artcwolf Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 I'm going through my inventory, and cleaning out scents i'm not going to carry anymore and i'm wondering where do you donate candles too? They are mainly votives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicky_CO Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 A good place to donate is abused women shelters. Those women have very little and candles are a nice treat for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meridith Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 I'm going through my inventory, and cleaning out scents i'm not going to carry anymore and i'm wondering where do you donate candles too? They are mainly votives.Or you can give them to your customers as a free gift when they make a purchase. Another thing I do is I make Grab Bags that I fill with products that I'm discontinuing, or they've been knocked around a bit and look a bit rough, etc. I put them in cute bags with a great price on them. IME, my customers love to buy these Grab Bags to find out what's inside and to see what kind of a deal they got. Last year, I must have sold 10 of these each to these 2 ladies that kept coming in to buy them. They loved them!! This way I can get rid of some old products, make a bit of money off them and the customer gets a great deal. IMO its a win-win situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Common Scents Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 Another good idea would be a "Secret Santa" shop. My elementary school back home did this. The PTO put together a "store" in our library where everything was super cheap (think lots of donations from the dollar stores). All the kids got to come with their money and buy for their families. There were volunteers that were there to help the kids shop and then wrap all the purchases and then each child took their gifts home and put them under the tree. I LOVED going to the secret santa shop every year and so did my younger brother. Its such a sweet concept. And of course for those children who didn't have money to spend (I think the most they would let each child bring to spend was $10) the PTO always helped out. That's what I plan on doing with my leftovers next year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesoapbox Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Usually those Secret Santa shops are run by businesses. Not donations at all. Our PTA did it two years ago and just did not generate the sales that it cost to pay the company with all the stuff they delivered. We stopped doing that shop the past two years. All the ideas are great. If you want to give them as donations check your local shelters that cater to women. But if you want to make sales, the grab bag idea is terrific. I love buying mystery bags Angi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adillenal Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 The only "Secret Santa" shops at schools in my area are run by the PTO and they take donations. Maybe the smaller schools don't use companies. I still remember the little gifts my DS bought for me at his elementary. The little pig still sits in the window of my bathroom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesoapbox Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Most schools secret santa shops are PTA or PTO run. I have been on the executive pta board for my 2 sons' schools for 2 years now as the fundraiser coordinator (ways and means). Check with your PTO or PTA to see how they run it. There are over 10 companies that PTO's or PTA's can choose from. They are dollar store quality items that they deliver, set out for you in displays, give you a cash register and some even offer volunteers to help out if you can't drum some up from your school. I pretty much guarantee they used a company. We are a larger elementary school and do not ever receive enough donations to run a well-inventoried Secret Santa Shop, smaller schools would have an even tougher time getting enough donations to provide ALL the kids in the school at least 2 items to purchase. The shops are provided by actual fundraising companies.Only saying this because I have had to research this first hand for our school. Angi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adillenal Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Not trying to start an argument. Small schools may not have but 150 kids on a campus and the community will usually be very supportive. We never had a problem getting enough "stuff" for the kids to buy. It was never a "fundraiser" per se for the PTO but a way to help the kids and they loved it. Since this was a yearly thing, we collected all year and stored until Christmas. The difference in small and large. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candlelady Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 I normally get requests from Walk for Life fundraisers where they need votives to put into the luminary bags that line our high school track......Just a thought.HTHCarrie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Common Scents Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Our Secret Santa shop was not run by a company either. It was all donation based. They raised funds all year & purchased the merchandise along with donations from the local businesses. Our school is VERY small and in VERY rural VA. We're talking less than 100 kids. I've already talked to members of the PTO about donating and they can't wait! The Relay for Life is a good idea too! And you can always make up a bunch of gift baskets & donate them as door prizes or for silent auctions too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doglover Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 I'm going through my inventory, and cleaning out scents i'm not going to carry anymore and i'm wondering where do you donate candles too? They are mainly votives.To get back on topic, I usually gather all of mine up with some other "goodies" and ship them to a person serving our country overseas (addy provided by a family member.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artcwolf Posted December 30, 2008 Author Share Posted December 30, 2008 To get back on topic, I usually gather all of mine up with some other "goodies" and ship them to a person serving our country overseas (addy provided by a family member.)We are going to be doing that with a lot of the other inventory we have in our store. There is a group i think based in Arizona that takes donations for pagan military stationed overseas. I thought about putting the candles in that as well, but fear the heat will melt them.I like Vicky's idea of the battered womens shelter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beverley Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 I like Vicky's idea of the battered womens shelter.The only problem I had when I took candles to the womens shelter was that they don't permit to women to have any open flames, but said they would give them to the women as they leave.... which I thought was a nice idea too. Something nice for them to take when they get back on their feet and find a permanent home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deb16 Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 For customers that buy a complete candle set (one of each size) or a gift basket, we take candles that we have an excessive inventory of and give the customer a nice poly filled grab bag to keep or give as a gift. The customers seem to love this and it's even increased our business because our customers tell their friends, who tell their friends, who tell their friends, etc. This (free) word of mouth advertising has been REALLY GREAT for our business!:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katcandlemaker Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 I belong to an army community that can definitely use these candles. Believe it or not, the guys and gals stationed overseas love candles. Soldier's Angels might be an option for you, or I can give you about 50 women's names and addies that are in desperate need of a "pick me up" while their husbands are deployed. Just another idea to toss out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debra Phelps Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 Or, if you find a customer that is just not sure they want to try your candles. You can tell them these are discontinued, but you would like to give them one to try. Once they see that they are good candles, they will be back. I am always handing out sample candles. That gets me customers. And they love the gesture. I also think the grab bag idea is great. I have bought several my self. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katcandlemaker Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 We are going to be doing that with a lot of the other inventory we have in our store. There is a group i think based in Arizona that takes donations for pagan military stationed overseas. I thought about putting the candles in that as well, but fear the heat will melt them.I like Vicky's idea of the battered womens shelter.You can ship from Oct-April which begins the rainy/Winter seasons in Iraq and Afghanistan w/o melting. Anything before or after that they will melt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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