F U L L / O F / B E A N Z !

Hello there Blogger! Apologies for the delay with this post but I've BEAN busy with uni work. You may wonder why I've added a beans pun in there but I have a messy fundraising idea you can get involved with.

This idea is primarily for those daring fundraisers who enjoy getting messy! You've probably heard of this idea before but perhaps never done it and why would you? Its slightly bonkers! However, that is the brilliance of it!! All you need is a bath, tins & tins of baked beans... and a keen audience to cheer you on! As this fundraising idea is slightly bizarre people will want to donate as this is a one time opportunity for them to see you being covered in baked beans! They will find it a laugh and its brilliant for you as it boosts your donations!

All you need to do is organise a place you can hold this event, grab your spare bath and collect your baked beans! You then need to create an event, perhaps post it on Facebook or circulate it around your campus or hometown. The idea is to set a target of money to raise and when you reach it THEN you will dive into a bath full of baked beans! This is fun, messy and a good laugh for you and others! It is all for a good cause and the weirder the idea the better! There are many other foods you could involve but I've heard the Baked Beans bath  is a popular fundraising idea!

Good luck with this idea and if you do decide to do it, post some pictures! Be a great laugh to see how it all turned out! Have a good week bloggers :)

Rhea xx

D O U G H N U T / D E A L I N G S

Hey bloggers! How was your weekend? Mine would've been A LOT better if Wales won the Rugby match! Leigh Halfpenny did do me proud though!
Anyway lets talk fundraising...

In two weeks time I am going to be visiting a few libraries around campus and selling some Krispy Kreme doughnuts to the wonderful students of Cardiff University!
How are we doing this I hear you ask? Well Krispy Kreme are a fab and delicious doughnut company which are keen to help fundraisers raise money for charity! All you have to do is go on to their website and order a few dozens of doughnuts and then sell them for a little extra so you make a profit for your charity!

It’s really simple – you purchase their Original Glazed doughnuts from them at the special fundraising price of £5.00 a dozen, you sell them on for £8.95 per dozen or £1.45 per doughnut with your charity receiving all of the profit – couldn’t be easier! If you want to find out more click here and this will take you to the official Krispy Kreme fundraising page. 

Once you've purchased these doughnuts the rest is up to you! All you really need to do is decide where you're going to do it, when you're going to do it and who will be doing it with you :) The more the merrier! So come on, go place your order and if you find you have any doughnuts left over... well its obvious isn't it, devour them yourself!

There are many other business' that do it! If you go onto their official page, it may give you the option to do this. You could start off with Krispy Kreme first and then search for other companies that do this!

 

If you want a bit more variety and you're a top chef, you could even bake some extra treats to go along side the doughnuts! You could end up creating a nice little spread that people just can't say no to!

 

Sooooo... why not give it a try? I will post back with the total amount. I think we're hoping to raise £150 then split it between us!

Enjoy your week! Let me know how yours goes!

 

 

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/rheawatkins1



Rhea xx


 

P A N C A K E / P A R T Y

The weekend is over and Monday has hit us in the face yet again! However the fact that it is PANCAKE DAY tomorrow makes the week slightly more bearable!
If you're like me and loooove a few pancakes then why not plan a last minute pancake gathering with you and your friends in the comfort of your own home and raise a bit of cash for your chosen charity!

This idea is easy, fun and tasty to do! A few things to consider:

1. Firstly decide on a place you can hold this. Depending on the size of your kitchen you should be hoping to invite at least 10-20 people to this. If your kitchen is not big enough then you may want to hold it somewhere else, perhaps at a family or friend's kitchen if it means more people can come or even at a club in your local area! Wherever you choose to do it, make sure an unwanted cost doesn't come with it!

2. Once you've decided where to hold this delicious get-together you can then start inviting a few of your close friends, family or perhaps a few people who are fundraising for the same charity as you!
You can send this invite out on Facebook, however, as its short notice and it could be that a few people can't make it tomorrow, so you could do a belated pancake gathering at the end of the week!

3. Don't forget to mention a small fee to come to this as the whole point of this is to raise money not just to eat your bodyweight in pancakes! I suggest to offer a fee of £2 as if 10-20 people come you could raise at least £40.
 
4. You then will have to gather your ingredients and a variety of toppings to make your pancakes as creative as possible! If you're not willing to spend too much on toppings and ingredients you could ask your local store to donate a couple of the ingredients and toppings as it is for charity.

