One quick fundraiser to do is to host a food booth at an event where your group can bring in $2,000 or more for just a few hours of work. This is a great stand alone fundraiser that you can host at any event in your surrounding area. Or, if your group is hosting an event (such as a fundraising walk, a rescue reunion, or an urban scavenger hunt), then this piggyback fundraiser is a fantastic way to bring in some extra funds for the day.

Check with your event’s coordinator to find out if you will be able to sell food items that day. Ask if there are any specific permits you must obtain. Your local Health Department will be able to help you with this as well. Many times, it may just require that one volunteer take a short food handler’s course in order to sell specific food items that require proper handling (proper temperatures, thorough cooking), but other items that are fully cooked should be just fine.

Since some people don’t like the idea of raising money for animals by selling meat products, here’s a list of items that don’t contain meat. Some recipes may contain milk products, though. Many of these items can be purchased fully cooked from a wholesale food distributor or from a warehouse club.

Drinks

Soft Drinks
Water
Icees
Lemonade
Slushies
Smoothies
Hot Chocolate

Food Items

Bake sale items
Doughnuts, muffins & pies
Belgian waffles
Pancakes
Nachos w/ cheese
Veggie dogs
Bloomin’ Onions
Cotton candy
Ice cream bars
Elephant ears (fried dough)
Funnel Cakes w/ sugar or cinnamon
Boiled/ roasted peanuts
Candy apples (toffee, caramel)
Fiddle Faddle
Popcorn
Kettle Corn
Fries
Potato wedges
Potato knish
Baked Potato bars (w/ sour cream, imitation bacon bits, chives, cheese, etc.)
Pickles
Pizza slices (cheese or veggies!)
Pretzels (hard, soft, german style, cinnamon)
Deep fried Twinkies, Snickers, or Oreos
Candy bars
Haystacks (taco salad)– thanks Antoinette!
Bean burritos
Strawberry Shortcakes
Fried Green Tomatoes

This is not an exhaustive list, but it should give you some traditional carnival food items to think about using in the near future!