Raising money is something that we all have to do at some point in our lives. It can be a painful exercise as you usually have to ask friends and family to donate and that can always be a little awkward. If you have young kids then you are likely even more used to it. They have probably come home from school on more than one occasion and handed you a form that said your child has to raise money for some cause. By your child they of course mean you and for the next few weeks the form remains in your bag and you have to ask your coworkers and friends to sponsor your child. Perhaps it is time to turn the tables on your child. Here are a bunch of ways to get your child to raise the money on their own (ok you may need to help with many of these activities).
The truth is that this is not just a good idea because it saves you from some of the awkward conversations at the water cooler, it is a good idea because it teaches children valuable skills. It allows them to start becoming familiar with finances, to understand empathy, and start learning some key communication skills. Here are some of our favorite ways for children to raise money.
A bookathon
A key part of learning for children is reading books. If you can trick your child into reading books then they will likely start to love it and it will help their cognitive development over time. One way to do this is with a bookathon. Quite simply they need to call around to all the neighbors in the street and ask them to offer a certain amount per book that your child reads. If they put down 50 cents and your child reads 10 books then they owe $5. This is a great way to raise money as most people are happy to donate to a good cause and even happier if a child is learning along the way. It also incentivizes your child to try and read more as they know they have a better chance of raising more money if they just read more.
Movie night
Another nice idea is to organize a movie night. No one likes paying the high prices for tickets and snacks at the cinema so why not take the movies back to your place. If you have access to a projector you can host it outside offering a selection of movies that goes down to a vote and a variety of snacks. The price for entry can be incredibly low and you can choose whether to do it as a one time thing or every month. If you don’t have a big backyard and don’t have a projector you can still go for this idea just on a smaller scale in your home.
Greeting cards
This is a great idea because it is not saturated yet. Get your child to make a number of greeting cards and then get them to sell them to friends and family at a low cost. As long as no one else in the family is trying the same thing, your kid will likely receive a lot of donations, You can use leftovers from some craft sessions earlier in the year and make these cards for almost nothing at all.
These are just three of our favorite ideas for raising money as a child. While selling cookies door to door is still hard to beat this article is trying to show that there are ways to keep money raising as a novel idea. While it can be an absolute pain we need to remember that there is a good cause behind it all.