Aug 21, 2026
3 Min
We looked at nearly 18,000 events created on PTA Events this last school year and have picked some of the best ideas for PTA inspiration, in time for the new school year.
The classics are classics for a reason and there is nothing wrong with a summer fair that runs like clockwork. But buried in the data is something better - the ideas that made us stop scrolling. The PTA that replaced fireworks with lasers, the one that turned a matchbox into a fundraiser or the one that let a Year 4 pupil run the school for a day.
So we sorted through the lot and picked our ten favourites. Every one of these is real and every one was run by a PTA like yours.
Run by 110 schools.
Easily the breakout idea of the year. Children buy a chocolate bar with a special wrapper, and a lucky few find a golden ticket inside.
The genius is in the prizes. Very few PTAs gave away expensive items. Instead they gave away things that cost the school nothing and mean everything to a nine year old: extra house points, non-uniform day for you and two friends, jump the lunch queue, a class movie afternoon, zorb balls for your class or PJ day for the whole class.
Most schools timed it for World Book Day, which is where the Wonka reference lands hardest. Names ranged from the sensible to the wonderful: Wonderlicious Bars, Wonder Bars, Wonky Bars, Cronka Bars, Herdy Bars, Rainbow Bars, and one school that simply went with "Move Over Wonka".
Why it works: Low unit cost, high perceived value, no volunteer rota and a prize list you can build for free with the Headteacher’s blessing.
Watch out for: Allergies. The best listings offered dairy free, vegan and gluten free options as standard.
Real example: Thomas Reade Primary School ran Wonderlicious Day with individual and class prizes raising over £500. Bars were handed out on World Book Day itself.
Remember, where there is a profit from bar sales and prizes are offered this is classed as gambling and a lottery licence is required. You can find out more by heading over to our FAQ here.
Run by 5 schools. Deserves to be run by 5,000.
A raffle where the prize is your child running the school. Tickets ranging from £1 to £5, one winner from KS1 and one from KS2 and a genuinely brilliant list of duties.
The winners unlock the gates, greet parents at the door, take the register, lead the celebration assembly, hand out stickers, do playground duty, read the class story, sit in on meetings and wear their own clothes all day.
One school, Allington Primary, went further and made entrants complete a short application form as part of the booking - even better.
Why it works: it costs the PTA nothing, it needs one staff member to say yes and parents will pay repeatedly for a shot at it. It is the highest margin idea on this list.
Variation worth stealing: Victoria Church of England Infant and Nursery School ran a silent auction of teacher experiences, where staff donated things like lunch with the class or a special activity. Same principle, bigger basket.
Run by 2 schools. The most underrated idea on the list.
Staff perform songs in elaborate costumes. Children guess who is behind the mask. That is the whole format and it is perfect.
Allington Primary ran a Christmas Special version at £6 a ticket including a snack and a drink.
Why it works: Children are hysterical at the idea of Mrs Smith in a costume suit. Staff who would never volunteer for a stall will absolutely volunteer for this. It sells out on word of mouth.
Effort level: Medium. You need costumes, a sound system and about six brave teachers.
Run by 23 schools. An upcoming alternative.
Bonfire night is a fundraising fixture and an accessibility nightmare. Twenty three PTAs solved it by dropping the bangs entirely and hiring a laser show.
Talbot Heath described theirs as "a safe, sensory, bang free alternative to fireworks" held outdoors on their wooded campus with two show times, a fire show, hot food and disabled parking, raising over £3,300.
Hiltingbury Schools ran Spooks and Sparks, a laser spectacular set to child friendly Halloween music, aimed squarely at children who find fireworks overwhelming, raising £6,300. Commonswood ran Winter Nights and Laser Lights with mulled wine, food vendors and a local sponsor, bringing in over £2,800.
One PTA summed the whole category up in a single event name: "All the Sparkle, None of the Bang".
Why it works: It opens your biggest night of the year to SEND families, anxious children and everyone with a dog. Sponsors like it. Insurance likes it. And it still looks spectacular.
Run by 20 schools.
Families and local businesses build scarecrows and display them outside their homes. The PTA sells a map. Everyone spends a Sunday walking round the village. Add a vote for your favourite scarecrow.
The revenue model is the clever bit, because it stacks three income streams on one event:
You can add event sponsors through the PTA Events platform. See how in this FAQ: How can I add a map or file to an order confirmation email?
Real result: St Michael’s C of E Primary School raised an average of £500 a year running theirs.
Alternatives worth copying:
The Advent Window Trail. Greens Norton and Burlington Schools ran versions where a different house window is revealed and lit each evening in December, with clues to answer and a public vote on the best design.
The Whodunnit Trail. Leigh Academy Paddock Wood ran an Easter mystery: "Who stole Miss Silk’s bunny ears?" Name the suspect, win the goodies.
The Garage Safari. Mersham and Aldington PTFAs mapped a village wide garage sale across two villages. £7 per household to appear on the map, free for the public to attend, map published at 8am on the day.
Run by 106 schools.
If you only take one idea from this list, take this one because it is one of the cheapest fundraisers to run in existence.
