Box Tops for Education

Our school has improved its programs by letting folks know what we collect and what we do with the money/points.  I send home info sheets, collection sheets and run contests and drawings to keep Box Tops and Campbell's on everyone' mind.  You can also ask local organizations to help you collect, like a church or the Lion's Club, etc.  I give a treat (candy, pencil) to everyone who turns in Box Tops or Campbell's labels.  I get my husband's business to donate the candy.  I can send you a few of my forms just to see.  Good luck!

That would be great. Thanks so much!!

I'm working on getting some collection boxes made and put throughout my church and in the classrooms to keep it in everyone's minds. Right now I have them putting their names on the bags or the collection sheets and I started handing out rewards for them. Getting a store to donate candy would be amazing it just comes to the asking part that I am not very good at.

Thanks so much for this wonderful idea!!

Hi, I am starting as a new coordinator for my school! I am looking to see how you get collection box's.. i saw a couple of pictures with a boxtop box... do people just make them? I want to put them at my work!

Also I am looking for some ideas on great contests.... we just did boxtopoly and seemed to work, but I am also looking for new ideas!

Another thing... I read few replies about the collection sheets... how have they worked for you? Has there been much info out there on the marketplace? We did not do it i think at our school. I think we just did not get the word out right.... I myself shope online all the time and never wente throught the website, which is sad we have lst many boxtops.....

Can you email me some ideas to my home email... ********************** I am trying to change the accounts over to me just having trouble so all this would go to he prev coordinator! I would welcome any insight!!! I am looking to see what people are sending home to the parents for info... trying to keep it simple but informative and inviting! Appreciate any time!!!!

Thanks,

Kristina... MA

Kristina :

You need to put your email in here with spaces (ex:  xxxxxxx @  xxxxxx  . xxx )  or  (ex :  xxxxx(at)xxxxx(dot)xxx )   or it will not show up here .  You can make your own collection containers by using coffee cans , Kleenex boxes etc in classrooms ... just put your own clip art on them . If you are looking for something bigger , like for the hallway , you can get yourself a tall kitchen garbage can , with cover , and put clip art , or paint on that.  We , at our school , a nice parent made us one out of wood . We did not ask him to do it ... he just took it upon himself to do that. It has a siding (in & out) drawer that is set in a cabinet with a good size hole cut into the top . I do have pictures if you'd like to see ... but I need you to print your email so we can see it . (smile!!)  A lot of people here swear by collection sheets ... they are great (in therory ) for me as I do not get many back so i do not use them (waste of paper as far as I am concerned) , but others have very great turn in !!  You need to see what works for you and your school .  I used to do a couple of contests a year by grade level , I am no longer allowed to do so , some here do them by grade , some by classroom and even others by child . It would depend on how many children you have in your school and how much work you wanted to make for yourself (LOL) . We have approx. 950 kids so that is why i went by grade.  We (the PTA) have now figured a way to do a "contest" twice a year ... we have the kids send in "XX,XXX" amount of "labels (we collect 8 different items) by "X" date and they will get a whole school popcorn party .  We use the mail in dead lines for box tops as a guide line so that we can get as many BTs as possible to mail in ... we sort of cheat that way but it did work out quite nicely !!  LOL  I am constantly talking to people about what and why we collect what we do anytime I et a chance , I have lots of posters on all three levels of our school , I am at open houses , PTA meetings , conference days etc along with my traveling poster  that has the same information as what is in the hallways , so people can have a visual and also ask me any questions .  I also have a "Label Lady Letter" that I hand out with that info. on it to ... it also has a run down on things we have gotten for the school and kids with our BT  &  milk monies , Campbell's labels etc. so that they can see the good they have helped accomplish with all their cutting and sendind things into school . We all do things a bit different and a bit the same ... you just have to find out what works out best for your school and for you ... because if it does not work or you are not enjoying your job it is not going to be worth it all around .  There are LOTS and LOTS of things already discussed on here for you to look over or just post anyhing  here and wait for an answer  ... never , ever a dumb question , we ALL been there , done that (LOL) so none of us will giggle !!  

By the way ... Welcome to the wonderful world of coordinating !!  Happy collecting !

Debi

Last year I started using a goal system instead of lots of different contests.  Last year I used an idea I found here on the forum.  "Get on the box tops bus".  I had 4 roads.  Each class had a "bus".  We had 4 different goals:

500 Box Tops = Class won pencils & teacher won a large sonic drink

1000 Box Tops = Class won a popcorn party & teacher won a large sonic drink + favorite candy bar

1500 Box Tops = Class won a popsicle party & teacher won a large sonic drink + fvorite candy bar + a school supply

2000 Box Tops = Class won a pizza party & teacher won a lunch brought in to them.

This system worked so well for us before the end of the year I had to add a new goal of 3000 Box Tops.  The class won an ice cream party and the teacher received a gift card to a local yogurt shop.  We ended up collecting $3,378 last year.

