier for the grown ups, you can set the rules so that all 3 attempts must be successful to win.

Plant Stall

You need to have your convenors organised well in advance for this one if you plan to grow your own stock.  If you don’t want to grow them yourself approach a wholesale nursery. A visit to the local flea market is also a source of cheap plants. If your plants are well priced they will sell out early.

Another great twist is to have a stall selling seeds. They can be ordered and scheduled to arrive just prior to the fete. There are some really unique and eye-catching options that will give you a stall with little effort and big fundraising rewards. 

Plaster Art

Incredibly popular with kids, but you need a convenor who is willing to make all the shapes in advance. A working bee for parents can be a good way of getting them made. There are businesses who will also supply you with ready-made shapes, or will attend your fete and pay a percentage of takings.

Play your Cards Right

There are two ways you can set this game up. Firstly, have a selection of cards set out on a table. Nominate whether prizes will be won depending on the colour of the card or whether it’s odd or even. Players roll a 10 cent piece along the table to try and land on winning cards. The second option is to have 2 decks of cards, secure one deck to the table and place a small prize (lollies or something similar) on 1 in 3 of the cards. Players pay to choose 3 random cards from the other deck and if they match the cards on the table with the prize, they win that prize.

Pony Rides

A classic fete favourite. Make sure you use established businesses rather than parents from the school – you must ensure you have adequate public liability insurance.

Poo Lotto

(See also Cow Poo Lotto above) This is a really fun activity and always attracts lots of attention.   You can select what animal you choose to ‘poo’ depending upon the area you have available. You can use anything from a guinea pig to a cow, as long as it is an animal that does plenty of poos. Using tape or chalk, mark out an area into equal squares and give each square a number. 100 is an excellent number as it will correspond with the number of tickets in a raffle book. The winner is the person who owns the ticket that corresponds to the box number the animal poos in. Cash prizes are an excellent incentive. Remember to clean up between lottos!

Popcorn Stall / Cart

Many schools are investing in their own popcorn machines as they can be used on multiple occasions (disco’s, movie nights etc.) however it may be easier for you to hire one. Popcorn is always popular at fetes and can be quite profitable.

Pre-Loved Clothing Stall

Second-hand clothing is always popular. You can vary the number of stalls you have by sorting your clothing into:

• baby and children’s clothing
• school uniforms
• women’s
• men’s

Hold a fashion parade featuring your pre-loved treasures. Have some of your teachers as models and you will have a real winner on your hands. See our second-hand convenor resources here

Ring a Bottle

This is a variation on hoopla. Set up a table full of 1.25 litre soft drink bottles. Use tiny hoops (available from craft shops).  The player throws the hoop and it must ring the bottle’s neck. If it does, the winner wins the bottle. This is very popular with older children so make sure you have plenty of bottles. If you have a spruiker yelling out each time the game is about to start, you’ll get a good crowd.  Make sure you buy several cartons of drinks.

Sand Art

This is a great interactive stall for any event involving children. Children create wonderful pictures on cards by peeling off sticky layers one at a time & covering each layer of the picture with different coloured sands.

Sausage Sizzle

It’s just not a fete without a sausage sizzle. For all the information you need to organise your sausage sizzle, check out our ‘Ultimate Sausage Sizzle Organisers Guide’ article here or just head straight for the complete printable in our Toolbox that contains the full guide plus all the templates you’ll need :-) 

School Merchandise

Sell pre-printed school merchandise such as t-shirts, caps, mugs, keyrings and tea towels.   This is especially good if you have a school anniversary to commemorate.

Showbags

You can make bags yourself, but by the time you source materials to fill them, you may find it cheaper to purchase pre-packaged ones. We have several show bag companies listed who will help you.

Sideshow Alley

Having a Sideshow Alley with games that appeal to the young and old is one of the most popular attractions at school fetes. With so many games on offer these days, the sky’s the limit when it comes to your options. They include:

$1 Bucket – Put a one-dollar coin in the bucket – win half the money if your coin is drawn out!

21 – Do you like cards? Score exactly 21 in 3 darts and a prize is yours!

Asteroid Blaster – Dislodge the ball balancing on top of the bottle with a large water pistol and you win a prize!

Bust-a-balloon – Pop a balloon with a dart to win a prize!

Hoopla – Surround a box with a hoop and the prize is yours!

Knock-ems – One of the all-time favorite sideshow alley games. Great for all ages and any skill level. Knock down all the cans to win a prize!

Ladder Game – Land a bean bag in each space between the rungs of the ladder and throw the last bag through the door of the bell tower to win a prize!

Lob-a-Choc – See if you can land a gold coin on a bar of chocolate – if it does, it’s yours!

Lucky Bags – Draw a lucky number and receive the corresponding bag of goodies!

Lucky Bucket – Drop a 20-cent coin into a bucket of water – if it covers the gold coin, the coin is yours!

Lucky Dip – Dip your hand in and grab a prize – prizes for both girls and boys!

Lucky Ducks – Pull a duck out of the pool and the corresponding prize is yours – everyone’s a winner!

Lucky Plate – Land a 20-cent coin on the plate floating in water and you win a prize!

Paper Airplanes – Buy a piece of A4 paper, fold it however you wish to make a paper airplane and then fly your plane along the course. Furthest distance wins a prize!