Children pay 50p per rule they want to break. The PTA publishes a list. Wear own clothes. Crazy hair. Coloured hair. Face paint. Nail varnish. A temporary tattoo. Bring a teddy. Wear a hat. Wear trainers instead of black shoes.
Schools have found a dozen names for it. Dare to be Different Day. Yes Day. Make the Rules Day. Bend the Rules Day. Topsy Turvy Day. Break the Rules for April Fools. Rule Re-Mix Day. One PTA ran a World Cup edition.
Why it works: Zero cost, zero setup, no volunteers and children genuinely lose their minds over it. Several PTAs run it three or four times a year on different themes.
Real example: Lapworth C of E Primary published a two column table of rule versus broken rule and raised £201. Clever and instantly copyable.
Run by 11 schools.
No river required. Each class gets a virtual duck, the ducks "race" online across a week, families sponsor their class’s duck and everyone gathers on the Friday to watch the finish.
Carnegie Primary School raced theirs around real local landmarks including Pittencrieff Park and Calais Muir Woods, then finished with a two minute race around the playground streamed live, raising £3,131. Holly Trees Primary went with "Are we quackers?! Probably!" raising £1,782 from theirs.
Why it works: It turns a sponsored event into a class versus class competition, which is where the real fundraising energy is. Sponsorship of £1 per family adds up fast when Year 3 refuses to lose to Year 4.
You can easily set up fundraisers and class leaderboards with PTA Events. See how in this FAQ: How do leaderboards work on a fundraiser/sponsored event?
Variation worth adding: Add options to "Decorate a Duck" and an "Adopt Your Duck" sponsorship model to raise even more.
Run by 24 schools.
Tents on the school field. A barbecue and a bar. Marshmallows. Live music or a silent disco. Breakfast in the morning. Stay the night or just come for the evening.
Bishopswood Schools paired theirs with a silent disco, a quiz and a film night. St Margaret’s Collier Street made it their final event of the year, "an afternoon and evening of family fun, food and live music followed by a night under the stars". Camp Primary booked a pizza van and a dessert cart and gave campers early entry as an incentive, raising a total £2,950.
Why it works: It is the only event on this list that turns your school into a destination. It builds community in a way that a fair simply cannot and parents who never come to anything will come to this.
Effort level: High. Toilets, safeguarding, overnight cover, weather contingency. But PTAs appear to have run it again after running one.
Zero cost to run. Pure profit.
Ask any parent what they would pay to skip the morning scramble at the school gates and you will get your answer. This one turns the most coveted patch of tarmac in the school into a prize.
It is a simple raffle. Tickets from £1, one winner drawn, and the prize is the premium parking spot right outside the gates, or a named reserved space in the staff car park, for a full week. Run it as a rolling weekly draw so there is always a fresh winner or save it for a termly fundraiser.
Why it works: it costs the PTA nothing to give away. You are selling something you already own. It is quick to set up as an online prize draw, it needs no volunteers on the day and the convenience is worth far more to a busy parent than the ticket price.
Watch out for: Clear it with the school office first, since it needs a genuinely usable space and the Headteacher’s blessing. Agree the exact spot, the dates and what happens on inset days before you sell a single ticket.
Run by 19 schools across the sponsored challenge category.
A whole family of tiny, brilliant, near zero cost challenges that run over a half term holiday.
The Matchbox Challenge. Friends of Shinfield gave every pupil a matchbox and challenged them to fit as many different items inside as possible, with sponsorship. One of each item only.
The Smarties Challenge. Langtoft Primary gave every child a box of Smarties. Eat the sweets, keep the box, fill it with pennies earned by helping at home over half term, return it. Winning class gets a reward afternoon.
Variations: Penny Wars, Coin Wars, Jingle Coins, The Silver Coin Challenge, Cauldron Coin Challenge, The Raisin Challenge, Jolly Jars. All variations on the same theme.
Why it works: The container does all the marketing. It sits on the kitchen table for two weeks as a physical reminder. There is no event to staff, no hall to book and the class competition angle does the rest.
Ideas from other PTAs on our platform that are too good to leave out.
Three patterns run through nearly everything on this list.
The best prizes cost nothing. Jump the lunch queue. Own clothes for a day. Be the Headteacher. Extra house points. The most successful golden ticket events gave away permission, not products.
Class versus class beats child versus child. Duck races, penny wars, Smarties boxes. The moment you make it a class competition, the children do your fundraising for you.
Removing something can be the innovation. Take the bangs out of bonfire night and you get lasers, and a night that SEND families can finally attend. Take the pond out of a duck race and you get a week long online event that any school can run.
Every idea here came from a PTA that decided to try something. If you run one of these or if you have other ideas, then we want to hear about it. The next list is going to be built from what you do this year.
Every idea on this list can be set up on PTA Events in minutes. Want to run a sponsored event or a colour run? Set up a fundraiser and share a Donate Now button. Fancy your own Golden Ticket day? Build it from one of our ready-made event templates and start selling tickets the same afternoon.
And because you know your families best, you decide who covers the platform fees. Absorb them yourself or pass them on at checkout so your PTA pays zero fees, the choice is always yours.
Join the thousands of PTAs already using the platform. Registration is completely free, so sign up today and have your first event live before the next committee meeting.
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