Flour Sack Tea Towel Fundraiser Ideas
Cotton Creation’s flour sack towels are perfect for school and group fundraising! Our wholesale prices per towel and custom prints are the lowest around, giving you the ability to maximize your earning potential for your cause or class fundraiser. You’ve come to the right place to create a school fundraiser and begin designing your exclusive campaign! You’ve heard of all the old standby class fundraising ideas before: galas, walkathons, auctions, bake sales. Your nonprofit has done all of these before, and you know how they work. But running the same old events year after year can get old, for you and for your donors. You want to shake things up, and incorporate new ideas and marketing tactics.
If you have never heard of a tea towel fundraiser, you are not alone! This idea is a relatively untapped school fundraising idea in the U.S but is well-known and very popular in places such as Canada, Australia, and the UK. For example, in Australia they are used in schools as a class fundraising idea where children’s artwork is printed on the towels for parents, relatives and supporters to purchase as fun tokens of the school year. These towels can be found in many a doting Grandma’s kitchen! Tea towel (or dish towel or flour sack towel, depending on your terminology) fundraisers are HIGHLY effective and produce wonderful commemorative keepsakes that your supporters will be excited to buy.
Why use flour sack towels for your next fundraiser?
The perfect Un-paper towel: An environmentally-friendly version of a paper towel. They are sturdy and durable kitchen towels that can be used all around your home. Use for baking and cooking, general cleaning, and in the garden. Wash and re-use over and over again!
Easy to keep and store: Flour sack towels are easy to fold up and store without taking up too much space. They can be kept in a keepsake box as a memento of their school time or an event or organization they were a part of.
Lightweight for mailing: The ability to reach out to far-fetched relatives for your fundraiser can increase your potential supporters! Easily reach out to relatives who live in other states. A tea towel is under 1 pound and can easily fit in a polymailer or large envelope to keep shipping costs down.
Custom keepsake: Your unique design is DTG printed on each tea towel, giving it a one-of-a-kind look that’s not found in any stores. Make it a limited edition towel so supporters can collect a new towel every year. School tea towels are a fun way to save your children’s artwork or remember friends and teachers forever!
Beautiful home décor: Your custom fundraiser tea towel will be displayed and used in people’s homes or given as nice gifts. A collection of eye-catching kitchen towels is unique to your life and your home. A beautiful printed kitchen tea towel adds some interest to your home in a personalized way. So make sure to give your towel a fun theme or style to increase its popularity. These towels will always get a compliment, spreading word of mouth about your fundraiser!
Tea Towels for Everyone!
Are you looking for a simple, stress-free and successful fundraiser? There are many different ways to use a tea towel fundraiser to bring in money for your group or organization. The idea is easy and straightforward as well as affordable. Any group or organization that needs a best seller for their fundraiser will find success with flour sack towels. With direct-to-garment printing, there are endless colors and designs to be printed directly on our American 28” x 29” white flour sack towels! Start a school fundraiser for your children and classrooms. Fundraise for your club or group, your scout troop, your church, college, or band. Any organization can run a successful fundraiser or event using tea towels!
Schools and Children:
School fundraising with tea towels is as easy as 123! Pre-school students could each supply a hand print and teachers could add their names below. Grade school students can draw “self portraits” with their names below. Add your whole classroom’s art on one towel. Flour sack towels are long-lasting and provide a great medium to print detailed works of art that can be cherished forever! Relatives and grandparents will love the idea of having a meaningful lasting memory hanging in their kitchen.
Extend the fundraiser for the whole school by having an artwork contest. Send out an art contest announcement letter with the theme, requirements, and deadlines. The school can place a vote for the best design to be printed on the towel for your school fundraiser. Hold a vote on your school website, Facebook page or post the physical art in a hallway for students to cast a vote during the school day. Use the first-place winner or offer prints of the top 2 or 3 towel designs as part of your school fundraiser.
TIP: Add a few extra when placing your order to stock your school spirit store. Design a second tea towel with a school logo, mascot image or message to sell in your school spirit store. Perfect for school sports teams, school clubs, and school pride days!
