Rummage Sale Organizing?

Question

Our local youth group is considering organizing the annual community-wide rummage sale.

We're a small town, so I anticipate we may have 10-15 sales if we're lucky.

What could we do to make it a well anticipated event? I was thinking of incorporating a scavenger hunt into it, and those completing the list will go into a drawing for great prizes - this would get people to try and hit every sale. Due to gaming laws, it has to be NO PURCHASE required. I was thinking of maybe having each sale post a "secret word", and the participants have to record it on their list.

We would not really be looking to make any money, just to make it a great event!

Any thoughts or other ideas?

Answer 1

consider having food. dogs, chips, pop, face painting ballons,

other things for kids.

Answer 2

A scavenger hunt at a rummage sale seems too complicated to pull off at the same time, especially, since you are a youth group.  Plus, the people that would enjoy a scavenger hunt (adventurous, fun, agile) aren't necessarily the same type of people who would attend a rummage sale (major bargain hunters, shops early and moves on to the next stop, tend to be older adults)---does that make sense?  You need to think about your clientele and cater to things that would interest them.

You could hold 2 separate events if your heart is set on holding a scavenger hunt.  I've done it with teams and disposable Polaroid type cameras where you must take pictures of some of the items on the list (i.e. your team standing in a fountain, your team in the back of a squad car, inside a beer cooler looking out---get the idea?)

Answer 3

I think that would be a little complicated. It would be fun, but too much work.

How about raffle tickets? I don't know if this violates gaming laws but for every purchase someone makes they would get a raffle ticket. Then you could have a big jar/bucket where people could write their names and phone numbers on the back of the tickets and put them in the jar and you could draw names for prizes. But again, I don't know if that violates gaming laws. It's not like they're buying the tickets though, they just get them free when they buy something at a sale. You'd have to check with someone on that to make sure it's okay though.

We always have food at our rummage sales. You could make cookies and other little things like that. We've even sold popcorn, hot dogs, and water and soft drinks. They're a huge hit especially because people don't like to stop shopping for lunch--they want to get something quick and keep going to sales.

Just some ideas anyway...good luck!