Start Contacting Your Local Schools!

[pampchefsarah]

I'm sorry if someone has already suggested this. I'm at work, so don't have time to do a search. However, my team member just called to share this with me, and I wanted to tell you about it in case you want to try.

She had to go one of the local middle schools today, and since she was there, asked the principal if she could do a Pamper Your Business type thing in August, when all the teachers and staff are working, but the students aren't in school yet. He's going to see what they have planned and get back to her. She then had to make a trip to the high school in our town, and decided to ask the vice-principal the same question. He said he'd have to talk to the principal, and he'd get back to her. Well, within an hour she had her approval!! The three of us (her, her team mate, and me) will be serving breakfast to 125 people on 8/18!!! We'll split the orders and bookings, and hope there's enough for each of us to submit one show from it. Next, she's going to the elementary school to see if we can do lunch the same day!

She'll also be contacting the two other high schools in our county ("Liberty is doing this, and we wouldn't want you to miss out on the same opportunity" ). All she did was ASK!!

So, contact your local schools now! Not only are you offering a fun distraction from the work day, but apparently, at least in our area, the school buys lunch at least one day that week, so you may be saving them money!! Include your cluster mates, so the cost isn't all on you.

I'm so excited, but moreso proud of Gail for stepping out of the box, and her comfort zone, and just asking a simple question.

 

[niclowther]

That is such a great idea. I would never have thought of that. I thought your thread was going to be about talking to schools about fundrasiers- I'm glad I read it.

 

[pamperedpals]

What a great idea!

 

[pampered1224]

How completely AWESOME IS THAT!
I wish I had the time to do stuff like that. I work full time so I miss alot of great opportunities. But maybe some day!
BUT WONDERFUL WORK! GREAT AND MUCH PROSPERITY IN THE ADVENTURE TO YOU ALL!

 

[mrshamel3808]

ah! LOVE IT! There's a local elementary school and the principal goes to our church. His wife had a show in May and got a bunch of orders from teachers (she had an over $1,000 show) but who knows....maybe they need a few more things!

 

[PCMomto4]

Wow I hope it works out well. What are you planning on making, that could get expensive feeding 125 people. Especially if you have to provide the paper goods and drinks.

 

[leftymac]

Do they know that you are there to sell the products basically? As a teacher, I can say that whenever we've had meals catered for us, we and the staff tend to just go in, grab the food, then go back about our way.

 

[Saturday Gourmet]

Do they know that you are there to sell the products basically? As a teacher, I can say that whenever we've had meals catered for us, we and the staff tend to just go in, grab the food, then go back about our way.

I'm with Keith on this one. Usually when someone sends us breakfast, a snack, etc. we run in, grab it, say gracious "thank yous", and head back to our classroom to get things in order for the students to start.

Make sure they are aware that you will be selling items. See if there is a bulletin board in the workroom that you can put an eye-catching flyer on. We have one and this is where all of the important goings on are posted (and fun stuff too). Let them know the guest specials, etc.

Good luck! I only wish we had time on those Teacher Work Days before school for me to do something like this. It's always crazy-hectic with humpteen meetings, etc.

Good luck!

 

[pampchefsarah]

Kelly and Keith- Yes, the principal will be making an announcement, and is allowing flyers to be put in the staff mailboxes (how cool is that?!). So, everyone will be warned well before we get there! ;-)

I don't know what we're making, yet. That's up to Gail, since she's the one spearheading this. However, since there are 3 of us (and, we can always get others if necessary) to split the costs, it won't be so bad.

John, I was thinking about this yesterday, as I also work full-time, with a long commute (I can participate in this because I work from home one day a week). Anyway, why not check out the schools near your work, and see if you can do something on your lunchbreak, or really early in the morning before you get to the office?

 

[DessertDivaFL]

Good luck! Hope this works well for you!

 

[cookinthehouse]

i'd be interested in seeing the flyers that you will be sending/posting to promote. I know that during the school year PTO also does lunch for the Teachers and some even do a good bye lunch (at the end of the year) Also what about an appreciation pamper day. There are lots of extra curricular activites that are being canned due to levys not passing etc.. so those teachers/coaches etc will not be returning or cut drastically. Just another thought

 

[cookinthehouse]

ok.. so i gave it a try.. and i have a PTO president that is interested.... i am still clueless myself...