Ping Pong Pringles – Bounce a ping pong ball into an empty Pringles tube to win a prize.

Pot Luck – Select a pot and pour through a garden sieve to see if you have won a prize!

Ring-a-bottle – Throw a hoop, if it rings the soft drink bottle’s neck, the bottle is yours!

Smash-a-plate – See how many plates you can smash with a wooden ball – no prize, but very popular with dads and kids!

Splat the Rat – Splat the rat with a bat (pinning it against the board) as it drops out of the drainpipe and a prize is yours. Splatisfaction guaranteed!

Tombola – Pull a ticket out of the barrel to find out if you are the winner of a gorgeous teddy bear!

Win A Wine – Something for the adults – a 50/50 chance of winning a bottle of wine. Draw a corresponding ticket and the bottle is yours!

Check out our Sideshow Alley article, including a guide to prizes, here :-)

Silent Auctions

This one is too mega for a description, so you can read about it all in our full Silent Auction article!

Snow Cones & Shaved Ice

Always very popular, especially on hot days.

Soft Drinks

A must-have for any event. Remember to also include bottled water. Soft drink manufacturers may be able to supply you with drink stalls to sell from. Either arrange wholesale prices or run stock drives in the weeks leading up to your event to receive donations of stock from your community. Don’t forget to order plenty of ice!

Splat the Rat

You’ll need a piece of drainpipe (about 1m long), a toy rat and a baseball or cricket bat. Set up the drainpipe so that the toy rat can be dropped into it and participants need to hit the rat with the bat before it hits the ground. It’s not as easy as it sounds.

Stairway to Heaven

Have a standard 6′ step ladder. On each step, you place a container. To have a go, you get the same number of balls/bean bags as there are containers. To win a prize you must throw a ball/bag into each container. To increase the degree of difficulty, make the containers smaller as they go up the ladder. Ping pong balls will be harder to use than bean bags. Experiment to see what suits you best.

Stick Lotto

Stick lotto is really easy to organise and great fun. You will need a large shallow box filled with sand – you can buy plastic containers from dollar shops that are ideal. You need wooden coffee sticks. A good number to use is 100. Decide what ratio of prizes you are going to give away and then paint the tips of that number of sticks. They are the winners. Push the ends of all the sticks into the sand box. Make it inexpensive to have a go – say 20 cents. Mini chocolates are an ideal prize. You can vary this by marking numbers on the sticks and offering corresponding cash prizes, this is more appropriate if you are charging $1 per stick.

Temporary Tattoos

You can include this as part of your face painting stall or run it separately. A great idea for the ‘older kids’ who are too cool for face painting. You can have a company attend your event and pay you a percentage of the takings or you can purchase tattoos yourself. Consider custom made tattoos to promote a special event such as the school anniversary, a sports carnival or special fundraiser.

Tombola

Similar to lucky bottles. Ideally, have all your prizes donated and have a couple of major prizes that will attract attention. Stick a raffle ticket on each prize and put the stubs in a lucky barrel. Add extra raffle tickets, select your ratio depending on the value and number of prizes you have and how many you are supplying for $1. The prizes are won as the corresponding tickets are pulled out of the barrel. For easy of selecting winners, use coloured tickets for winning prizes and white for non-winners. See the full Tombola run-down here.

Trash n Treasure

White elephant, pre-loved, trash and treasure – there is always a ready market for second-hand goods. If you can provide a collection service for donations you will always get a great selection of items. You might need to offer delivery on larger items as well. Check out our trash and treasure resources.

Treasure Hunt / Scavenger Hunt

Fill buckets with sand and bury ping pong balls in the sand. Number each ball and have it correspond to a prize. Alternatively, you can sell sheets for a treasure hunt and have people explore the fete to find everything on the list. Correct entries returned to the stall win a prize.

Wall of Envelopes

Decide on how many envelopes you will use – 100 is a good starting point but you could even add to this number throughout your event. Number your envelopes and place a dollar value inside them from $1 – $100. Pin them to your noticeboard. Passersby choose any envelope and donate the amount written on the envelope. For example, I choose envelope 10 and put $10 in the envelope as my donation.

Washing Line Game

White elephant, pre-loved, trash and treasure – there is always a ready market for second hand goods. If you can provide a collection service for donations you will always get a great selection of items. You might need to offer delivery on larger items as well.

Water and Wine

For this you’ll need to ask for donations of both full and empty wine bottles. You’ll need the lids with the empty ones though. Fill the empty bottles with water and then wrap all the bottles with wrapping paper or newspaper and place them on a table. Make a selection of ⅓ wine and ⅔ water bottles. Charge a few dollars for people to choose a bottle at random. They can then unwrap it  and if it’s wine, they keep it. If it’s water they can return it to the stall holder. You’ll need to make sure you have plenty of donations to replenish your stock throughout your event. Make sure you put a discreet marking on the bottom of each bottle so you know which is water and which is wine.

Water Warriors

Have a roped off area with obstacles to make things a bit more fun. Supply water guns and goggles for participants who pay for a 5 minute session of water fighting.

Yucky Dip

Have some bowls of jelly with plastic toys stuck in them. Kids will love to smoosh through the jelly to retrieve the toys. Make sure you have plenty of old towels and/or baby wipes handy for this one!