Box Tops for Education Contest Ideas

The Box Tops for Education program offers schools a way to earn extra money by collecting tabs from food items their students' families already buy. Some General Mills products carry the Box Tops for Education logo, which families can clip and send to the school. These can then be submitted to General Mills, and each box top earns the school 10 cents. The more students participating in the program, the more money you can raise for the school. Contests to collect Box Tops appeal to kids and motivate them to get more involved in bringing in the logos. Consider your available resources when organizing the contest and prizes.

Holding a Box Tops for Education contest over the summer months gives you a jump start on your goals at the beginning of the school year. Send home a letter with each student at the end of the school year offering the details of the summer contest. Encourage students to collect as many box tops as possible over the summer. They can ask relatives, neighbors and others to help them. When they return to school in the fall, the students bring all of the box tops to school in a sealed envelope marked with their names. The student who brings in the most box tops gets a special prize.

Many PTAs typically handle the Box Tops for Education collection. Based on the PTA goals for the program, divide the total goal to determine how many box tops each class needs to collect. Any class reaching its goal by the end of the year gets a special treat. This might be as simple as a popcorn party or popsicles for the class. This contest idea focuses more on reaching goals as a group rather than individual achievements. You can also offer a special award for the class that collects the most box tops.

Individual awards are a good way to encourage students to bring in box tops. Holding monthly contests to keep renewed interest in the project. Offer a small prize to the top collector in each class to give the kids more chances to win. You can also offer a large prize for the person who collects the most throughout the entire school. If you hold monthly contests, allow each child to win only once to encourage others to try.

If you have a school store, selling items for box tops instead of cash is a good way to earn more. Determine a box tops cost for each item. Then kids can buy things without having to ask their parents for money. To add a contest component to it, have the kids write their names on the back of each box top they use at the store. Once a month, draw a random box top that was used at the store and give the student a small prize. If you don't have a school store, consider selling popcorn or another simple snack item once a week.