5. Now all you have to do is whip out your best apron and gather some recipes to make sure your pancakes are the best out there!
There are many online sites and recipe books you can search through to get some recipes .
You can take a look at the BBC site to view alternative ways of making pancakes. There are many ways and toppings to discover on this site...they vary from savoury to sweet!

TIP: Add some music and games to liven it up. Put out some donation buckets so people can donate throughout the evening!

Enjoy your week bloggers, let me know how your pancakes go!

Check out my donation page by clicking the above image! Any donation is appreciated.


Rhea xx



S O C I A L / M E D I A

Hey bloggers! Its Monday again! Need a way of getting over those Monday blues? How about increasing your donations?! If you are experiencing a lack of energy from the weekend (as I currently am) but still want to draw in those donations from your very own bedroom then an easy way of doing this is by using social media sites!
YES! Its that simple! All you have to do is copy and paste the URL link of your donation page on to your Facebook, or Twitter account. If you have a blog you could even share it on that! The list of social media sites you could post your URL link on to is endless!

SHOUT OUT about what you're doing and what you're raising money for! People will be generous and donate. You could also ask your friends to share your URL onto their Facebook page or blog.

If you wanted to share your URL further you could use your e-mail account and e-mail your donation page to people. You could even e-mail corporations or companies that you may know as often they will be considerate towards charities. Or if you work for a company ask if your manager would consider to donate!

I work for New Look (if you're a fashion blogger you may have heard of the store) and I recently told my manager that I would be trekking Morocco for charity so would need time off work and immediately she asked if there was anywhere she could donate towards my trek! So I'm going to forward my donation page on to her :)

I am now going to listen to my own advice and share my donation page on to my Facebook account and on to this blog itself!

Why not take a look at what I'm fundraising for and consider donating! Thanks for reading bloggers! Have a great week :)

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/rheawatkins1

 

Rhea xx

P U B / C O L L E C T I O N

Hey fundraisers! I thought I would write a quick blog about pub collections and how easy they are to raise a bit of extra money.
About a week ago, me and a group of fundraisers grabbed our charity buckets and visited a few pubs around Cardiff. We were pleasantly surprised. Everyone was on top form and gave generously. In return we handed out sweets, I was surprised at how many adults still enjoyed a sweet or two!
We did pub collections for two hours and I was very pleased with the total amount we raised.

Above is a summary of our total amount raised. We raised £125.53 so we then would get £25.10 each. As we had to share it out it may not seem like we raised a great deal but just think, if you do a pub collection every two weeks or even do it for an extra hour or two your total will soon mount up!
Pub collections are an easy, simple and fun way to raise some money! You could even dress up to draw attention to yourselves. When doing pub collections, you must first ask the person in charge if you're allowed to pester their customers for donations, as sometimes pub's won't allow you to do this especially if the pub already support a local charity!
If visiting pubs and asking for donations isn't your cup of tea, you could instead ask your local pub to display your bucket on the bar for a couple of months, that way you can still gain donations but you won't have to ask or bother the customers.

Why not arrange a pub collection with you and a few friends this week? Grab your buckets, perhaps buy some sweets to raise your chances of donations and its probably best to wear a t-shirt of your charity or perhaps take your charity ID card just to show you're raising money for a legitimate charity! 

If you've done a pub collection before, how did it go?

That's all for today! Check back next week for some more fundraising ideas!

Don't forget to check my donate page! Any donations appreciated. https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/rheawatkins1

 

 

 

Rhea xx

M A S Q U E R A D E / M A Y H E M

Happy Valentine's Day bloggers!
As you know Beth and I hosted a masquerade party for Valentine's Day to raise money for our charity ChildReach International. The turnout wasn't as good as we hoped but we still managed to enjoy the night with close friends! All together we managed to raise £130 through tickets sales, a lucky dip, a photo booth, a 'guess the dogs name' stall and by placing buckets by the bar.

Hopefully, through my experience you can see how important it is to broadcast your event as this will result in a bigger turnout. You MUST shout out about your event as much as possible, get it out into the community as much as you can for the best turnout!
Another issue was that a lot of people couldn't turn up primarily because it was during term time, so a lot of my friends were away in uni and couldn't make it home for it so perhaps when doing an event you should be aware of term times. Perhaps, a summer party would be better as people are more likely to be home and can then attend. Or perhaps, host an event back at uni?

Below are a few photos of the room and the stalls to trigger off some inspiration!

