Supporting the School Book Fair

There are tons of options as to run a scholastic book fair - you can get money, the option to have a 1/2 price sale if you have 2 a year, you can get merchandise. It does help the school. As far as fundraisers go, it's always been one that I've supported. I'd rather buy a book at full retail, then an overprices piece of junk I don't want or need.

I would always attend the book fair with my children and help them to choose a book or two. There are a lot more choices then the ones shown in the flyer that is sent home, and there's usually a selection of discounted books, especially in the springtime.

Another option is to just give them a $ limit.

At my kids' school, the Scholastic Book Fair... is a fundraiser for the school's library.
With that in mind, I support it.
But I have a limit for each of my kids, on what they can buy.
They know that.

And also at the book fair, the Teachers of the school, list down their "Wish List" of books for their classrooms. And it is put onto a poster... at the Book Fair.
Which I think is a good thing, and which I also get a couple of Books for the teachers which I know or the Teachers which my kids have, this year.
It benefits the classroom, helps the Teacher have books in their classroom, and benefits the children in the classroom.

Other than that, Teachers buy books for their classrooms, with their own money.

And school libraries have a budget too.
So this fundraiser, since it is for my kids' school library, I support it.

And per my kids' book fair... their Library, per whatever cut/percentage they get from the book fair... well their school Library earned a lot of money.... and a LOT of books, because of it, to stock the school's library.

I usually give him an amount to spend (usually around $5) and tell him if he wants to get a book that costs more he needs to use his own money.

Amazon charges shipping.

I let my daughter buy one during school with her class and then we went after school and bought a bag of books on the day it was buy one/get one free.

I have been on Bookfair committees for as long as I can remember! (Even at the middle school level.)

Scholastic is a WONDERFUL company to work with. The profits are good, they really make the whole process easy and they are very generous with their help.

My kids usually took $10-15 dollars with strict instructions that they were to buy books only. If they had a dollar or two left over, they could get an eraser or bookmark, but absolutely no toys.

The kids have fun shopping together and the whole school benefits. Our PTO was very good about finding out which kids could not afford to shop and arranged for a "gift card" for them so that they could get at least one book. It was very discrete, but it made a difference to these kids.

Musicmakingmama has a very good point: Amazon charges $3-4 per shipment. It adds up!

So send your kiddo with ten bucks and let them have fun with their classmates. Better yet, volunteer and shop with them! :)

I am a Chairperson for Scholastic Book Fairs, the school gets 40% of your purchases, I understand the "bargain hunter" in you so I ask you this, if you are not wanting to "over pay" for these books can you find out what the PTA or school's goals are and cut a check for the school instead? Often the only way schools can get some of their library books, technology upgrades and items are via this fundraiser. There are some AMAZING things the school can purchase with their Scholastic Dollars, our goal is to purchase a Smart Board with our Scholastic Dollars from our Fall and Spring Fairs. Smart Boards run 4000 for a school to purchase - these are costly but wonderful tools in our classrooms. Our other fundraisers go towards setting the school up for next year, teacher funds (we give each teacher 100 for class supplies) and we are working towards getting a new Stander for our physical therepy/special needs room, again 4000 used. So, if you attend my son's school and bought from the book fair your funds would go towards our smart board, if you cut a check and left it at that your funds would go towards the Stander. Long story short see what they are looking to purchase and find out what is more important to you - helping the school and how or saving a buck.

Momof2girls has it right. We have two book fairs a year and I've been fairly heavily involved the last couple of years. You can get 50% of the profit in books and supplies from their catalog (we stock the library, classrooms, etc) or you can get 25% profit in cash. We always use our 2nd book fair as buy one get one free (so we don't make any money). If you have the opportunity go up there with them and look around - there are some great bargain books. If not, give them a dollar amount and they can get however many books they want for that amount. That's what I usually do and my daughter also uses her money to supplement if there is more that she wants. We even give our volunteers a free book each. You might look into working a shift - see if they do something like that!

I usually see it as a fundraiser for the school. I usually allow my daughter two books from the book fair. The teachers get to go through the book fair before the kids and have a list of books they would like to add to the class library so I allow my daughter to purchase 1 book to keep and one book to donate to the class library. Most of the time I can find books that are $4-5 so it works out pretty good.

I think one from the fair, and one from amazon is a really good compromise!

My limit is about 20 dollars too. Funny, I just took my daughter to hers last night. I spent 21$ ... she got 2 books, a bookmark and an eraser shaped like an iphone. (lol) I'd tell your kids....they have a set amount of $ and let them decide what they want.

Since I never enjoy many of the fundraisers I usually send a check to the pto of approximately they would get if I did buy. So the book fair for usbis 15%. I might have let her get 3 books at about 7.00 each. The donation is pure and tax deductable where as the book purchase is not. We keep our home library.fresh with garage sales, rummage sales and resales where moms are selling those same book fair books for about a dollar each. We use the library alot and keep new Amazon or other new purchases as gifts for bdays Christmas and thr great Halloween candy trade in.