 

[pampchefsarah]

Hi cookinthehouse. Gail did up the flyers, so I didn't even see them! However, I'll ask her to forward a copy to me, and I'll post it here. It may not be until tomorrow, though.

 

[pampchefsarah]

Today was the big day, and ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh. We were told to expect 125 people, and I have no idea how many there actually were, but the line was LONNGGGG!!! However, everything flowed smoothly, so within an hour of the line starting, we were packing and cleaning up!

Here's the menu:
300+ mini blueberry muffins (about 1/2 are left over, which is good - I'll explain in a minute)
100+ Cinnamon rolls - recipe in a PC cookbook from 1997, but it's just crescent roll dough rolled out with the perferations pinched together. Brush on 2 T melted butter. Mix 2T sugar and 1/2 t cinnamon together, then spread on dough. We added the Sweet Cinnamon Sprinkles, as well. Roll from one long side to the other, stretching a little as you go. Seal edge, then use string to cut (cut a piece of string, slip under roll about 1/2 inch from top, cross ends over top of pastry and pull until cut all the way through), and place cut piece on bar pan, and repeat. Bake at 350 until brown (sorry, we were so busy making 6 or 7 batches, we didn't time the baking - just kept checking to see if they were done as we added a bar pan to the oven). These were VERY popular.
4 Apple braids. I didn't help with this, so not sure of the recipe, but I think it's apples, melted butter, apple pie spice all mixed together. Croissant roll dough is used for the crust, and fashioned as a braid after the filling is placed on top. We ran out of these!
6 egg casserols, basically variations of the Ham & Cheese Brunch Squares.
Bagels and cream cheese
Orange juice

The school provided the coffee.

So, as stated above, there are some muffins left and also some bagels and cream cheese. Everything else was truly blessed by God who fed the multitude, because it's a miracle each and every person got a plateful - even though some were taking multiples of everything! The muffins and bagels will be used on Friday, when Gail does this again at one of the local middle schools! I won't be able to help with that, as I'll have to work that day, but it's only about 1/2 as many people, and I can help cook the night before.

Here are my tips - if cooking for this many people, DON'T START AT 9pm THE NIGHT BEFORE!!! Also, if you're making 17 batches of mini-muffins, be sure to ask others if you can borrow their DMMPs (the woman who did these only had one pan, and it took her 6 hours!). Do as much prep work in advance as possible. For example - the sugar/cinnamon mix could have been made and stored in prep bowls, one batch per bowl. Yes, this only took a minute to do, but every step saved is a time saver. If using mushrooms in your egg dish, be sure to use the Egg Slicer. It took me 10 -15 minutes to slice up 3 packages of mushrooms (including washing/drying time). Again, this could have been done ahead, and stored for a couple of days. Same with slicing the green onions and the bell peppers. We did start at 9pm, and I finally left Gail's house at 12:30am. She then got up at 4am to make the egg dishes and more of the apple braids.

Was it worth it? Well, we won't know about orders until Friday, when Gail goes to pick them up. We had one person put their name on the list to host a show. We're hoping for enough orders for it to count as at least one show, but as enthusiastic as everyone seemed to be, and with the number of people there, I'd be surprised if we don't receive enough orders for each of us to submit a show (we're also offering a Mystery Host drawing for those who place orders).

Here's the most exciting part, though!! The Culinary Arts teacher wants us to teach a lesson in each of her classes (2 this term and 1 next term). She says it's a perfect match because not only will we teach a recipe AND how to use the different tools, but it's also a career class (as opposed to a home ec class), so we can tell the students about the opportunity, as well!!

Now we just have to look at the calendar to see when the teacher work days are this school year, and contact the other 2 high schools in our county, as well as the middle and elementary schools!

 

[pcchefjane]

Sounds great Sarah! Hopefully the sales were be awesome as well!

 

[babywings76]

Wow! That's exciting! What a great job you did handling feeding that many people. I'm excited to see how you did w/ orders when you get them Friday. Keep us posted! That's cool about the booking and the offer on the classes.