The Cheddar Chatter
The Cheddar Chatter
Whether you’re fundraising, collecting dues, or planning events, we’ve got ideas, inspiration, and tools to make it all cheddar… uh, better.
Holiday Wreath Fundraiser Tips for Merry Success
A holiday wreath fundraiser is a festive, low-risk way for schools, PTAs, sports teams, and nonprofits to raise money during the winter season. With a little planning and the right online fundraising platform, you can turn a wreath sale into a joyful, community-powered fundraising success. This guide covers the full Christmas wreath sale, from picking products and a supplier to running pickup day, plus how to add Christmas trees to the same sale without setting up a tree lot. Ready to set things up now? Start with the holiday wreath fundraiser template and add your own products and prices. The best Christmas wreath fundraising ideas give supporters a few clear choices at different price points. A classic wreath covers most buyers, and one or two upgraded options bring in larger orders from those who want a more elaborate wreath.
How to Plan a Turkey Trot in 8 Easy Steps
Thanksgiving is all about tradition. Football, food, and for many communities, a Turkey Trot. Whether it’s a fun run, a walk, or a full-on 5K, these events are a great way to bring people together before the feast. But what happens behind the scenes? There’s a lot that goes into making it all work. That’s why we’ve pulled together the best advice we’ve heard from sports team organizers, parents, and booster clubs to help you make your own dinners easy, fun, and unforgettable. In this guide, you’ll find their top strategies to help you plan your own sports team dinners with confidence. From making the process less stressful for families to creating traditions that players look forward to, these tips will set your team up for success all season long.
What is a booster club: Everything you need to know
A booster club is a volunteer group of parents, alumni, and community members that raises money and provides support for a school or youth program, like sports teams, marching bands, theater departments, robotics teams, and more. The goal? Give the program a little extra boost (hence the name!). Booster clubs raise money for expenses the regular budget may not cover, like uniforms, equipment, travel, celebrations, and other extras that make a season or program special. If you just joined a booster club, or somehow walked into a meeting and walked out as a board member, you’ll want to read this guide. Here’s what booster clubs do, how the money works, and tools to help run one.
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Featured Articles
Holiday Wreath Fundraiser Tips for Merry Success
A holiday wreath fundraiser is a festive, low-risk way for schools, PTAs, sports teams, and nonprofits to raise money during the winter season. With a little planning and the right online fundraising platform, you can turn a wreath sale into a joyful, community-powered fundraising success.
This guide covers the full Christmas wreath sale, from picking products and a supplier to running pickup day, plus how to add Christmas trees to the same sale without setting up a tree lot.
Ready to set things up now? Start with the holiday wreath fundraiser template and add your own products and prices.
The best Christmas wreath fundraising ideas give supporters a few clear choices at different price points. A classic wreath covers most buyers, and one or two upgraded options bring in larger orders from those who want a more elaborate wreath.
How to Plan a Turkey Trot in 8 Easy Steps
Thanksgiving is all about tradition. Football, food, and for many communities, a Turkey Trot. Whether it’s a fun run, a walk, or a full-on 5K, these events are a great way to bring people together before the feast. But what happens behind the scenes? There’s a lot that goes into making it all work. That’s why we’ve pulled together the best advice we’ve heard from sports team organizers, parents, and booster clubs to help you make your own dinners easy, fun, and unforgettable. In this guide, you’ll find their top strategies to help you plan your own sports team dinners with confidence. From making the process less stressful for families to creating traditions that players look forward to, these tips will set your team up for success all season long.
What is a booster club: Everything you need to know
A booster club is a volunteer group of parents, alumni, and community members that raises money and provides support for a school or youth program, like sports teams, marching bands, theater departments, robotics teams, and more.
The goal? Give the program a little extra boost (hence the name!). Booster clubs raise money for expenses the regular budget may not cover, like uniforms, equipment, travel, celebrations, and other extras that make a season or program special.
If you just joined a booster club, or somehow walked into a meeting and walked out as a board member, you’ll want to read this guide. Here’s what booster clubs do, how the money works, and tools to help run one.
How North Ed FFA Simplified Its Annual Plant Sale
Brian Matchett has spent his career helping students find their path through agricultural education.
After earning a degree in agricultural education from Michigan State University, followed by a master’s in agriculture and extension education, Brian began teaching in 2003. Today, he serves as an Agriscience Instructor at a Career Tech Center in Northwest Michigan, where students come from high schools across five counties.
