Organising a fundraising event at school is an incredible opportunity to raise money, raise awareness and have a really fun day! Get staff, students and parents involved and help us to make life-saving breast cancer research and life-changing support happen.
Step 1: Register
First things first, you need to register for wear it pink. It doesn’t take long, and once it’s done, you’ll get one of our fabulous fundraising packs. Inside your pack there are loads of fun decorations, games, a fundraising guide and a paying in slip. Only one person from school needs to register.
When you register you will also get support from our wear it pink team, who will be on hand to help you with anything you need, from fancy dress ideas to extra materials.
Step 2: Make sure you have the headteacher’s permission
Have a chat with your headteacher or head of department to make sure it’s okay to hold a fundraiser at your school. Wear it pink is primarily a dress-down day, so you will need the full support of your school leaders.
If they need more information or want to know more about us as a charity, they can give us a call on 0333 20 70 300 or email us at wearitpink@breastcancernow.org.
Step 3: Set the date
Most people will be hosting their event in October, as this is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but if that doesn’t work for you and your school, then that’s totally ok. Choose a day that works for everyone and just let us know so we can support you in the best way possible. Most schools take part the Friday before the half term ends as it’s a fun way to wrap up the term for both staff and children.
Step 4: Decide on what to wear
Most schools choose to do a dress-down day, where all students are encouraged to wear pink and give a small donation to do so – we would recommend £1 or £2. Make sure you work this around your school’s dress code and clothing standards and decide if students are permitted to wear fancy dress or simply pink clothing. It's a lovely idea to buy some extra pink socks for kids that forget.
Step 5: Spread the word
The easiest way to do this is by sharing about wear it pink day in the school newsletter, class dojo, daily notices, on posters around school or however you communicate with parents and guardians. Try to be really clear on what wear it pink day is – what day is it? What do students have to do? What do parents have to do? Make sure to include any dress regulations so nobody gets confused.
If you need extra posters, you can download and print more. We absolutely love to see schools also creating their own posters for wear it pink day in art class.
Step 6: Order extra materials and organise activities
You’ll want to organise some easy and fun games to play with your students. Put together a rough schedule of when you will hold these activities – during assembly, during morning class or any other specified time of the day.
You can play a sweepstake, bingo, a colouring in competition, best-dressed awards, and even hold a bake sale for the older kids. You can be as creative as you want to be with getting the students involved. Think of what you might need for each of these activities and start planning to save you any last-minute stress.
If you need extra decorations, you can download and print these at school. Alternatively, you can order them online to be delivered to your school. You can get more of anything that's in your pack, as well as lots of other new and exciting items.
If you’re planning a bigger event where you need more support, just get in touch and we’ll make sure you have everything you need.
Step 7: Send a reminder
Send a reminder about wear it pink day home to the parents a week before and remind the children both a week before and the day before the event. Remind them to wear pink and bring along a small donation, or you could share the JustGiving link with the parents. It’s a good idea to print a QR code for your JustGiving page and have this on posters placed at pick up and drop off points.
Step 8: Wear it pink!
Once you’ve decorated your classroom – it’s time to wear it pink. Wear it pink is a day to have fun whilst doing something amazing – raising money for our life-saving research and life-changing support. Have your camera or smart phone at the ready and remember to take lots of photos.
We absolutely love seeing what you get up to on your wear it pink day, so you can send your photos to us at wearitpink@breastcancernow.org - but please only send us photos of children whose parents have given us permission to use the photos on our website and social media. If you’re unable to send photos with children’s faces in, we’d love to see any fantastic creations from the day or photos of staff getting involved.
We hope this guide is useful in helping you put together an incredibly successful wear it pink day. You are doing something amazing – wearing pink, raising money, and making life-saving breast cancer research and life-changing support happen.