Here is our hand made photo booth! Simple and fun to do. You can add old fancy dress clothes, masks, random quotes or signs and moustaches on a table, then let your guests try them on and go wild with styles! Let them be as crazy as they want and photograph them! You can also leave a bucket on the table for extra donations!
 



Here is a pug we bought from Sainsburys! We wrote down a list of names and let people pay £1 to guess his name and obviously whoever guessed correctly won the dog! Beth's boyfriend guessed correctly, the dog's name was Waffle.



 

 

 

 

Hosting this event was an experience and perhaps something I would consider doing again. Next time, I would like to do something less formal and just have a catch up or get together as sometimes themes can turn people off. However, I do believe adding themes can also attract people as it could be something unique that they have never been to before!

 

That's all for today! Enjoy your Valentine's day bloggers! (I'm sure I will with all these delicious chocolates... I feel the weight piling on already!)

 

 

Rhea xx

 

P A R T Y / P L A N N I N G

Hey there bloggers it is February and that can only mean one thing! Love is in the air! Yes, valentine's day is coming up! 
For Valentines day, Beth and I have decided to host a Masquerade Valentines party at the Atlantic Hotel in Porthcawl on Thursday 13th February to raise money for our charity ChildReach International!
Hosting an event can be the perfect idea to draw in those donations and it can be anything related to your interests.

As this is my first event, I am slightly apprehensive on how the night will go. If it is your first event too then perhaps join forces with friends for support. I am rather relieved that me and Beth are doing this together. It decreases the stress when you have someone there to help you. When planning an event you need to consider the following:

1. Where and when the event will take place?
You could do it at a local pub or even at your own home to save money.

2. Will it have a theme?
You could add a theme to encourage more people to come. You could make people come in fancy dress.

3. How many guests will be attending?
You could create an event on Facebook to keep track of the guests attending. Or put up posters around the community to entice guests.

4. How much money you will need to put aside for the venue, decorations, food or DJ?
When planning the Masquerade party, I did have many worries over the cost of venue as I am a student myself so I do have to keep an eye of what I spend at the moment! However, as it is a charity event people are generous and usually allow you to hold it for free. When it comes to food and decorations you could make your own or ask the venue manager to provide little picks for free as it is for charity. However, people usually don't eat a great deal at parties and instead spend their money at the bar so I wouldn't worry too much on creating a huge platter. You could also buy cheap decorations on Amazon, you could even create your own decorations or tickets as its easy to do! For our party we had a discount for the DJ, however, if you are not willing to pay for a DJ you could create your own playlist and buy some cheap speakers.

5. How will you raise extra money for your charity?
You could raise a lot of money from ticket prices alone. You could sell raffle tickets or create fun stalls and games for people to pay and play for. If you are not willing to lash out and spend money on prizes for the stalls and raffle then you could ask your local flourist, diner or shops to donate some prizes for the charity. Local communities are usually generous and will donate gifts.

6. Finally, decide on an outfit to wear and get ready to raise some money!!

These are just a few tips to get you started. I'm sure you can expand on these points further to suit your party!

Idea: You could start preparing now for an Easter event in April and inject some fun by having people dress up! Do you have any other themes or ideas? It would be great to here some more!

 

 

 

Rhea xx



M Y / F U N D R A I S I N G

August 2014 will see me trek the High Atlas Mountain and Sahara Desert in Morocco! Many have claimed I am crazy in doing this, yet it is all for an amazing cause so I could not resist being apart of this wonderful adventure with Cardiff University.
I am raising money for ChildReach International, an extraordinary charity that increases the quality of life for a child in Morocco!
Before even starting this challenging trek, a major challenge is raising money. When it comes to charity events I worry that I will not be able to reach my fundraising target. This could be a worry of yours too, but have no fear I will be posting helpful and innovative ideas for anyone who is currently fundraising for any sort of charity :)
A major part of fundraising is enthusiasm and motivation so be sure to inject these characteristics into your fundraising events! Don't forget to plan your events, be creative about your fundraising, be daring and team up with friends and families for extra support.
Even if you are unsure about what you want to fundraise for, I hope this blog will encourage and inspire you to get on the band wagon and become a fundraiser!

If have decided on a charity to fundraise for, comment below on who you're fundraising for! It'd be great to here about it!
If you would like to take a look at my donation page or submit a donation to me to do this trek then then please click the URL link here: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/rheawatkins1
OR
If you would like to take a look at the charity I am fundraising for then click the URL link here:
http://www.childreach.org.uk/

 

 

 

 

Rhea xx