Groups, Clubs and Troops:
Raise money for your club or group by designing a flour sack towel related to your mission or society. Customized fundraising towels make excellent gifts for friends, co-workers, newlyweds or parents. DTG printing with Cotton Creations, the options are limitless!
Sports teams, whether part of a school, travel team, intramural or part district, may need to raise money for their team expenses. Team members could provide their signatures accompanied by their personal “logos” or favorite quotes. 
Sports teams are always looking for creative ways to adorn their team logo or mascot. Team spirit can be very engaging and lucrative when spreading the word to get support for fundraising. Supporting your sports team will become a family affair as all members will want to have one of these towels to keep. Go team!
Girl and Boy Scout troops can display their troop number and city alongside examples of the varying activities for which they are awarded badges. Representing the various badges is an engaging option for the types of graphics to have printed on fundraising tea towels. Planning a tea towel fundraiser can also be used to complete a badge and teach your troop valuable life lessons and values.
A themed towel that goes along with your club mission is a great way to get your club some exposure and extra funds! For example, a great fundraiser for a Triple R club may be for Earth 
Day. This theme will match perfectly with the natural and earthy feel of our Craft Basics Natural flour sack towels. Print a design on our unbleached natural 100% cotton towels to boost our most eco-friendly option for your club’s fundraiser. Add fun earth-toting artwork or sayings to increase towel’s popularity and engage consumers! This towel will be a great balance of eco conscious living and simplistic, functional decoration.
TIP: Even if you already have a yearly fundraiser in place, add a tea towel as an “add on” purchase to boost your earning potential! Add to a bake sale, flower sale, or banquet fundraiser event.
Organizations – Churches, Colleges, Other Non-Profits:
There is no better way to make a product that is uniquely yours than custom printing your own logo, design or quote! A tea towel fundraiser is an affordable way to increase brand awareness. We use towels everyday so they can be a great reminder of your brand with every glance in your patronage’s home. Our fine 100% cotton towels can be easily transformed into beautiful promotional items for your business.
Many local community churches hold fundraisers to supplement operating expenses and support causes. The towels are sold to both members of the congregation and visitors to that church. Members could provide their favorite verses in Scripture or lyrics from hymns to print on your fundraiser tea towels. This idea would lend itself well to producing not just one item but a matching set! A fine art line drawing of the church itself is another idea. Some churches use a good quality photograph of the grounds or building. Add a photo of the whole congregation to make a beautiful lasting keepsake for all members. Some churches use a logo, and including the address or the city is another means of spreading awareness. The custom fundraiser tea towels can be sold at pretty much any other event that takes place. Included a complimentary bible wrapped in your custom tea towels at your next church fundraising event!
Colleges can take advantage of this great school fundraiser idea too! For universities, successful fundraising is dependent upon fostering the fond memories of college years and making a lasting relationship with students. After all, today’s students will be tomorrow’s alumni, and alumni donations are one of the most important revenue streams a school has. If most of your donations will come from other students, then target your efforts towards designs in which they will be interested. If your target audience is the local community, come up with something that is appealing to them. Campus groups tend to use any images that they think will be popular.
Sororities and fraternities are well-known philanthropic organizations that host many fundraiser events and promotions, usually on college campuses. Not only can you use a tea towel fundraiser to raise money for your local and national charities but also for recruitment and chapter promoting. Add your logo, mascot and Greek letters to a tea towel for the perfect fundraiser to reach your alumni and make a great gift for littles and bigs.
Are you a non-profit event organizer? A tea towel fundraiser will reach all of your patron’s and supporters. They will appreciate how useful and charming a flour sack towel is! For example, pet shelters are constantly needing funds to operate. Images of dogs and cats are always a crowd favorite design that sells out. Adding your logo, address (or city) and slogan or ”Don’t shop. Adopt” text will spread awareness about your shelter. Not to mention tea towels make a super useful item for pet care!
