Christmas is a season of generosity, making it the perfect opportunity to organize impactful events on a grand scale. While you can start hosting Christmas events as soon as December arrives, bear in mind that schedules tend to fill up as the holidays draw near.
Continue reading to explore a host of Christmas fundraiser ideas to appeal to festive event-goers with a chance to give back. Discover ways to make a difference during this season of giving through festive celebrations, engaging competitions, and large-scale markets and workshops.
Fundraiser idea categories
Community fundraiser ideas for Christmas
230 Fifth Rooftop / New Year’s Eve 2023 @230 Fifth Rooftop / New York, NY
Community fundraiser ideas for Christmas
You can use various strategies to fundraise at holiday events, from selling food and drink to hosting seasonal games. Tap into eventgoers’ desire for camaraderie and connection with these community fundraiser ideas for Christmas.
1. Carols by candlelight
Budget: 🎄🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅🎅🎅
Serenade the community with a carols-by-candlelight event. Invite local musicians and choirs to perform and give the proceeds from ticket sales to your charity of choice. This fundraiser idea will attract attendees who enjoy live music and are looking to get into the holiday spirit.
Pro Tip: Use Eventbrite’s all-in-one solution to create, sell, manage, and promote concert tickets online. Create your live music event page on Eventbrite, and use its industry-leading ticketing and marketing platform to attract millions of people who use Eventbrite to find live music experiences every day.
2. Santa run
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅🎅
Imagine the holiday cheer hundreds of Santas running through the streets would bring to your community. Host a race or obstacle course in December and ask entrants to wear their best holiday costumes. Entry fees, as well as ticket sales for spectators, can fundraise for your charitable cause.
3. Holiday pet parade
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅🎅
Festively dressed pets are sure to attract a crowd. Host a holiday pet parade where participants bring their furry friends dressed for the season. You can charge entry fees for both participants and spectators to raise money. Give a prize to the dog or cat that rocks the best holiday getup.
4. Online silent auction
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
Host an online silent auction to raise money for your community. Collect donations from local businesses, with a focus on items that can be given as gifts. You can also auction food and drink or restaurant gift cards that can be used for holiday celebrations. All proceeds raised from your silent auction can support your worthy cause.
5. Board game day
Budget: 🎄🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅🎅🎅
Board games aren’t just for snow days by the fire. Get inspiration from CGN’s Board Game Bash and gather community members to challenge each other at different games. Set up stations for various board games and charge an entry fee for the event to raise money. Be sure to have prizes for the winners.
Georgetown University Wargaming Society / Washington, D.C.
6. Holiday karaoke
Budget: 🎄🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅🎅
You don’t have to be a professional singer to belt out “Santa Baby.” A holiday karaoke event lets attendees sing their favorite Christmas songs and listen to others sing. Raise money by charging performers a small donation per song. Let attendees vote for the best performer and reward them with a prize.
7. Cookies with Santa
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅🎅🎅
Enjoy hot chocolate and cookies with Santa in a whimsical winter wonderland. This family-friendly event will allow kids the chance to hand-deliver their letters to Santa. Sell tickets to the event and charge a small fee for photos to raise money for your cause. You could even turn it into a bake sale with every family contributing with their favorite Christmas cookies.
8. Christmas bingo
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅🎅
Christmas bingo adds a holiday-themed touch to this classic game. Use Christmas nicknames for the ball number-call, and play Christmas tunes between games. Charge a flat ticket fee for the event, with ticket sales supporting your cause. Need inspiration for your fundraiser? The Phantom Projects Theatre at La Habra Depot hosted a holiday event complete with Christmas trivia, bingo, and prizes.
9. Christmas movie night
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅🎅
Host a movie night for a worthy cause with a Christmas classic on the big screen. Sell tickets, red and green popcorn, and hot chocolate to usher in the holiday spirit. It doesn’t have to be snowy — the Vanderwende Farm Creamery in Delaware hosts holiday-themed movie nights outdoors at their family-friendly events.
10. Christmas walk-a-thon
Budget: 🎄🎄
Difficulty: ❄️❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅🎅
Encourage your community to stay active and get in the holiday spirit for a good cause by hosting a Christmas walk-a-thon. Participants pay an entry fee to walk, and they can show up in holiday gear to make the event more fun. Play holiday music along the route and provide cookies and warm drinks at the finish line.
