One day, I was picking Jackson and Annie up from school when I was waylaid by Angie Thorton. Angie is one of those people who you really want to hate, but she’s so nice and genuine that you can’t. She mentioned that they had missed me at the PTA meeting and she hoped I wasn’t too busy to be there for my kids. Knowing Angie, she really didn’t mean that in a way that implied I was a bad mother if I wasn’t in the PTA. But it was hard not to take it that way. And of course I do want to be there for my kids (also, I don’t want other people to think I’m a bad mom). So I said:
“Sign me up, buttercup!”
I didn’t know exactly what I was signing up for, but I was willing to try and carve out the time for whatever it was.
Apparently, ‘it’ was being in charge of the holiday fundraiser. In years past, the PTA had done silent auctions and burger cook-offs, and those were okay, but honestly they were a lot of work. They just required so much coordination, and I really didn’t have time the time. In trying to get creative, I found this company online called Penguin Patch.
From what I could tell, Penguin Patch was basically a toy company/gift shop designed specifically for PTAs. I contacted them for more info and they were surprisingly quick to respond. Basically, Penguin Patch would send our PTA a bunch of toys so we could set up a shop somewhere at the school. We would have control of the pricing, so we could upcharge as much or as little as we wanted and keep the profits. Other parents would send their kids to school with money, and the kids would rotate in and out of the shop, deciding what they wanted to buy. Basically, it was like a book fair that had gifts, but that gave us more room to profit.
So I signed us up. A couple of the more veteran-PTA moms were skeptical, but as I hadn’t coordinated any silent auctions, they really didn’t have a choice.
I think we were all surprised by how successful the Holiday Shop actually was.
We set up the Shop in the library and I volunteered to work several of the shifts. It was really fun to get to see my kids during the school day when they came in with their classes. Annie got a mermaid necklace and Jackson bought some slime (then asked if he could buy another for Mikey so he wouldn’t feel left out!). Actually, the slime was so popular with the boys that we ran out of it by day three. I informed Penguin Patch and they ovenighted us more - a helpful perk I hadn’t counted on.
At the end of the week, we tossed everything that went unsold in a box and sent it back to Penguin Patch. And that was literally it. No searching for people to donate items, no scrubbing down a kitchen after cooking crappy burgers, and really no hassle for me. It was just so convenient! Even the veteran-PTA moms were impressed (which made me feel good too. I’ll show you that I have time to be there for my children! Take that Angie Thorton!)
We made enough of a profit that I’m pretty sure we’ll be doing it again next year. So yeah, I’m clapping myself on the back for that one.
If everything in PTA is as easy and fun as working with the Penguin Patch Holiday Shop, then just go ahead and sign me up to be PTA president now.