TIP: To be successful, non-profit groups should choose a fundraising design idea that fits the personality of the organization and piques the interest of the donor community.
Add to an Event:
Add a custom commemorative tea towel to your fundraising event. Choose one of our designs and customize it by adding your company logo or any design unique to your business. Customizing one of our towels is an elegant way to leave a lasting impression with your supporters and patrons. We’ve printed commemorative tea towels for band concerts and tours, walk-a-thons, relay and 5k races, bake sales, garden sales, football tournaments, fashion shows, dinner parties, tea parties, mixers, raffles and so much more!
One of my favorite ideas is adding a custom tea towel to guest gift bags, welcome bags or a raffle gift basket for your next event. A lovely decorative item that is useful and re-usable for years to come! If you are planning a special occasion or event fundraiser, tea towels make great party favors, souvenirs or mementos. Add your customized flour sack towel to boost any of these fundraiser-worthy raffle basket ideas:
- Baker’s Delight Basket
- Coffee Lover Basket
- Pasta Night Basket
- Farmer’s Market Basket
- Tea & Biscuits Basket
- Margarita Beach Basket
- Relaxing Basket
- Pet Basket
- New Baby Basket
- Newly Married Basket
TIP: Have your organization’s members provide their favorite recipes for your tea towel design – very appropriate for kitchen decoration!
Need help coming up with a winning design?
Pick a theme that goes with your cause or perhaps fits with the season. Because kitchens are the heart of the home, we spend a lot of time in them! This makes kitchens the perfect living space filled with energy, aroma and texture. Adding a personalized tea towel with a funny quote, a cultural reference, or beautiful artwork will make the space feel homey and uniquely personal to your supporter’s life. Here is a list of popular designs to print on a fundraiser tea towel:
- Children self-portraits, hand prints, or colorings
- School logos, mascots, or slogans
- Monograms with a decorative flourish
- Herbs, fruits or vegetables
- Flora and Fauna
- Seaside or nautical themes
- Love and friendship
- Fish, birds or butterflies
- Dogs and cats
- Classic recipes
- Building or main street line drawings
- Maps
- Rustic or Country Chic
- retro stamps
- branding from the old companies
- mason jars
- farm life
- vintage wood décor or furniture
- Seasonal landscapes
- summer sunset
- fall leaves
- winter garden
- spring flowers
- Local landscapes and destinations
- popular creek, lake, or beach
- covered bridges
- town tree or park
- town carnival or street fest scene
- French aesthetic
- cottage, restaurant or hotel logo
- Kitchen gadgets & utensils
- kettles, cups and saucers, or stacked cups
- kitchen measurement conversion charts
- Cultural references & graphics
- memes
- renderings or quotes from celebrities, popular tv shows or movies
- PSAs and informational messages
- Adopt don’t shop
- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
- Wash your hands, no seriously
- Inspirational messages & quotes
- We’re all in this together.
- Life always offers a second chance, it’s called tomorrow.
- Let all that you do be done in love.
- Musings, snarky one-liners and humorous puns
- Sometimes I open my mouth and my mother comes out.
- They should put more wine in a bottle so there’s enough for two people.
- Last time I cooked hardly anyone got sick.
- Uncork & unwine.
- Blessed are those who do my dishes.
- Don’t leave dishes NSYNC.
- Never trust a skinny cook.
- You only live once, lick the bowl.
- Let’s give them something to taco about.
- Yes, of course, I am athletic, I surf the Internet every day.
Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.- A balanced diet means a cupcake in each hand.
- When life closes a door, just open it again. It’s a door, that’s how they work.
- All my life I thought air was free, until I bought a bag of chips.
- Never judge a book by its movie.
- I love you from my head tomatoes.
- Life is gouda.
- Better latte than never.
Don’t forget to include your organization name, location (or address), date of event (or limited-edition year), and any other valuable information on your fundraiser tea towel.
TIP: Looking for high-resolution digital art? Purchase or commission art from a local artist. You can even purchase ready-made high-resolution pngs or vector artwork files online using Getty, iStock, Shutterstock, creativemarket.com and many other sites. Just makes sure you have the proper permissions to use that image!
