Holidays often are great sources of inspiration for organizations. Whether it’s for planning a chapter holiday party or as a way to organize an event, holidays can be a great way to raise money for your chapter’s various needs. One such way is creating themed holiday candy-grams.
In order to raise funds for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library for the Student Leadership 2016-2017 Service Project, my chapter hand-made turkey-grams during the month of October. Our chapter’s vice-president came across the idea on Pinterest and from there, our chapter members worked hard to assemble more than 300 candy-grams.
For this particular holiday, BlowPop lollipops were covered with burlap fabric, tied with colorful ribbon, and had construction paper cutouts hot-glued on to create the feathers and beak of a turkey. We advertised to students and faculty/staff members at Stephens to buy these turkey-grams for just a dollar to send to their friends, professors, or anyone at Stephens that they were thankful for.
Turning a Profit with Candy-Grams
Candy-grams can be inexpensive depending on how much and what kind of bulk candy your chapter wants to purchase. Other costs include construction paper, printing (if necessary), and tools such as hot-glue guns and glue sticks.
The benefit of candy-grams is they can be used for any holiday, from Valentine’s Day to Halloween to Christmas and even Easter. A quick Google search renders a result of an Easter inspired candy-gram using Peeps and an attached note with the words “Happy Easter to one of my favorite peeps!” The only restrictions are your imagination or inspiration.
If your chapter is trying to get the most out of your budget, be sure to check out sales on candy following the major holidays. For crafting materials, depending on what you need to make your candy-grams, you could check out your local dollar store or craft store, such as Michael’s or Hobby Lobby, many of which send frequent email newsletters with coupons and promotions. Lastly, if your campus or department has an organization closet with supplies that students can check out and use, be sure to do so. Most of the time, you don’t need to purchase tools such as scissors or hot-glue guns and this can help save your chapter money.
Most importantly, be sure to have fun, bond with your chapter members, and spread some joy on your campus with candy-grams!
Resources
- How Your Chapter Can Get Involved
- Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library
- Imagination Library Resources
- Fundraising Tips
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. How might your chapter adapt the candy-gram project to send valentines across your campus and raise funds for the Imagination Library or for traveling to the Sigma Tau Delta 2017 International Convention in Louisville, KY?
Shelly Romero
Associate Student Representative, Midwest Region, 2016-2017
Alpha Epsilon Eta Chapter
Stephens College, Columbia, MO
