Short answer: Sell plants and pumpkins on pre-order wherever you can. Take orders for two to three weeks, order from a local grower with a small buffer, and hand everything out on one pickup day, or a drive-through for pumpkins. Plants are perishable, so the real risk is unsold stock: ask the grower about returns or consignment before you sign. Check your state's sales tax rule first; Texas, for example, treats plants differently from poinsettias.
Plant, flower and pumpkin sales are a seasonal branch of school fundraising ideas. They work like any other school product sale: families buy something, and the school keeps the gap between the grower's price and the selling price. Two things make them different. The stock is alive, so every day it sits unsold it loses value. And families often want the product anyway: hanging baskets in May and a porch pumpkin in October are things many households buy every year. This guide covers what to sell each season, how to order, the pricing math, pickup days, and the tax and plant rules to check.
What to sell, season by season
Pick one season and do it well before adding a second. Each fits a different point on the school fundraising calendar.
| Season | What sells | Take orders | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring | Flats of annuals, hanging baskets, herbs and vegetable starts, perennials | About a month before your area's usual planting time | A late frost after pickup; baskets need watering if they sit overnight |
| Fall | Pumpkins in several sizes, potted mums, gourds, straw bales | Late September, for pickup in early to mid October | Pumpkins rot in rain and heat; mums wilt if they dry out on the table |
| Winter | Poinsettias, wreaths, swags, small potted trees | Early November, for pickup before the first December weekend | Poinsettias are damaged by cold, even on the walk to the car |
| Any season | Bagged mulch, compost or soil delivered to homes | Three to four weeks before a delivery Saturday | Heavy loads, so adult volunteers only |
Spring sales often overlap with Mother's Day. The holiday fundraisers guide covers single-flower sales and holiday shops timed to that weekend and to December. Schools with a garden can add a student-grown table of seedlings and herbs, which turns the sale into a lesson in planning and selling (see the plant rules below before selling anything students grew).
Pre-order or stock on hand?
A pre-order sale collects orders and payment first, orders only what was sold plus a small buffer, and hands everything out on one day. A stock-on-hand sale buys a load and sells it from a table or a patch. Pre-orders are safer for almost every school; a stock sale makes sense only when the grower takes back what you don't sell.
Keep the order window short. Two to three weeks is long enough for families to share the form with grandparents and neighbors, and short enough that the grower can still promise the varieties on the form. Close orders on a fixed date, place one order the next day, and send families a confirmation listing exactly what they bought and when to collect it.
Choosing a grower and what to agree
Local greenhouses, farms, garden centers and orchards are the usual suppliers, and a parent who works in the trade is worth asking first. Some suppliers run school programs with printed order forms; others will simply sell you plants at a wholesale price. Either can work, and the guide to fundraising companies versus doing it yourself helps you weigh a packaged program against your own. The general vendor questions for product sales apply, plus these, which are specific to living stock:
- Returns or consignment. Will the grower take back unsold stock, or credit it? On consignment you pay only for what sells. If you buy the load outright, the leftovers are your loss.
- Substitutions. What happens if a variety fails or sells out before your order: a similar plant, a refund or a credit? Say on the order form what you'll do.
- Quality on arrival. Who decides a plant is unsellable, and how quickly must you report it?
- Delivery. Date, time, who unloads, and whether the truck can reach your pickup area. Ask for delivery on the morning of pickup, not the day before.
- Labels and care tags. Plant names, light and water needs. Families who buy healthy plants that thrive buy again next year.
- Licensing. Whether the grower holds the state license your state requires for selling nursery stock (see plant rules below).
- Tax. Whether the grower charges you sales tax on your purchase, and whether you are expected to collect it from buyers.
Get the answers in an email or a short agreement, and have whoever signs contracts for your group sign it. Your district may also need to approve the sale, the use of school grounds and the supplier agreement; the district approval guide explains what to send and how far ahead.
Pricing and the leftover risk
Price from your cost, not from what feels friendly. The margin has to cover the plants you don't sell, the ones damaged on the table, card fees and supplies such as flats, bags and signs. Compare your prices with what local garden centers charge for the same size; families will pay a little more for a school cause, but not much more.
