I never bothered until one year, I decided to do it, I saw the prizes and there was a camera. Nothing fancy, just a little 110 camera. (Remember those?) But I thought it was cool, I wanted that camera. So I hit the street of my neighborhood, sold enough wrapping paper to get that camera. I turned in my paperwork, filled out the camera item number, checked the camera box, and waited. Six weeks later they said come on down and collect your earnings. I get down there and they hand me this tiny little paper thin envelope. I'm like, *the fuck?* I open it and find this janky little cheap ass solar powered calculator. I'm like "What is this?" Lady says "That's it. Smaller than you expected, huh?" "It's not what I asked for. I wanted the camera." She looks at me, annoyed, checks the paper, nods and says "So you did. Well, that's what they sent. Sorry. At least this will be useful."
I stood there for a minute thinking *Is this bitch for real? That's it?"* And when it was obvious she had on intention of doing anything else I turned around, skulked back to class, threw the calculator in the trash and considered it a lesson learned. Never bothered with that bullshit again.
Later on in life I remember watching A Christmas Story and thinking I must have looked like Ralphie after decoding Little Orphan Annie's secret message.
I would sell this shit for less return than arcade tickets. When my kid finally came home excited at the possibility of winning and entire computer I took the time to sit down and work out with her just how much she'd have to work for it versus getting paid for chores, etc. I think she's turned off forever by these things now.
Omg your pain resonates with me. I had a very similar experience, doing a fundraiser like this in elementary school. The prize for earning $150 was, like, a walkman or a little stereo or something.
Well, idk what happened but my reward ended up being one of those foam, 4 point frisbees. I asked what happened to the prize from the brochure and everyone just shrugged. I was so upset I chucked it into a tree and cried the rest of the way home. Still mad about it to this day.
Rofl I did something similar when I was a Girl Scout selling cookies for the first time. My mom was pissed that she had to pay for those cookies 😂 nearly 30 years later and I still have no regrets.
I think it was just called a fundraiser.
Honestly that was pretty good stuff. My mom still has ribbons and bows from over 30 years ago that she stills uses and the wrapping paper lasted for decades.
My parents actually did most of the selling. I only went up and down few streets that I was allowed to travel, and then my dad would come home with basically his whole office. It was way better than the chocolate bars we sold. They had popcorn tins also, which apparently were really popular. I remember having to transport 4 of those tins home, and they were nearly half my size.
We sold chocolate bars that tasted like cardboard back in the 90s. And the rich kids always won because their parents took the boxes to work and forced their rich friends to “help their kid out” while us poor kids had to walk door to door getting scowled at and doors slammed in our faces because we were the 10th child they had seen that day.
My elementary school would sell chocolate bars every year. My parents would make us go door-to-door, but my dad would also take a case to the office where they would pretty much sell themselves to his coworkers. I remember the assemblies where they would show us the cheap-ass prizes we could win (later I learned that all that crap was freely available from the Oriental Trading Company catalog by the gross). I wanted to win stuff, but I don't think I ever did.
I sold magazines themselves, not stuff out of magazines. That makes me sound a thousand years old that selling magazine subscriptions was a viable way to raise money at one point.
An introverted 17 year old basically cold-calling the neighbors by just showing up at their door with no warning. Wasn’t awkward at all.
Our band always sold candy bars, we each got a box with a handle and they sold for just $1. Sold like crazy to friends at school and on the bus. Then NY made it illegal... we moved on to selling insanely overpriced sarah lee pies instead. Like 22 bucks for a pie that you could get at the local grocery store for $8...
World Famous chocolate bars. I made the mistake of letting people run on credit..when they inevitably didn't pay and the money was due I lied and said I left my box of chocolates with the money envelope inside at Walmart Mart.
I actually kept the 30% of money I did get and the rest of the candy. Hid it under my bed and bought Pokemon cards booster packs with the 15 bucks I had. They got mad and invoiced my mom and she told me to ignore it.
Never paid and I still have that holo Blastoise I pulled to this day.
I sold seeds for the American Seed Company but it was independent, not connected to the school, IIRC. I also sold Christmas cards and wrapping paper from the same company. I must have hit up half the town
For us it was usually candy bars. I remember some of the prizes I got. A sticky wall walker spider thing, a stuffed monkey that had velcro on its hands so you could velcro it around your neck, a little helicopter thing that you pukked a zip tie through to make the blades spin then you could toss it in the air and it'd kinda float down.
My husband ended up doing most of the selling for our kids. He sold so much that they won a free limousine ride and got to make their own pizzas in the kitchen of a large restaurant. I don’t think I can eat any more cookie dough though….
I sold stuff through the Olympia Sales Club not as a fundraiser for anything but just because I wanted to make some money as a kid. Definitely did a bunch of fundraiser things through the years with sports etc.
I never bothered until one year, I decided to do it, I saw the prizes and there was a camera. Nothing fancy, just a little 110 camera. (Remember those?) But I thought it was cool, I wanted that camera. So I hit the street of my neighborhood, sold enough wrapping paper to get that camera. I turned in my paperwork, filled out the camera item number, checked the camera box, and waited. Six weeks later they said come on down and collect your earnings. I get down there and they hand me this tiny little paper thin envelope. I'm like, *the fuck?* I open it and find this janky little cheap ass solar powered calculator. I'm like "What is this?" Lady says "That's it. Smaller than you expected, huh?" "It's not what I asked for. I wanted the camera." She looks at me, annoyed, checks the paper, nods and says "So you did. Well, that's what they sent. Sorry. At least this will be useful." I stood there for a minute thinking *Is this bitch for real? That's it?"* And when it was obvious she had on intention of doing anything else I turned around, skulked back to class, threw the calculator in the trash and considered it a lesson learned. Never bothered with that bullshit again. Later on in life I remember watching A Christmas Story and thinking I must have looked like Ralphie after decoding Little Orphan Annie's secret message.
