dg98adams 18 Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 I was at Barnes & Nobels bookstore 2 days before christmas and there were 2 Boy Scouts, 2 sisters (GS Cadets) and 2 moms that had a "free gift wrapping station". A donation jar was out, but no direct solicitation for the donation. The boys swapped in & out from singing carols to wrapping books (as the line allowed). As an ASM in a Troop in a nearby town I was interested, and I wanted as closer look. It also turned out I wanted to get some books I bought wrapped. The boys were raising $ for them to go to Philmont and had a small poster next to the donation jar. From the line I would say they were fairly successful. I observed: #1 - Good fund raiser as the estimated $ of wrapping paper used per customer was significantly less than the amount I saw donated per customer and the need they filled wrapping gifts was appreciated. I had 3 books wrapped and I dropped a $5 in the jar, guessing ~75% profit. #2 - the boys were warm and secure. #3 Any unused paper/tape could be shelved for next year. Link to post Share on other sites
shortridge 184 Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 A local animal shelter did this at a nearby outlet center. They took an empty storefront and set up a couple of tables as a giftwrapping station, with a donation jar. They did quite well by the looks of it. Link to post Share on other sites
ScoutNut 147 Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 We did this one Christmas at Border's, many years back, with our Girl Scouts. They were rasing funds for their Gold Award. The nice thing about Border's was they supplied all paper, tape, ribbon, etc. All we had to bring was ourselves, a sign saying who we were, and our donation box! Needless to say, we had to sign up for our time slots VERY, VERY, early! Link to post Share on other sites
JerseyScout 10 Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 The local animal shelter does this around us at several locations as well. Link to post Share on other sites
prof 58 Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 A group that I work with did this as well at a local mall. Did well for an afternoons work! Link to post Share on other sites
moxieman 11 Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 There are units up this way that do this every year. This year, I saw one troop at LL Bean's Freeport store doing this. I'll bet there's a waiting list for that spot. Fifteen years back in my SM days, my troop did this over the weekend before Christmas at the local BigBox Store and took in over $700 here in the Maine Wilderness. TIP: Have your scouts PRACTICE before hand on how to properly wrap gifts neatly by using empty boxes and newspaper.(This message has been edited by moxieman) Link to post Share on other sites
Secret DE 10 Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 No waiting list at Beans. The unit that does that is Troop 45 from Freeport. Their Scoutmaster is the engineer who does all the traffic studies and floor layout designs for Beans. I believe they have a lock on that. SDE Link to post Share on other sites
Oak Tree 15 Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 I read this thread hoping to learn how to have more fun, but sigh, all I get is a good fund-raising idea. Ah well... Link to post Share on other sites
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