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. Prairrieannie quote: If fundraisers this large are common place for this school, I would think that they would have the organization part down pat...and would have never left anything to chance (like the candle maker being able to deliver and leave without the candles being counted and receipted) but I guess maybe someone got complacent, or just didn't think that anyone would rip off a school. At any rate, be careful, and good luck if you get the deal. I thought the same thing like I said before, these schools do HUGE FRs, its a monstrous job giving everything out once its time to deliver, but when you stop and think about other fundraiser companies, you know, cookie dough, those catalogs with the candy etc., when those things are shipped, they don't have a rep to come by and count out eveything out to make sure all is accounted for its pretty much done, if a disagreement, over the phone or email. I agree that some of this is the pto's fault for thinking that just because they knew this person, (and the pto as a group did vote her in just because it felt safe cause they knew her) that they didn't have to use common sense. You would think when dealing with this much money, all percautions would have been taken and nothing left to chance. You gave me some things to think about and I appreciate it. I will be careful if this works out. I'd like to clarify something else from other posts, 1. I had a sign on my table "Fundraiser Inq. welcome", this guy had already bought my candles (no free samples), he asked me how I did things he only mentioned that they had had a bad experience before, I am the one who kept asking the questions, he didnt stop by my table and begin ranting. No one here would have done differently if a potentially large FR possibility hinged on whether you could do things differently, and the only way to know what needed to be done is to ask questions. He did not ask me to do the fundraiser, he said he would love to see me get it cause he liked my candles, but, said he didn't know if the pto would vote for it or not. He doesn't have the power to decide by himself. 2. About the County Attorney's office, I only said that the pto consulted that office, the pto did not persue, not that there wasn't enough evidence to press charges. The principal of the school did not want to go thru with it because, since the schools here have to have school board approval to do a fr, something like this could cause them to do away with them completely.

Sharyl55, You're right, I have thought of that too. Can you imagine a kid trying to sell a candle only to be told no because of that other person? Its terrible. I think it would be a good idea for the officials of the PTO to maybe send out a letter at least to the parents of the kids that participated last time and let them know too, that a contract is in place and hopefully that would be passed along to the customers as well. Thanks

Thanks Dallas_Texas_Dean for the congrats! I forgot to mention that I was invited by the same person to come and set up at their PTO Christmas Bazaar, no booth fee and contributions are encouraged but not mandatory, (you can bet I'm gonna give a percentage of sales to the pto) So maybe this along with what Im doing with the fundraiser will convince them. Keep your fingers crossed for me! Sockmonkey, I appreciate your post, I should have mentioned that the person that approached me was the president of the PTO, the situation was so bad that they actually contacted the county attorney's office for advice, but decided it best not to persue legal action and write it off as a really bad experience so understandably, the same members of the pto that voted this person in for that fundraiser are now the ones who are concerned about doing another with a candle maker. Not just one of the parents whose kids sold for the fundraiser. The reason the sales were so high, all the schools in the school system have 2 school wide fundraisers each per year and major competitions for prizes, a huge party for only those who sell the minimum. These schools have had some HUGE fundraisers in the past and 8000 is not at all unusual. Got my work cut out for me, I'll be sure to keep ya posted!

Thanks for the encouragement Ashleigh. I just can't get over ripping off kids! That blows me away. Im going to work on that contract till Im sure that I have done the best I could to gain their trust. It's all I can do short of doing the fundraiser for them for free!

If it didn't make me sooo mad, I would be amazed! It drives me crazy when I have to work 3 times as hard because someone else takes advantage or in this case, down right rips off a client! I did a craft show last weekend, and had someone ask whether I did fundraisers and how I did them. I told him, yes I would do fundraisers and gave the specifics. He told me that last year their school (over 700 students) did a fundraiser with a candle maker who, 1. cheated them out of about 1000 candles, she delivered to school, and since no PTO people were not there, her argument was that she delivered what was ordered, PTO, had 10 different people count them out, her answer was that she delivered them all and if any were missing it happened there, eventhough the school placed them in a locked room where no one but the principal had the key. 2. Since the money was paid 100% up front, they couldnt hold up payment till all was accounted for. (those kids sold about 8000 candles) 3. She also made dipped bears for the fundraiser, didnt deliver all of them, the some of the PTO officers even had to go to her house to beg for the some of the other orders for customers who despirately needed them for presents! A couple of the bears she did deliver fell apart, candles were miss labeled, the list goes on and on. I know that the PTO should have been more street smart and asked for promises in writing, but there still should be some integrety on the candle makers part to at least not steal from a bunch of kids raising money for their school. The PTO had to write dozens of refund checks and hardly had any money to show for the sales!!! What is worse, the people who voted for her to do the fundraiser, knew her personally and trusted her! The guy that told me all this bought my candles, loves them, would love to do a fundraiser with me, but because of all this, he was afraid the PTO would not vote to do another fundraiser with a candlemaker. I gave him all the positives I could about how I could do better, he said he would help out all he could but couldnt promise anything. This would be a huge sale for me, maybe even enough were I could quit work and work my business full time, I really hope that I can gain their trust with a contact or whatever it takes, Its just not fair! Keep your fingers crossed. Ive been working on ideas for a week now, trying to ease their fears. Thanks for listening, sorry this was so long. Just needed to rant and rave a little.

Kris, I think you and Prairieanne did a great job on that label. I'd really like to see a picture of labels on your B & B line! Hope all the ugly stuff doesnt keep you from posting with the pictures, cause I for one would love to see them. ooooppps, first posted thinking you were doing candles, sorry, I must have had candles on the brain or something.

