Low and No Cost Incentive Ideas for Collecting Box Tops for Education {Plus a Free Printable Collection Form}

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of General Mills®. The opinions and text are all mine.

Yesterday, I shared about some of the reasons that we love the Box Tops for Education program.  In fact, it’s one of my favorite fundraising efforts that our elementary school does.  I love all of the extras that the PTO at our school can make happen because of the extra funds they receive from programs like Box Tops for Education.

While schools can ask families to collect Box Tops and send them in to school, one of the best ways to collect more Box Tops is to hold contests or offer incentives for submitting Box Tops.  In order to make that more effective, I’ll share ideas for low or no cost incentives for schools to use.

First, I have a printable form that can be sent out to students for collecting Box Tops:

Download the Free Printable Box Tops for Education Collection Form

Before I share some low and no cost incentives for schools to use for a Box Tops collection drive, I wanted to share again about the great promotion right now only at Walmart where a huge list of normal Box Tops products are specially marked as Bonus Box Tops products.

With these Bonus Box Tops products, you’ll have your normal Box Top on the product, but then there is also a bonus certificate good for four additional box tops, which means an additional $.40 of earnings for your school.  Since we picked up four products with the Bonus Box Tops, it took our earnings from $.40 all the way to $2.00!

10 Low Cost and No Cost Ideas for Incentives for a Box Top Collection Drive

1. One extra recess for the class who brings in the most Box Tops

2. A drawing for one larger prize that will go to one lucky student.  The best possible scenario for this would be if the item could be donated, in order to bring down costs.  At our school, they once did this with a package of four tickets to a popular college football game.

3. Allow students to “buy” something like a small treat, school pencil, or another fun item with a certain number of Box Tops (such as a full collection sheet).

4. Special seating at a school event or convocation for the class who brings in the most Box Tops

5. When students reach a school-wide goal, they get to do some fun event like a movie, eating lunch outside, extra recess one day, or a themed day (such a pajama day or hat day).

6. Students bringing in a certain number of Box Tops can get a free or reduced price entry to a game or school event, or perhaps a free or reduced price concession at an event.

7. A one time small amount of extra credit for bringing in a full Box Tops collection sheet (with the possibility of allowing students with extra Box Tops to give their extras to students having difficulty filling in their collection sheet)

8. If students at your school wear uniforms, meeting a school-wide goal could earn a no uniform day.

9. A winning class could earn a special lunch with the principal or another popular person on staff.

10. A one time use “free homework” or “no homework” pass to the student bringing in the most Box Tops in each class.  (If desired, individual teachers can put guidelines in place for the use of this in their class.  For instance, in my daughter’s class last year, each student was given these as a special gift from the teacher, but they were unable to use it on projects or math assignments.)

One especially motivating way to get kids to bring in Box Tops is to make one of the above mentioned things an incentive in a competition between grade levels or with certain classrooms throughout the school working together in teams against the other teams.

If you’re trying out one of these incentives, or one that you’ve come up with on your own, students should be told about events such as the special Bonus Box Tops at Walmart to help them more quickly add to their collection goal.

If you work or volunteer at a school, what are some low or no cost incentive ideas you’ve tried with students?

School graphic on printable used with permission from LittleRed’s Schoolhouse.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of General Mills®. The opinions and text are all mine.

Angie, a domestically challenged nerd and mom of three very fun kids, is the founder of Real Life at Home.  Angie also listens to music every chance she gets, writes eBooks, podcasts, loves Pinterest, documents the little moments in life on Instagram, and occasionally sleeps.