For PTAs & parent groups
More hands at every event, and the money in plain sight.
Fun fairs, movie nights, dances, fun runs and the summer fair, too often run by the same few parents: put every job of the night where families can take one, have cards paid into the group’s own account instead of a treasurer’s Venmo, and show the whole school what each event raised.
Tickets cost nothing on Free. Volunteer slots, tokens, wristband tags, prize draws and budgets come with Pro, sponsors with Business.
What changes
New faces on the rota, no envelopes of cash, a number for the meeting.
More parents on the rota
Every job of the night is a slot with the helpers it needs; families take one from their phone, and the gaps show.
Money in no one’s pocket
Card payments reach the group’s own account and gate cash is recorded beside them — never in a personal app.
What it raised, in one figure
Takings less what the night cost, ready for the treasurer’s report and the parents who ask.
Volunteers
Not the same ten parents again.
Split the evening into the jobs it needs — setup, the bake stall, face painting, the door, clean-up — each with the number of helpers you want. Families choose a slot from the event’s website, answer your questions (whether their school clearance is done, say), and each one waits for your yes. On the night they scan in and out, and the rota prints for the clipboard. Teachers and room parents get a sign-in that opens only the events they help with. Slots on Pro.
- A slot for every job
- Questions you set, approval you give
- Scanned in, printed rota
The money
Cards into the group’s account, cash counted alongside.
Tickets, wristbands and pre-sale tokens are paid by card into the group’s own Stripe account — never a volunteer’s personal app — and whoever sells at the gate records cash in the box office, so the night’s takings are one figure. Families cover the card fee or the group does, event by event. Add what the bouncy castle and the prizes cost, and the budget works out what the event cleared: the number for the treasurer’s report and for anyone who asks where it went. Budget on Pro.
- Paid to the group, not a person
- Gate cash beside card sales
- What each event cleared
The fun fair
Tokens on a wristband, allergies a scan away.
Sell a ride wristband or a strip of game tokens as one voucher holding several items, each crossed off at its own stall by the parent running it, on a redeem-only link. Give children a QR wristband: your crew scans it and sees the allergies and who to call that a parent gave, while a finder of a lost one gets just what the family chose to share. Close the night by drawing prize winners from the families who came, the winners recorded. Tokens, tags and draws on Pro.
- Tokens crossed off per stall
- Wristbands that know who to call
- Prizes for the families there
All year
From the back-to-school picnic to the summer fair.
Every event of the year lives on one page families follow, so the movie night announces itself instead of competing with the newsletter and five class chats. Local businesses sponsor a stall or the prizes through packages they choose and pay for online. For the school dance, every ticket request waits for your approval, and a refused one gets the money back. And when officers change, the events, lists and budgets stay in the group’s account. Sponsors on Business.
- One page families follow
- Local sponsors, paid online
- Dance tickets approved first
One evening
A spring carnival at school.
- 01
Two weeks out
Wristbands and token strips on pre-sale, every stall’s helpers signed up.
- 02
At the gate
Pre-sold wristbands scanned, walk-ups paying cash or card on a parent’s phone.
- 03
At the stalls
Tokens crossed off stall by stall, a lost child’s wristband read for who to call.
- 04
Next morning
Takings, costs and what the carnival cleared, ready for the meeting.
Also useful for a parent group
Beyond the big fair.
Last year’s fair, copied
Start this year’s draft from last year’s event, keeping only the parts you pick.
Who brings what
A bake-sale list families claim from, so you don’t get forty brownies. Pro.
Staff appreciation week
One list for the staff breakfast, not one per class. Pro.
Fun runs
A parent signs each child’s waiver; runners timed from a phone. Pro.
Movie and bingo nights
Pay-what-you-can tickets with a snack voucher in each. Pro.
Updates that reach both parents
Email, text or WhatsApp to everyone who booked. Pro.
An address per event
Parents’ questions in a shared inbox the committee answers from. Pro.
Lost property
Found jumpers and water bottles logged, then claimed by the family. Pro.
Raffle tickets with stubs
Sold online or at the door, printed for the drum, drawn in person.
Questions
What parent groups ask us.
Our treasurer took fun-run money on a personal Venmo. How do we fix that?
Connect a Stripe account set up in the group’s name, with the group’s bank account. Every card payment for tickets, wristbands and tokens then lands there, each tied to the event it was for, and none of it passes through anyone’s personal app.
Can we sell raffle tickets?
Yes, as a ticket or an add-on, and you can print them with stubs for the drum. The draw itself happens in person, as the rules where you hold it require. Check before you sell: many places want a licence or a permit, and some don’t allow raffle tickets to be sold online at all. Our prize draw is for free giveaways among the families who came.
Can volunteers upload their background check?
Not as a file. Ask on the sign-up whether their clearance is done, approve each volunteer yourself, and keep the certificates wherever your district or school wants them.
What happens when our president or treasurer changes?
Sign up with the group’s own email address — pta@ your school’s domain, say — not a personal one, so the account goes with the mailbox. Next year’s officers get sign-ins of their own (our pricing page shows how many each plan includes), and every event, list and budget stays put.
Can parents tell us about allergies?
Ask it when they book: the answer is printed with the door list and shown when a child’s wristband is scanned. EventsMagic is not aimed at children: parents enter what you ask, and your group decides what that is.
Do you run silent auctions or take donations?
No auctions. Donations yes, on Business: a cause with a goal and a Give button on your group’s page or event site, taken online or recorded at the door. A group registered as a charity in Canada or the US can issue tax receipts. Pay-what-you-can tickets and sponsorship packages work too.
Can families choose seats for the school play?
Tickets with a limit, yes. Choosing a seat from a seating plan isn’t built yet.
Is it free for a small PTA?
The website, ticket sales and door scanning cost nothing on Free. A service fee is charged on online orders only, and families can cover it. Pro adds volunteer slots, tokens and budgets.
Start today
Make this year’s fair the easy one.
Set up the first event of the school year now, or book half an hour with one of us.