Why Colorado Springs Elementary Schools Are Choosing In-School Holiday Shopping Events
Every fall, PTO and PTA boards across Colorado Springs sit down to plan their holiday fundraiser, and every fall, the same conversation happens: Do we really have to do the catalog again?
The wrapping paper. The chocolates. The awkward ask for families to sell to neighbors and coworkers. Traditional school fundraisers have been a staple for decades, but more and more elementary schools are discovering there's a better way, one that kids actually get excited about.
It's called an in-school holiday shopping event, and it's changing the way Colorado Springs families experience the holiday season.
What Is an In-School Holiday Shopping Event?
Instead of sending kids home with a catalog and a sales quota, an in-school holiday shop brings a curated selection of gifts directly to your school, typically set up in the gym or library for one to several days. Students visit the shop during the school day, browse real gifts, and purchase presents for the people they love most: mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, siblings, teachers, and pets.
At Game On! Holiday Shoppe, we stock categories for everyone on a child's list, with 88% of our gifts priced at $8 or less. Parents send kids with a budget, and our PTA/PTO volunteers help steer every child toward gifts that fit what they have,so no one walks away empty-handed.
Why Families Love It (And PTAs/PTOs Do Too)
Here's what most people don't realize about a holiday shop: it's not just a fundraiser, it's a service.
Think about what you're actually giving families. A kindergartner gets to pick out a necklace for grandma all by themselves. A third-grader finds the perfect stuffed animal for their baby sister. A fifth-grader buys dad a sports-themed gift without anyone's help. That sense of independence and pride? You can't put a price on it.
And for parents, it saves a trip to the mall — or three.
The most common complaint we hear about traditional fundraisers is the pressure to hard-sell. Nobody loves asking their aunt to buy overpriced popcorn for the fourth year in a row. A holiday shop flips that entirely. The value is real. The gifts are ones families actually want. And the experience is genuinely fun for kids.
What Makes Our Shop Different
When we launched Game On! Holiday Shoppe, we brought over 8 years of combined experience running holiday shops — both with other organizations and as PTA/PTO parents ourselves. We knew exactly what frustrated coordinators, what disappointed kids, and what made parents cringe.
So we fixed it.
We hand-curate every item in our shop with quality and price in mind. After our first Colorado Springs school event, the feedback from teachers, PTA/PTO volunteers, and parents was consistent: they couldn't believe how nice the gifts were for the price. Coordinators loved our easy scan checkout system, and more than one person commented on the poly gift bags — thick, sturdy ones that actually hold up, unlike the flimsy mylar bags that split the moment a kid grabs them.
Is a Holiday Shop Right for Your School?
If your PTA/PTO is tired of catalog fundraisers, exhausted by the hard sell, and looking for something families will genuinely look forward to, a holiday shopping event is worth a serious look.
We serve kindergarten through 5th grade across Colorado Springs, and we make it simple for your school. We deliver everything to you on Monday — the merchandise, the checkout system, all of it — and your PTO volunteers run the shop all week and handle setup and teardown. We come back Friday to collect any unsold merchandise. Your team gets full control of the experience, and we handle the logistics on both ends.
Ready to learn more? Visit our How It Works page to see exactly what the experience looks like — then head to our Contact page to start the conversation.
🎄 Book by September 11, 2026 and save 25% off your event. Booking closes October 1st so we can get your merchandise ordered and ready in time for the holiday season.