In addition to the goal system, the last three months of the year (Mar - May) I have a grade vs grade contest (the idea also came from this forum).  I have a collection box for each grade.  Box Tops are worth a positive point and any Coke rewards, Tyson labels, or Campbell soup labels are negative points.  So you want to put your box tops in your grade box and all the other collection items in someones grade.  The kids REALLY get into it.  It has helped us to end the year strong.  Also helps us get box tops submitted before they expire. 

I hope this helps you.  I know at first it is a lot to take in but just find what works best in your school at getting your students (and teachers!) excited. 

Way to go for stepping up!!!  That is awesome!!

The best way to promote BTFE is to keep bringing it up at PTA meetings, flyers home to parents, contests between different classes or grade levels, etc.

I'm embarrassed to say that I've already accumulated over 2000 boxtops over the summer so whoever my daughter gets as a teacher is going to be very happy!  The easiest way is to purchase items through the BTFE website and get bonus boxtops.  I had to order a boatload of office supplies and books for work back in May and went through the BTFE site.  I checked beforehand and there was no price difference when using the website vs. going straight to the retailer's site. It really adds up quickly!

This is especially good if you have parents who have to make airline reservations or order office supplies for their workplace.

Also, if you send out details of local bonus offers (last year K-Mart gave vouchers for something like 75  bonus boxtops when you purchased 10 items from the BTFE list.)  I've heard of one school that purchased tons of tissues through this offer and then asked parents to send in $$ to donate boxes to their child's classroom.  Very creative!

We've been quite successful with the Snowball fight contest. Have been wanting to have another another contest that would pull in lots of box tops. I like the grade vs grade contest with BT being positive points & Campbells, Tyson, etc being negative points. Just wondering-- what did the winning grade get for a prize?

Does anyone have a j-peg logo that can be used to make clear signs? If so, would you be willing to share?

We could also use the j-peg logo if anybody has one available. Thanks,

southern-gal:

We've been quite successful with the Snowball fight contest. Have been wanting to have another another contest that would pull in lots of box tops. I like the grade vs grade contest with BT being positive points & Campbells, Tyson, etc being negative points. Just wondering-- what did the winning grade get for a prize?

We run this grade vs grade contest March - May to try and keep kids excited even though the last submission deadline has passed for that school year.  We award the grade with Popsicles.  You can get a box of 100 Flavor Ice at Walmart for $4.  

Thank you all so much! It brings a tear to my eye to see all that is being done by awesome coordinators across America. I will propose some of these ideas to my administrator and see if I can use them.

Right now the thing I am using is exchanging the box tops for the A.C.E. programs "merit bucks". It is the currency the school uses for the school store.

I would love to try out a popsicle party or find donations from companies.

Once again...Thank you!! It is touching that all of ya'll stepped in to help me. I really appreciate it.

God Bless,

Kaylee

We have a small private school, I have a great parent who has the "CARS" disk for cuircuit hope I spelling that write it is for scrapbooking. She made cars to represent each classroom, have a contest which cars go over the finish line first, we made route 66 signs to represent how many box tops came in. so we started out with 25 went up to 300. So it lasts for 4 weeks, she collects the box tops from each room, and we calculate how many came in and move the car

I'm not a coordinator, but have a good supporter of the program.  This is what one of the schools that I support does.

For every 25 Box Tops or Labels that I a family turns in, their name gets entered into a drawing for a prize at the end of the collection period.

We have a monthly drawing in our school for a prize for each grade level--K-2.  Each child must turn in a sheet of 10 box tops to be eligible.  prizes can be a small token just from the dollar store.  Then the classroom with the most box tops at the end of each semester also gets a pizza party, or an ice cream party!  "prize incentives" seem to be the way to go with the younger kids!  :)

My best contest lately has been boys vs girls and it cost nothing.  I made up goals for the students to bring in.  for example they might need 20 box tops and 10 cartridges and when this task was completed I would add more.  Each time a task was completed they would get a girl or boy figure displayed on a bulletin board.  At the end of the contest which ever team had completed more tasks would be declared the winner.  The losing team would then wait on and cater to the winners for a week.  such things as the winner lining up first, the losing team carrying the winners books to classes, or cleaning up their lunch trays.  It was a lot of fun and the kids are looking forward to doing it again this school year.

WOW!!! These are great ideas! I will definately make a note of them and see if I can use them!

kdolat1:

Thank you all so much! It brings a tear to my eye to see all that is being done by awesome coordinators across America. I will propose some of these ideas to my administrator and see if I can use them.