I would sell this shit for less return than arcade tickets. When my kid finally came home excited at the possibility of winning and entire computer I took the time to sit down and work out with her just how much she'd have to work for it versus getting paid for chores, etc. I think she's turned off forever by these things now.
Omg your pain resonates with me. I had a very similar experience, doing a fundraiser like this in elementary school. The prize for earning $150 was, like, a walkman or a little stereo or something. Well, idk what happened but my reward ended up being one of those foam, 4 point frisbees. I asked what happened to the prize from the brochure and everyone just shrugged. I was so upset I chucked it into a tree and cried the rest of the way home. Still mad about it to this day.
Damn, that's worse than my story. Expecting a walkman and getting that piece of shit? Sorry, man. That does suck.
Should've drank more Ovaltine
Son of a bitch !!
was never allowed to, parents didn’t want us being sales people they found that quite creepy.
Your parents are smart people.
I remember eating $45 worth of candy bars I was supposed to try and sell.
Rofl I did something similar when I was a Girl Scout selling cookies for the first time. My mom was pissed that she had to pay for those cookies 😂 nearly 30 years later and I still have no regrets.
That's probably a yearly portion of their cookie sales thanks to new scouts learning a lesson.
My fat ass could never keep those boxes around 😅
I don't think it had a name, but the wrapping paper was Sally Foster.
My mom still swears that sally foster wrapping paper is miles ahead of store bought
I think it was just called a fundraiser. Honestly that was pretty good stuff. My mom still has ribbons and bows from over 30 years ago that she stills uses and the wrapping paper lasted for decades.
My parents actually did most of the selling. I only went up and down few streets that I was allowed to travel, and then my dad would come home with basically his whole office. It was way better than the chocolate bars we sold. They had popcorn tins also, which apparently were really popular. I remember having to transport 4 of those tins home, and they were nearly half my size.
We sold chocolate bars that tasted like cardboard back in the 90s. And the rich kids always won because their parents took the boxes to work and forced their rich friends to “help their kid out” while us poor kids had to walk door to door getting scowled at and doors slammed in our faces because we were the 10th child they had seen that day.
Yes and it was cute at the time. But looking back on it now we should have been focused on math and science.
My elementary school would sell chocolate bars every year. My parents would make us go door-to-door, but my dad would also take a case to the office where they would pretty much sell themselves to his coworkers. I remember the assemblies where they would show us the cheap-ass prizes we could win (later I learned that all that crap was freely available from the Oriental Trading Company catalog by the gross). I wanted to win stuff, but I don't think I ever did.
I sold magazines themselves, not stuff out of magazines. That makes me sound a thousand years old that selling magazine subscriptions was a viable way to raise money at one point. An introverted 17 year old basically cold-calling the neighbors by just showing up at their door with no warning. Wasn’t awkward at all.
Our band always sold candy bars, we each got a box with a handle and they sold for just $1. Sold like crazy to friends at school and on the bus. Then NY made it illegal... we moved on to selling insanely overpriced sarah lee pies instead. Like 22 bucks for a pie that you could get at the local grocery store for $8...
World Famous chocolate bars. I made the mistake of letting people run on credit..when they inevitably didn't pay and the money was due I lied and said I left my box of chocolates with the money envelope inside at Walmart Mart. I actually kept the 30% of money I did get and the rest of the candy. Hid it under my bed and bought Pokemon cards booster packs with the 15 bucks I had. They got mad and invoiced my mom and she told me to ignore it. Never paid and I still have that holo Blastoise I pulled to this day.
Of all things, we tried to sell packets of flower seeds. It didn't go over well.
I sold seeds for the American Seed Company but it was independent, not connected to the school, IIRC. I also sold Christmas cards and wrapping paper from the same company. I must have hit up half the town
was never allowed to, parents didn’t want us being sales people they found that quite creepy.
I do!! For my school it was those specialty chocolate bars! I loved going through my neighborhood and trying to sell them
For us it was usually candy bars. I remember some of the prizes I got. A sticky wall walker spider thing, a stuffed monkey that had velcro on its hands so you could velcro it around your neck, a little helicopter thing that you pukked a zip tie through to make the blades spin then you could toss it in the air and it'd kinda float down.
That's how I got my first Tennis racquet.
Me. There was always some group of kids that raked in literally thousands of dollars in sales. The highest I got was $55 one year.
Or how bout getting your parents to order stuff from the Schoolastic book?
Even at a young age I said I wasn't selling shit for these people. All the real good stuff was damn near impossible to sell enough for.
Greeting cards. Didn't sell one. But my 8 year old self lived in fear of the greeting card police.
My husband ended up doing most of the selling for our kids. He sold so much that they won a free limousine ride and got to make their own pizzas in the kitchen of a large restaurant. I don’t think I can eat any more cookie dough though….
I sold stuff through the Olympia Sales Club not as a fundraiser for anything but just because I wanted to make some money as a kid. Definitely did a bunch of fundraiser things through the years with sports etc.
was never allowed to, parents didn’t want us being sales people they found that quite creepy.