SantaCon 2015 / NYC Santaco / New York, NY
Christmas carnival games
Creative, seasonal carnival games put the “fun” in fundraising. Charge admission or sell tokens to raise money for your cause. You could also charge a small fee for participating in some of the games in the event.
Pro Tip: Use the Eventbrite Organizer app to get minute-by-minute updates about your event. Oversee your event with instant access to all the information you need. Accept secure payments and monitor real-time ticket sales and attendance from a single app.
Consider these games as you plan your event.
11. Find the lucky stocking
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly:
Flaunt your décor! Hang stockings on a board and choose one to be your lucky stocking. Have each attendee choose a stocking and mark it with their name, then reveal who chose the lucky stocking at the end of the event.
12. Find Santa
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
Find Santa is an easy and fun game for players of all ages. You’ll need to wrap a few boxes and stack them. Place a toy Santa in one of the boxes. Challenge guests to guess which box Santa is in to win a prize.
13. What’s in the stocking?
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
Fill stockings with small items, ensuring the stockings are closed so the contents aren’t visible. Then, ask participants to feel a stocking and guess what’s inside. Anyone who guesses the contents of the stocking gets to take it home.
14. Ring Rudolph’s nose
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
A stuffed or inflated Rudolph is the centerpiece of this holiday game. Give participants three chances to toss a ring onto Rudolph’s nose to win a prize. Let them pay a small fee to get more chances.
15. Christmas bowling
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅🎅
Give bowling a holiday twist for your fundraiser. Set up plastic pins you’ve painted to look like snowmen, elves, or Santa, and have participants bowl for prizes. You could create an entire event around bowling, like the Mike Evans Family Foundation does with their annual Christmas Bowling Night.
16. Snowball throw
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
Snow or no snow, you can still host a snowball throw at your event. Set up targets such as cardboard cutouts of snowmen with holes cut out. Then, encourage participants to throw a snowball (or beanbag) through the target for a prize.
Black Culture Market / Christmas Market / London, UK
17. Christmas photo booth
Budget: 🎄🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅🎅
It’s never too late to take a Christmas card photo. Hire a photo booth or photographer and offer props like elf hats, reindeer antlers, jingle bells, and more. Encourage participants to post their photos on social media. Consider running the best photo contest based on the likes they get.
18. Snowy treasure hunt
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅🎅
Take a cue from Triangle Treasure Hunt and take your guests on a Christmas treasure hunt with a map in hand as they follow directions, solve puzzles, and crack codes to find and unlock treasure chests hidden around the venue or the neighborhood.
19. Hot chocolate stand
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅🎅
Sell hot chocolate to keep participants warm on cold December days. Offer different flavors of hot chocolate and toppings such as marshmallows, chocolate chips, and crushed peppermints.
20. Pin the nose on Rudolph
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
Give Pin the Tail on the Donkey a holiday twist by playing Pin the Nose on Rudolph. Hang up a poster of Rudolph, blindfold your guests, and challenge them to pin the bright red nose in the right spot. The closest pin earns a prize.
21. Guess the weight of the Christmas cake
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
Display a Christmas cake and ask participants to guess how much it weighs. At the end of the event, award a prize — or the cake itself — to whoever’s guess is closest.
22. Christmas raffle
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
Sell raffle tickets for holiday-themed items to raise money. Items can include a new holiday wreath, a popular toy, or a gift basket filled with goodies.
Pro tip: Add a raffle entry incentive to boost early bird registrations, and make sure the details are clearly stated in the marketing material and on the event page. For instance, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity offers a fantastic discount for bundle event registration, creating an additional layer of anticipation and value.
Daybreaker / We <3 NYC / New York, NY
Christmas gifts and sales
Christmas is the season of giving, whether buying gifts for family and friends or contributing to your community. Raising money by selling gifts and hosting sales can help your attendees do both. Consider these options for an effective community fundraiser.
Pro tip: Work with local merchants to offer thoughtful, handmade gifts. Have them set up stalls to sell their crafts and let attendees try their hands at creating or decorating their own masterpieces to make your event memorable.
You can even turn it into a festival by inviting local vendors, food trucks, and local restaurants to sell refreshments and offer discounts for future purchases.
23. Community garage sale
Budget: 🎄🎄
Difficulty: ❄️❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
A community garage sale gives people the chance to clear out their unwanted items before new Christmas gifts are unwrapped. Participants can purchase a booth, with booth sales going toward your fundraiser, and then sell their goods to attendees.
