Class 1: Crafts

General

Please read the information for all classes.  Information on expense reimbursements can be found here.

It is tradition for all school families to donate one item to either the Cake Stall or Salad Bar. Both these stalls regularly sell out so donations provided from the wider school allow the stalls to remain open maximising the fundraising. Please Click here for more information.

Task Tools

Use these sheets for planning and running the stall on the day:

• Craft Stall Duty Roster

• Craft Project Planning and Inventories from past years 

• Zero Waste (one volunteer)

Stall/Task Coordinator(s) > Edit these lists to suit your needs, then ask parents to volunteer for tasks by entering their names on the lists (online and/or print them out).

Parents >> When requested, volunteer your help by putting your names next to tasks on the lists.

Steiner Crafts Stall

Class One run the ever popular Steiner Handmade Crafts Stall. The Rudolf Steiner School is unique, providing crafts that are not available anywhere else in Christchurch. It is a pivotal stall particularly at opening time, and many people come especially to buy our special character crafts. 

See PHOTO examples of the setup and craft made in past  HERE

Historically a group of keen school parent crafters has also met and produced items for the Class 1 stall. Check with the Community Association (CA) if to such a group is currently in existence. 

Your efforts maintain a wonderful presence in our school community and provide the wider community with the opportunity to enjoy and appreciate this important aspect of our school’s special character.

In advance of the Fair:

• Making Craft! Due to the time-intensive nature of craft-making, the class 1 crafters will need to be busy from early in the year.  It can be useful to have a group of Class 1 parents meet regularly to do crafting and keep track of how much stock has been created. Beneficial to start in Term 2 (if not before) and having parents thinking about it from Term 1.  Also important to ensure crafts are within Steiner character, using natural materials and nature based colours.

• Use the Craft Project Planning spreadsheet in the link above to keep a track on what is being made.

• In some years, "take home craft packs" have been provided for those who can't make it to a weekly craft group session or who aren't confident crafters but would like to contribute.  This can be useful for boosting production but during term 3 and the start of term 4. One issue with craft packs however is the time taken to prepare them which can then be disappointing if those taking them home do not return the finished product, so it is suggested to first survey the interest in this with the C1 parent community.

• Is there left over crafts or craft materials from the previous fair to give the stall inventory a kick start? Check with the CA, or last years class 1 craft coordinator/class secretary.

• The CA stores various supplies for each of the class stalls in the CA container. The duty roster at link above has information on what the CA will provide.

• Ask parents to donate spare paper bags they may have from supermarkets or similar. Generally customers will happily walk off with the purchased item in hand but good to have a supply if requested or offered for larger items. 

• Get prepared to make the table beautiful e.g. source baskets, bunting, plants, flowers, greenery to beautify stall, small stands or blocks to go under the table cloth to display items 

• Continue the communications and nudging of the class community to get all the roster time slots filled.

Setting and Labelling Prices prior to the Fair

• Class 1 is responsible for setting the prices and providing a price list.  This should be done as soon as the majority of craft has been collected, and no later than Wednesday prior to fair day. 

• To keep it simple a small group only should meet to do the final pricing.  The maker of the craft may want to put a suggested price on their item which would then be reviewed.  The crafters need to understand that there efforts are a donation to the school and the price tag may not add up to $/hr spent on production.

• The guidance for pricing is to be a step up from the kinder Fairyland craft stall in terms of items and pricing. It is good to have a good supply of items up to $10 items which are popular with the many young children who come in to shop, better that these are small and of nice quality rather than the opposite.  Higher priced items (>$30) are still important to have but in lesser numbers. See the Craft Project Planning and Inventories at the link above for last year's sales information. 

• A good idea to get tamariki to paint sheets of card or paper with watercolours that can then be cut up to create lovely labels.

• Labelling each item separately is the best way for adding up at time of payment. Otherwise print out the price list so that new people on the roster can find prices. Prices can get mixed up as people handle items and replace them in the wrong spot. 

• Previous feedback was that asking for koha does not work, fair goers like to see a price

Consider a Special Craft Raffle

• If there is a particularly amazing piece of craft (or two) to sell, rather than placing a high price a good idea is to run a raffle.  Someone in the class may wants to concentrate on making such an item or consider asking the wider community for a raffle prize donation.

• As well as selling the raffle tickets to those who come into the room, consider sending roving out into the fair to sell tickets.

• Raffle books can be purchased from stationery supplier (Check with CA if left over from last year) Write name & phone number on raffle stub and give ticket to purchaser. Rip stub off straight away and put stub and money in the container.

• A sign would be needed for the table.

Friday before the Fair

 Ensure all items are priced prior to the day - see above. 

• Traditionally the Craft Stall has been set up from 3.30pm on the Friday before the fair in classroom 4. It is likely the room will be 60% to 70% Class 1 and 30 to 40% another craft stall(s) [Christian Community have often shared the room in the past].

• 5 x trestle tables will be provided., the class 4 fair team will advise if these are delivered to classroom 4 or you are required to collect and carry over.

Saturday Fair Day

• Setup and run the stall, refer to the roster at link above for more information.

 For further ideas chat to these parents who have previously been involved in the craft stall:  (CA can advise on contacts if needed)