Need more ideas? Check out Cotton Creation’s pinterest boards!
Profit guide
The price you pay varies based on the quantity you order per design. The higher the quantity, the lower the cost. Our wholesale price breaks for printed towels start at 51 units. For the best profit, your fundraiser should aim at selling at least 51 towels. Communicate with your class or group members on how many towels you expect each person to sell. Determine your realistic goal using our print pricing tiers below. Can your organization aim for 101, 201, 301, 501, or 1000+ sold fundraiser towels?
Print pricing tiers:
51-100 units
101-200 units
201-300 units
301-500 units
501-1000 units
1001+ units
For custom printing orders, the total price is your product + custom printing + the shipping.
Product price is available on each product page. Again, you’ll want to aim for a quantity of 51 units or more to receive both the product and printing wholesale price breaks. We also offer a Free Shipping promotion on orders of $200 or more within the continental U.S. The exact cost per towel will depend on your specific design. In order to get those exact numbers, we require you request a quote through our Design Station. Your school fundraising tea towels will be low cost and easy to price! Plus, you decide how much margin you want to add on top for your fundraising profit. We suggest a mark-up of between $5 and $10 per item. A typical sale price is $15 per tea towel and $25 each for tote bags and aprons.
TIP: Offer combos! Include your custom design on printed tote bags, aprons or pet bandanas in your order sheets for added sales and profit! Perfect to create school fundraisers with.
HOW IT WORKS
Create and prepare your design. Our recommended max printing size is 12” wide x 14” tall but you’ll also want to keep in mind how your design will look when the towel is folded (usually folded in thirds to hang on a bar). Your design file should be saved as either a PNG or JPG high-resolution image (300 dpi resolution preferred for best quality).
Request Quote. Head to the product page of the towel or product you want to use, click the “Customize” button. This will take you to our Design Station where you will upload your design file and place/size on the towel how you want it. Click “Request Quote” button and input your quantity, special requests or questions. Submit your quote and one of our representatives will calculate your discounts!
Start Planning. You will receive an email with your quote information. Use this information to start planning your fundraiser goals, mark ups, and marketing materials. Publicize your fundraiser in advance. Generate excitement about your event, letting people know when and where it will take place as well as why your group is trying to raise money. Point out any particular aspects of it, highlighting exciting points or how donors will benefit from supporting your tea towel fundraiser.
Start Promoting and Selling (No upfront cost method). After you have used our Design Station to request your preliminary quote, save the proof image as a virtual sample to use in promoting your towel. Begin promoting your project and collecting orders with payments. Start spreading the word by sending home a parent order letter, putting a notice in your newsletter and on social media, adding to your website and sending out the link, sticking up posters and displaying your sample tea towel, or tote bag in a common area.
Download our free Tea Towel Fundraiser letter template.
TIP: Because we have no minimum order, you can also place a small batch order (1-12 units) to use as selling samples or to take promotional pictures with for your flyers or website. These will not qualify for the wholesale pricing but can be a great marketing tool. You can roll the price for these into your overall cost per towel.
Place & Receive Your Order. Once the campaign has ended and money is all collected, place your order with us! If the quantity has changed, request a new or updated quote with the updated quantity and pricing. Check out through the website and receive your full order in 2-3 weeks (depending on order size). Distribute to your students and supporters!
START YOUR FUNDRAISER TODAY
WITH COTTON CREATIONS!
We’re here to guide you through the process from start to finish – offering great advice along the way, including marketing, sales tips and design ideas. With Cotton Creations, the options are limitless! Our tea towel, apron and tote bag fundraisers are simple, cost you nothing to run, and they work! Everybody loves our products because they provide a wonderful keepsake for years to come; as well as making a popular gift for relatives and special friends. You’ve come to the right place for unique and fun fundraising ideas. Are you ready to run a fantastic fundraising project that is both fun and profitable? Let’s get started!
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