Who isn't tired of the same old school lunches? Spice things up by selling cookies, cake and other baked goods in the cafeteria during lunch time. Request that students donate some homemade goodies, sell them at 50 cents each and you'll be surprised at how the money adds up.
If you'd rather go with pre-packaged sweets, candy companies often sell boxes of chocolate bars or other candies specifically for fundraising. The candy usually sells at $1 per item.
Other options for food sales include coffee, popcorn and even cookie dough.
Ask local businesses--those with a connection to your school are always a good place to star --or students' families to donate items for a raffle or auction. Or you can do a 50/50 raffle, where you raise money by selling tickets, and half of the final amount is the prize. The other half goes to the organization holding the raffle--in this case, to your dance.
People can always use a good meal. Spaghetti, chicken and fish fries are all popular fundraiser dinners, and they're relatively inexpensive--more so if you can get some of the food donated--and easy to make.
Pick a night, use your school's kitchen, set up tables in the cafeteria or gym and get volunteers to cook and serve the food. Determine the price of the meal based on how much you spend on supplies, while still giving yourself a reasonable profit.
This is one of those tried and true fundraising ideas--as long as it's not winter, cold and snowy.
Set up a bunch of hoses, lots of soap and sponges in your school parking lot. Get students to volunteer to wash cars, take money and hold signs by the road to advertise. Even at $3 per car, for example, you'll save car owners money compared with other car wash businesses, and the they won't have to do any work, like they would for a home car wash.