Example A pre-order spring sale offers hanging baskets that cost the group $14 each and sell for $25. Families pre-order 120 baskets. The group orders 126, a 5% buffer. Sales from orders: 120 × $25 = $3,000. Cost: 126 × $14 = $1,764. If four of the six spares sell at the table, that adds 4 × $25 = $100. Gross is $3,100 and the margin before other costs is $3,100 − $1,764 = $1,336.
Now compare a stock sale with no returns. Example A group buys 300 pumpkins at an average cost of $5 and sells them from a patch at an average of $9.
| Pumpkins sold | Sales | Cost of the load | Margin before other costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 300 (all) | $2,700 | $1,500 | $1,200 |
| 255 (85%) | $2,295 | $1,500 | $795 |
| 200 (about 67%) | $1,800 | $1,500 | $300 |
| 167 (break-even) | $1,503 | $1,500 | $3 |
The load costs $1,500, so the group must sell 167 pumpkins ($1,500 ÷ $9 = 166.7, rounded up) just to cover it. A rainy weekend can do that. On consignment, the same group pays only for what sells, so a bad weekend lowers the profit but doesn't create a loss. Put your own grower quote, prices and a realistic sell-through into the fundraiser profit calculator to compare it with a simple donation ask, and add the sale to your fundraiser budget with the leftover risk as its own line.
What to do with leftovers
Decide before the sale. Common choices: a last-hour price cut, offering spares to the school garden or classrooms, or giving them to a senior center or a community garden. Pumpkins that don't sell can go to a farm for animal feed or to compost. Nothing should end up left outside the school for the custodians to deal with.
Pumpkin patch or drive-through pickup
Pumpkins are heavy and bulky, which shapes the format more than with any other plant sale.
A pumpkin patch on school grounds
A patch is a weekend event: pumpkins laid out on straw on a lawn or playground edge, a photo spot, maybe face painting or a craft table, and adult volunteers taking payment. It brings neighbors who don't have children at the school, which is its main advantage. It needs the district's permission to use the grounds, usually proof of insurance, a plan for keeping the stock safe overnight, and enough volunteer shifts to cover every open hour; the volunteer recruiting guide covers shift planning. A patch pairs well with a fall festival. The Halloween and trunk-or-treat fundraisers guide covers pumpkin decorating contests and the rules for them.
A pumpkin drive-through
A drive-through is a pre-order sale with curbside pickup. Families choose sizes on the order form (small, medium, large, plus mums or straw bales), pay ahead, and get a pickup number. On the day, cars enter the school lot in one direction, a volunteer checks the number, and two adults load the order into the trunk. It works well for busy families, and it keeps children away from moving cars and heavy lifting.
- Draw the traffic route with the principal or custodian: one way in, one way out, no reversing.
- Stage orders in numbered rows before pickup opens, sorted by number.
- Use time slots by last name or pickup number if you expect more than a hundred cars.
- Put adults, in high-visibility vests, at the entrance, the loading point and the exit.
- Have a rain plan: a covered area, or a second date announced on the order form.
Mulch sales and playground mulch days
"Mulch" fundraising means two different things, and they combine well.
A mulch sale takes spring pre-orders for bagged mulch, compost or soil, which volunteers then deliver to driveways on one Saturday. The margin comes from buying a truckload at a bulk price. It is hard physical work, so plan it as an adult event with trucks and trailers lent by parents, a delivery map by neighborhood, and a firm rule that students don't lift or ride in trailers.
A playground mulch day spreads new surfacing under the school's play equipment. The depth and the type of material under play equipment are safety specifications set by the equipment's maker and your district's facilities staff, not choices for the parent group. Some districts allow a volunteer day for topping up mulch to the level they set; others use only their own crews or contractors. Ask facilities first, then fund the material with sponsors or a small donation drive, and invite families to a morning of raking. For a bigger surfacing or equipment project, see the playground fundraising guide.