Well, you could always tell them you will get the books they want less expensive, and just flat out donate the extra money to the library.

I don't know how much the library gets at these book fairs, but I'm sure they would appreciate the donation even more.

With all the budget cuts, many school libraries have little to no budget at all.

Our school does a "Literacy Walk" with parents/family pledging a certain amount of money per lap (of the track)...... this is a big event every year, and ALL the money goes to the library or Language Arts department to purchase class sets of novels. My kids have been out of middle school for many years (my oldest graduated HS in 2001, and my youngest graduated in 2010), and I think at least 2 were in middle school when they did the literacy walk. the NJHS also sponsors a bake sale where kids can buy treats.

Our school's PTA doesn't necessarily use it as a fundraiser because they buy every child one book priced $5.99 or under. I agreed to buy one additional book. Anything above and beyond they can buy with their own money, but I do encourage them to borrow them from the library.

Lots of schools are scrambling to raise money for worthwhile reasons. If you think the book prices are too high, why not make a donation of some cash directly to the school? Then they'll get 100% of your money instead a smaller amount. Whether you can count it as a deduction I don't know, but it may work better for them. (Of course, if you've promised your children they can buy books, you'll need to follow through, but you can think about this next time.)

In my area, one high school cut out the paycheck (which was low as it was) for the part-time accompanist of the choirs. That doesn't sound like a big thing, but the students in the choirs valued the many hours of work the accompanist was putting in. So they're selling candy once or twice a year as a fund-raiser to support their accompanist! I appreciate their devotion and their cleverness, but when it came down to the wire, I didn't purchase: I just gave the money I would have spent for candy to the kids so that they could put *all* of it toward their goal.

I always kept in mind the book fair is a find raiser..

And so I would (in my mind) allow $20. worth of books.. Anything above that I encouraged her to maybe let us purchase them another time.

I only have one school age child so i give her a 20. Its a good cause and we get 2 to 3 books out of it. She did buy a poster and a stupid pointer one time. So yes be sure to specify books only. lol

Hi! Even better is the Scholastic warehouse sales
http://www.scholastic.com/bookfairs/events/warehouse/
There is nothing listed right now but the deals are amazing. They hold them around the country 3-4 times a year. My kids have mostly outgrown them (16 and18) but I have nieces we buy for and fun things for my dh's archery kids. I have done as well as 17 cents on the dollar shopping there. I've always just let my kids run hog wild and get whatever they wanted (but no literal running!). I have kids that have always and still never leave the house without a book, it's been grand!.

My daughter is allowed to purchase any amount of books she wants but it has to be with her own money. The way we see it is we support the school throughout the year and give books as well so there is no need to support the school book fair.

I usually allow the kids to spend $15 each on books. The typical Scholastic fair pays 25% of the sales directly to the school. When you add in bonuses, credits for taking books as profit instead of cash, etc. we usually yield about 36% of the sales - we keep 20% of the cash as a PTA fundraiser and use the rest of it for the librarian to purchase books for the school library. I know the books are cheaper elsewhere, but I see it as a donation to the school that happens to net my kids a book or two each.

The other mom's answers and thoughts are great. I just have one thought to add: After raising 2 kids and chairing the bookfair about 4 times, I loved watching the kids shop for their own books. Despite computers, etc., kids still love to hold a book and are so excited to look at all cases and pick out one or two (or more) on their own (Amazon just isn't the same). Happy Reading :)

My kids buy 1 book-unless it's BOGO. The books are sold at list price.

Write a check to the school for a donation if you think the cost is too high. Personally, I think the book fair usually generates a large sum of money for the school and I really don't mind buying a book or two.
LBC

I think supporting your school is very important, and, with books, it's a win-win for all! Yes--the books might be more expensive but, the kids get to shop for their own. You know it's helping fund your schools--and with all the lousy budget cuts--it really makes a huge difference! On a budget? Give each child a budget of $10-20 (you decide) and tell them they cannot go over. It teaches them that they have to shop within their budget, girls get books, you help school, girls read and know they helped support school and everybody is happy!! (Lastly, shopping for books is FUN!)

The school principal should be able to tell you how much money the school gets. I do the same thing you do, I check the prices on amazon. I let my son get some of the less expensive books at the fair and I will get him the rest on amazon. My son loves books and he loves to pick them out at the fair so I don't want to discourage him but he understands that some things are just too expensive at the book fair. Hope this helps!

If the books are under $5 they can get two if I have the money to get any at all.

I am with Celeste. Give him $5 and call it a day.

Personally, I would ask the school how much money they get from the book fair. In fact, regardless of the amount that they get, I would rather buy them online for the cheaper cost and give a cash donation for the difference to the school. Or just make a donation to the school. Or donate your time (or whatever you can do). I volunteer at my kids school and head up a parent committee, so I know that the school is thrilled to get anything they can. Good luck!