Hi, Had to tell you guys this! My husband and I were reading this thread a couple nights ago, and was stunned. I had just gotten out of the hospital last Sunday with some of the same symptoms others had mentioned really hadnt thought much about fragrance oils. Got feeling better so I thought I'd get back to making candles, 1st ones were ok, nice and light, coconut cream pie, chestnuts and brown sugar, ...great, now lets do Cinnamon Roll, WHOA NELLY! Sheeeewww, here we go again! Couldnt breath, had to take a breathing treatment. Needless to say we started a search for respirators online. Hubby comes home today from work, so pleased with himself, said "Hey I got you a present!" I look and sure enough the ugliest respirator I have ever seen in my life LOL! Actually got it at a great price at our local hardware! Of course I was thrilled, "OH THANK YOU THANK YOU! I have become a cheap date, cause he used to not get that kind of reaction unless it was jewelry, or at the least pizza! Thats what happens after 25 years! (He was just too cute!) Lets go try this puppy out!

I dont use a particular fragrance called apple berry, but I use Ky's cranberry apple and call it apple berry. It's a good seller for me. I use para/soy mix zinc wicks and this one is a room filler for me. HTH

Here's a couple places that I know of that sell special lids. Not all are "rust" some pewter, black etc. www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com I think they actually have the rust. www.fillmorecontainers.com This one the lids were kinda hard to find so heres the url for the page. http://www.tennesseecandlesupplies.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=236&zenid=aa8b65f36abf99ca7bff6d5909426eb1 Hope this helps.

Prairieannie, You are absolutely right in what you said. I just felt that the statement this company made, hinted that a sign of a highly fragranced candle is the sooting (notice they didnt really say sooting, they said "blacking") and that it is to be expected, not due to incorrect burning etc. That possibly a person may think, well if yours doesnt soot then it must not be as fragrant as these are cause this company says so..thats all I was meaning. Kinda defeats all the work put into testing to limit or prevent sooting. As far as how people burn our candles...I had a friend who runs a hospital gift shop who wanted my candles. GREAT! I gave her test burners to lure the people in, sold really good! I came back in to re fill, and saw the test burner:eek: !!! the soot was so bad you could hardly see thru the jar! I was mortified! I tested tested tested and none of them burned like that, then I looked in the jar! That wick had to be 2 inches long or longer (by the way it was still burning when I arrived) the wick was tilted way over. I had left her a candle burning sheet on how to burn, what to do not do etc. It embarrassed me to death to think that people came in and saw that thing burning, but people still bought them, I wouldn't have, go figure! I guess the ones who bought the candle any way must have read that other company's statement and thought wow look at that soot, must be a good smeller! Btw, thanks for the "life after soot", gave me a laugh! And I would certainly never think you would purposely sell a sooty candle, I have read a lot of your posts and have learned a lot from you, and am really glad you reponded to me. I really respect your work!

Hi guys! Glad I came across this post. I did a little research today and read something that floored me! A major home party plan, that really emphasises their candles had this to say about the paraffin sooting problem. "Highly fragranced candles will sometimes blacken the mouth of a jar. Should the jar become blackened, simply extinguish the flame, allow it to cool, and carefully wipe the rim with a dry paper towel." :rolleyes2 My take on this, is that we have been knocking ourselves out trying to produce a soot - less candle, / soot free candle when all we had to do is market the soot left on the jar as a sign of a "highly fragranced candle" I guess I've been doing it the hard way all these years! My bad! This would really be funny if it werent for so many hard working candlemakers trying so hard to develop a quality candle, only to have a nationally recognized company to "poo poo" soot as a problem. Just thought I'd pass along. Btw, I use the paraffin soy blends, and if not careful with this wax, they will soot too.

150,000 - 200,000 in attendance! WOW! For me to ever have that kind of attendance that would mean every man, woman and child in 6 or 8 counties would have to be there! That sounds like it will be an awesome show! Your set up looks great! I love the whole look of it! Good luck! (I really dont think you will need it, Im sure you'll be sold out!) Have fun Sherri

Try this link http://www.craftwholesalers.com/merchant.ihtml?id=930&step=2 They have pretty decent prices. Good customer service too. However if you are using the light kits, this place sells them too, (I make electric candles too) be aware that they have the metal prongs. I have found that the metal prong light kits dig and gouge around the hole and stays loose. I like the ones at Big lots and family $ better , they have the plastic prongs and do much better. Also, are the 5 watts silicone dipped? If not, maybe try the 5w in the silicone dipped as the silicone kinda blocks some of the heat. Just my opinion. If they are 5 w dipped, this supplier does have the 3 w. Good luck Sherri

Im not sure this post goes here or maybe somewhere else, but any way I have searched high and low for cinnamon roll graphics to buy! I have googled till I cant google anymore. I've searched Prim, Primsy, Snickerdoodle you name it, thought I would ask you guys to see if you may have anyother ideas. TIA Sherri

Trish, Sherie I checked out that Equilibrium (?sp) site Sherie mentioned and they have a free trial download, takes a little time to download and install, but it is sooooo cool! Thanks for posting that site Sherie, I was also looking for something like this. Trish, maybe you could use the trial version, once its downloaded you can use 20 times. I havent tried all the features out yet, like using my graphics etc, just thought since you are pinched for time, you could use this till you can decide on which software to buy. HTH. Good luck Sherri