Right now the thing I am using is exchanging the box tops for the A.C.E. programs "merit bucks". It is the currency the school uses for the school store.

I would love to try out a popsicle party or find donations from companies.

Once again...Thank you!! It is touching that all of ya'll stepped in to help me. I really appreciate it.

God Bless,

Kaylee

This is what we do for an incentive as well! Nice to see another A.C.E. school represented! :)

Thanks everyone for all the wonderful ideas! I just recently "inherited" this job, so it is great to get some tried and true suggestions!

RY24523:  Not to piggy back off of the original post, but I am very interested in the forms and info sheets you send out.  Could you please send to meana _ cherrell @ hotmail (dot) com.  I am new to collecting box tops here at our school as well.  I am also looking  for ideas to pass along to our PTA so we can start earning school items for our school.  Due to budget cuts we have a large class ratio and the school lacks supplies.  Anything you pass along would be a great help and start. 

Thanks.

lynettefong:

 

kdolat1:

Thank you all so much! It brings a tear to my eye to see all that is being done by awesome coordinators across America. I will propose some of these ideas to my administrator and see if I can use them.

Right now the thing I am using is exchanging the box tops for the A.C.E. programs "merit bucks". It is the currency the school uses for the school store.

I would love to try out a popsicle party or find donations from companies.

Once again...Thank you!! It is touching that all of ya'll stepped in to help me. I really appreciate it.

God Bless,

Kaylee

 

This is what we do for an incentive as well! Nice to see another A.C.E. school represented! :)

Thanks everyone for all the wonderful ideas! I just recently "inherited" this job, so it is great to get some tried and true suggestions!

YAY!!!! So excited to meet you! I can not believe I have found another A.C.E. school that uses this! WOW!! I am flabbergasted. Feel free to send me an email at rangerkay(at)yahoo(dot)com. I would love to swap ideas. =)

Hi! I'm papaed. the BoxTops Coordinator here at the Healthy Learning Academy 2101 NW 39th Ave     Gainesville Florida  32605.  We are a small Charter School with 65 student enrollment. We just completed a Very Successful Pie In The Face Contest earned $237. The Principal, Teachers, Administrative Staff and a certain BoxTops Coordinator ME!!!!! were the targets. Our Kids had a Great Time. We also had a Boys  vs Girls. The kids were really into this For "Bragging Rights".  Presently we are in a Class vs Class Contest.  I'm asking as many schools in the BTFE community please help me fill OUR MAP OF THE UNITED STATES, ALASKA AND HAWII by donating 2 BoxTops from Your School.  Which will be returned in kind ,to place a Silver Star on the map. To show OUR KIDS that all schools collect Boxtops to pay for field trips, purchase much needed playground equipment and Learning Material for our Teachers.  Send them to the above address attn: PapaEd. "OUR KIDS" THANK YOU!!!!!

Our School has two contest each year #1 Pie in The Face requires 50 BoxTops to get entered .   #2 This  year we are having a Class vs Class a variation of Boys vs Girls. We want to get 2 Boxtops from each school in the BTFE community, ( which will be returned in kind ).   A star will be put on our USA map for your school and state.   OUR KIDS THANK YOU!!!!! send to the HEALTHY LEARNING ACADEMY 2101 NW 39th Ave Gainesville Florida 32605  attn:  Papa ed.

Hi CREATVMOM3  I've had one very sucessful  PIE IN THE FACE CONTEST. RAISED $237.   Nothing the kids like better than having The PRINCIPAL, TEACHERS, ADMINITRATIVE MEMBERS OR  BOXTOPS COORDINATOR as TARGETS!!!!! whipped cream, paper plates and, "TARGETS"..  Each entrant must turn in xx number of  boxtops (we used 50) for one chance at his favorite "TARGET".   We just started a CLASS vs CLASS CONTEST.    I'm also asking for as many schools in the BTFE community to donate 2 Boxtops from their school (will be returned in kind).   We are placing a STAR on our USA map for your State.  East, West, North, South, Alaska and Hawaii.  To show "OUR KIDS" that everyone collects BoxTops to help their school. Please send them to the HEALTHY LEARNING ACADEMY 2101 NW 39th AVENUE GAINESVILLE FLORIDA 32605  attention:   Papa Ed.  " OUR KIDS THANK YOU'"

We have done free lunches for our Box Tops.  The dhild's name is on the back of the box top, if their name is pulled out, they get a free lunch from anywhere they like.  We have had McDonald's to Olive Garden.  It really brings in the tops and we have tried offering a bonus prize if it is cut around the dotted line.

I would be interested....how do you get parents to turn in box tops that are cut around the dotted line?  It is a very time consuming project.

Do you have any from Maine yet?

Laurie