24. Christmas bake sale
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
The Christmas season is filled with sweet treats and baked goods, so host a holiday bake sale as a fundraiser. You can raise money by charging a flat fee for bakers to rent a table to sell their goods, or you can require that a percentage of each baker’s sales goes toward the cause. For added fun, consider offering a prize for the best in each category: cookies, cakes, brownies, and bars.
25. Christmas market with gift stalls
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
Invite makers in your community to sell their goods at a Christmas market. Rent out booths where crafters and creators can sell their handmade items, cards, and art — perfect gifts for the holiday season.
Take inspiration from Hometown Vendor Market who throws themed markets in multiple locations around the country. They have a Winter Wonderland Christmas Market filled with local vendors, holiday treats, and endless gift ideas!
Half the Story / Screen Free Weekends / New York, NY
Christmas services
The holiday season can be hectic, and people constantly seek extra help during this busy time. Christmas services help participants check items off of their to-do lists while contributing to a good cause. Consider these holiday services that you can use as a fundraiser.
Pro tip: Promote your services on social media to create hype around your event. Let customers purchase tickets without leaving the platform using Eventbrite’s seamless checkout on Facebook and Instagram.
26. Letters to Santa
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
Get children excited for the season by hosting a Letters to Santa event. Kids can write their letters to Santa and drop them in a special mailbox for delivery to the North Pole. Parents can pay to have their child receive a personalized reply back from “Santa” — a.k.a your willing volunteers.
27. Gift wrapping event
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
Gift wrapping can be time-consuming — and challenging to do well. Set up a gift-wrapping event with stalls for participants to drop their gifts and have your pro wrappers pretty them up. Learn more about how to recruit and retain volunteers for your event.
You can also spread awareness about sustainable gift-wrapping techniques and alternatives. Don’t forget to set up a station for kids to try their hands at creating unique wrapping papers and decorations.
28. Christmas decorating service
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
Gather volunteers to help decorate local businesses, homes, and parks for the holidays. Set up an event near a local market or park. Get business owners and homeowners to pay volunteers to add festivity to their neighborhoods. Collaborate with local businesses to offer supplies at discounted prices or donate part of their profit for your fundraiser. Offer to take down the decorations after the holidays for an additional fee.
29. Community cleanup drive
Budget: 🎄🎄
Difficulty: ❄️❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅🎅
Get the whole neighborhood to gather for a community cleanup program. Recruit volunteers and hit up local businesses for donations through funds or supplies. You may also take requests for a small fee from homeowners before the event if they require special services like lawn cleanup, snow shoveling, or debris removal. Homeowners will want their property to look tidy in time for holiday decorating and hosting.
Pro tip: You may get support from the city government for your cleanup drive. Reach out to see if your event qualifies for their program or if they could refer you to another organization.
Stay Silent / Day Trill/ Providence, RI
Christmas workshops
Give attendees the skills to design seasonal décor and handmade items they can give to family, friends, and neighbors. Look at these ideas for hosting a crafting workshop that raises money and creates thoughtful gifts. You can also set up a craft shop to sell gift items to raise funds.
Pro tip: Design intuitive workspaces with Eventbrite as suggested by Marquita René of Black Velveteen Yoga, who shared her experience with Eventbrite as a female entrepreneur.
The new Workspaces navigation streamlines all your tasks in one easy-to-find location on a calendar-based main page. You can find any order placed within the last year from the Orders Workspace, organize a variety of promotional efforts from the Marketing Workspace, and stay on top of the events from the Finance and Reports Workspaces.
30. Christmas centerpiece
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
For DIY enthusiasts, organize a workshop to help them create some of the most unique Christmas centerpieces to take home. Offer an assortment of items they can choose from and use their creativity to make personalized centerpieces for their Christmas table.
31. Gift Baskets
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
Gift baskets can please an entire family, so host a Christmas gift basket-making workshop for your community. Reach out to local businesses to secure donations for the baskets. Offer various basket price points so that you can cater to a broad audience.
Ticket prices should include the cost of the basket plus a portion that supports your fundraiser. Check out these tips for pricing your event.
32. Custom calendars
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
With a new year on the horizon, everyone needs a new calendar. Host a calendar workshop where participants create a unique calendar they can take home for themselves or share as a holiday gift.