Through the program and its FFA chapter, students build leadership skills, gain hands-on experience, and explore possible career paths in agriculture.
One of North Ed FFA’s biggest projects is its annual plant sale. Students help grow and care for the plants, making the sale a natural extension of what they are already learning in the classroom. The money raised goes right back into student programs and projects.
Before Cheddar Up, managing the sale took a lot more work. The program originally relied on cash sales, then tried other tools that were not built for selling a large variety of products. Brian also used Google Forms and spreadsheets, which meant checking orders throughout the day and manually keeping tabs on inventory.
16+ Spirit Week Ideas for School: Most Thrilling Themes & Activities
Looking to take your spirit week ideas for school to the next level? Every school has that one week where mismatched socks are celebrated, the principal wears a goofy wig, and someone’s dad shows up in full superhero gear for drop-off. It’s one of the most exciting weeks of the school year!
As a parent or teacher, you want a lineup that feels doable, but also brings out the giggles and spirit pride. Below you will find 16+ super fun theme days, activities that go beyond dress-up, and a step-by-step spirit week planning guide.
Let’s make this year’s spirit week activities and themes a real show-stopper! Spirit week is a themed school event that lasts an entire week (five school days) where students and staff dress up, compete in silly activities, and celebrate school pride.
How Pacelli Boosters Raised More by Keeping It Simple
Cardinal Pacelli Catholic School is a small school in Cincinnati serving about 420 students from preschool through eighth grade. Like many school communities, much of what happens outside the classroom depends on volunteers. That includes athletics.
The school’s athletics program is volunteer-run, and booster memberships help fund improvements while giving families useful perks throughout the sports season. But the booster program had become more complicated than it needed to be.
One year, the group offered three membership levels: $100, $150 and $500. The lower-cost option was meant to make the program more accessible by removing some of the extras, like booster swag and recognition. Instead, it created confusion.
Some families chose the lower tier and later wondered why they had not received the same benefits as other boosters. Others likely would have purchased the $150 option if the $100 choice had not been there at all.
For a volunteer team already juggling plenty, the extra questions and follow-up were not worth it. Cheddar Up gave the team the flexibility to adjust the collection and make the experience simpler the next time around.
20 High School Fundraising Ideas for Clubs and Classes
The best high school fundraising ideas give students a chance to take the lead. They can dream up the idea, design the merch, spread the word, and make the fundraiser their own. As a bonus, it lightens the load for advisors, teachers, and parent volunteers.
Need a little inspiration? At Cheddar Up, we like to go straight to the source. We looked at fundraisers school groups ran on Cheddar Up during the 2025-26 school year, from Egg My Yard to holiday craft fairs, and pulled together our favorites.
We’ve organized the top 20 ideas by how you want to run your fundraiser, with options for student council and class officers, academic clubs, and schoolwide campaigns. You’ll also find a simple way to collect payments online while students handle the rest.
How to Host a Vendor Market: A Beginner’s Guide to Success
Vendor markets are vibrant, community-driven events where local creators, crafters, and small businesses come together to showcase their goods. Whether you’re planning a seasonal pop-up, a recurring art fair, or a one-day maker market, learning how to host a vendor market successfully takes more than picking a date and sending out invites. A vendor market is a curated gathering of independent sellers (think artists, bakers, designers, and hobbyists) who set up individual booths or tables to sell their goods. These markets often feature handmade, locally produced, or small-batch products. They’re popular in community centers, school gyms, church parking lots, and even virtual spaces. Vendor markets bring local makers and small businesses together in one spot to sell their goods. They work as a seasonal pop-up or a monthly fair, and they can raise money for your group while giving the community a reason to show up. This guide covers how to host a vendor market from the first plan to the final thank you.
End-of-year banquet planning templates
An end-of-season banquet is the chance to bring everyone together one more time, without the pressure of a practice, game, competition, or performance on the schedule. It’s where teams and groups recognize seniors, hand out awards, thank coaches and volunteers, share favorite moments, and celebrate everything they accomplished together. Sports teams, cheer squads, marching bands, and clubs hold them in the fall, winter, and spring, usually within a few weeks of the season’s end.
This guide covers how to plan an end-of-year or end-of-season banquet step by step, how to sell banquet tickets and collect RSVPs online, and banquet templates that you can customize for your sport or club.
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Running a group isn’t easy, but these teams, schools, and clubs found a way to make it simpler — and more successful — with Cheddar Up. Check out their stories and steal a few ideas!