33. Wooden Christmas tree
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
Take a cue from Community Workshop NOLA and organize a workshop for those who’d like to learn a new skill while making friends and having a good time. Give participants the opportunity to learn basic woodworking skills and use essential tools to create their masterpieces and bring home a unique Christmas tree.
34. Advent calendars
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
Many families use Advent calendars to count down to Christmas. Offer a workshop that lets participants create a handmade Advent calendar that they’ll cherish using every year. Work with local businesses who might be interested in donating small items to include in the calendar. The more donations you secure, the more ticket sales you can put toward your fundraiser.
35. Candle making
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
Holiday-scented candles add instant ambiance to the home and make thoughtful gifts. Host a candle-making workshop so attendees can create presents for family and friends. Allow visitors to create personalized candles with scents and candle vessels of their choice. You can also encourage your guests to bring repurposed glass jars, mugs, or pre-used candle holders to refill for greener gifting.
36. Christmas wreath
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
A wreath on the front door instantly adds holiday cheer — even more special when handmade. Hold a wreath-making workshop where people can create hand-crafted décor. Reach out to local florists or craft stores to secure any item donations to cut down on costs and maximize profits.
Shop Made in DC / MAKE + MARKET: Holiday Wreath Decorating / Washington, DC
Christmas competitions
Add a little competitive spirit to the holiday season by hosting a competition. These events can raise money by charging a fee for both participants and spectators. Offer prizes to attract competitors.
37. Ugly Christmas sweater contest
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
Host an ugly Christmas sweater contest for a good cause. Encourage participants to wear their over-the-top holiday attire, with a prize for the tackiest outfit. Take your contest online to make it more fun and interactive, and let the likes decide your winner.
38. Gingerbread house competition
Budget: 🎄🎄
Difficulty: ❄️❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅🎅
Gingerbread house makes for a fun Christmas competition. Participants can bring a house for display and win prizes like Central Market Cooking School in San Antonio, or distribute gingerbread kits to let attendees create their unique gingerbread house to take home, along with prizes for the best creations.
39. Christmas Game Night
Budget: 🎄🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅🎅
Gather your friends and family for a cozy Christmas game night filled with laughter and cheer — set the mood with twinkling lights and festive music.
Incorporate holiday-themed games like Christmas charades or a secret Santa gift exchange to keep the spirit bright and engaging. Don’t forget to serve up some hot cocoa and seasonal treats to make the night even more delightful!
That Lady Thing / Lady Boss / San Francisco, CA
Christmas donations
Nonprofit Christmas fundraising ideas can incorporate various elements to maximize donations. In addition to donating ticket sales toward the event, you can also encourage other donations to make your fundraiser even more impactful.
You can also solicit online donations to extend your fundraiser’s reach. Read on for these Christmas fundraising ideas.
Pro tip: Donation ticket options for any event can be an effective way to raise money. Instead of setting a price for your event, let people choose how much they want to pay. Make sure your event description reflects all the value attendees will get from the event to encourage maximum contribution.
40. Find sponsors to match donations 1:1
Budget: 🎄🎄
Difficulty: ❄️❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅🎅
Stimulate giving by setting up gift matching — for every dollar participants give, you or your sponsor will contribute a dollar, too.
41. Set an extra place on the table
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
Encourage participants in your fundraiser to set an “extra place” on their table on Christmas. Then, they can donate the money they would have spent on food, drink, and gifts for that person to your charitable cause.
42. Donate your Christmas
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
Reach out to the most generous donors by encouraging them to donate their Christmas. This fundraiser asks participants to donate the money that would have been spent on their gifts to your cause instead of purchasing those gifts.
43. Last hour pay
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
Encourage potential donors to share their pay from their last work hours before the holidays with your cause. To encourage this generous donation, take time to explain what your fundraiser will support and why the donations are needed. Donation videos or an email marketing campaign can help drum up interest in this opportunity.
44. Dry January pledge
Budget: 🎄
Difficulty: ❄️
Family-Friendly: 🎅
After a season of celebrations, a dry January might be welcome for some. Encourage your community to take a dry January pledge and donate the money they would have spent on alcohol during the month to your fundraiser.
Whether you want to create a week-long event for your community or a single day of holiday cheer, there are many Christmas fundraiser ideas to choose from — easy or difficult!
Eventbrite is here to help you plan and market whatever type of holiday event you want to host. Check out our Christmas party event checklist and discover how to post events for free on Eventbrite to kick off your Christmas fundraiser planning.