Tax, food and plant rules
Sales tax
States treat plant sales very differently, and the plant itself can change the answer. The Texas Comptroller's school fundraiser publication lists agricultural products, "plants and seeds," as nontaxable, but lists as taxable "Horticultural products such as flower arrangements, roses, carnations, holiday greenery and poinsettias." So in Texas a vegetable-start sale and a poinsettia sale can fall on opposite sides of the line. The same publication lets qualifying schools, school groups and exempt parent organizations hold two one-day tax-free sales each calendar year, each lasting 24 consecutive hours, and a winter poinsettia pickup is a natural use for one of them. Here is how seven states' general fundraiser rules apply to a plant sale, from each state's own law or revenue department guidance:
| State | The general rule | What it means for a plant sale |
|---|---|---|
| California | A PTA is a consumer, not a retailer, of what it sells when the profits go to its purposes: it pays tax when it buys and collects none when it sells (Revenue and Taxation Code section 6370) | A PTA should expect to pay tax to the grower; other groups, such as booster clubs, need to check their own status |
| Florida | Schools and PTAs or PTOs may pay tax to the supplier on the cost of fundraising items instead of registering as a dealer and collecting it (Rule 12A-1.0011) | Decide which before the first order, and confirm with the Department of Revenue that your items qualify |
| Illinois | A school-approved volunteer group's sales are exempt only for items it prepared or received as donations, not finished goods bought for resale (86 Ill. Adm. Code 130.2009) | Plants bought from a grower and resold may be taxable; ask the Department of Revenue about donated or student-grown plants, and whether a PTA with its own exemption can use its separate allowance for occasional events |
| Indiana | A qualified nonprofit's fundraising sales aren't taxed until its sales reach $100,000 in the current or previous calendar year; Indiana public schools aren't subject to the limit | Many parent groups' sales fall under it; confirm yours qualifies |
| New York | An exempt organization's sales from a "shop or store," or regular online or mail-order sales, are taxable; other sales, such as orders taken door to door, aren't | Ask whether your pickup table or online order form counts as a shop or store |
| Texas | Plants and seeds nontaxable; poinsettias, flower arrangements and holiday greenery taxable; two tax-free days a year | Schedule a poinsettia or wreath sale on a tax-free day |
| Virginia | Virginia Tax has ruled that school fundraiser sales aren't taxable when the net proceeds or commission go to a qualifying nonprofit school (P.D. 23-87) | Often exempt when the money goes to the school; a PTA keeping proceeds for its own programs should confirm with Virginia Tax |
For other states, ask your state revenue department three questions: is our group exempt from collecting tax, does it matter that we bought the plants for resale, and is there an occasional-sale exemption. The sales tax section of the product sales guide explains why who counts as the seller matters when a supplier runs the program.
Food rules
USDA's Smart Snacks fundraiser guidance says a non-food item "can be sold anytime," and plants and flowers aren't food. Edible add-ons such as apples, cider or baked goods fall under the federal Smart Snacks school-day rule, so a weekend pickup is the simplest way to include them; your district's wellness policy may still apply.
Plant rules
Many states license or inspect businesses that sell nursery stock, and their treatment of occasional sales by nonprofit groups varies. The rules differ by state and change, so the simplest protection is to buy from a grower who holds your state's license and keeps the plants until pickup. If you plan to sell plants your students grew, or divisions donated from family gardens, ask your state department of agriculture or your county extension office first, and check that nothing you sell is on your state's list of restricted or invasive plants.
Sales tax depends on your state, your group's status and what you sell, and plant licensing rules vary by state. Confirm the tax with your treasurer or state revenue department, the plant rules with your state department of agriculture, and the use of school grounds with your district before you print the order form. This is general information, not tax or legal advice.
Printable order form
Edit the items and prices, then print. Collect payment with the form, and give each family a copy or a receipt.
[School] [spring plant / fall pumpkin / winter greens] sale order form
Orders and payment due [date]. Pickup [date, time window, place]. Checks payable to [group legal name]. All proceeds support [specific purpose].
| Item | Price | Quantity | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| [Item 1, size] | $[ ] | ||
| [Item 2, size] | $[ ] | ||
| [Item 3, size] | $[ ] | ||
| [Item 4, size] | $[ ] | ||
| Optional donation to [purpose] | |||
| Order total | |||
| Family name and student's teacher | |||
| Phone or email for pickup reminders | |||
| Paid by (cash / check no. ___ / other) | |||
| Received by (volunteer initials, date) | |||
If a variety is unavailable, we will [substitute a similar plant / refund that item]. Unclaimed orders after [time] will be [held until / donated to]. Questions: [name, contact].
Adults take the orders: families share the form with relatives, neighbors and coworkers, and children don't go door to door or collect money. Count payments with two people and deposit them promptly, following the cash handling guide for parent groups; the cash count sheet totals each count.
Pickup day checklist
- Orders sorted by family name or pickup number before the window opens, with a printed master list.
- Shade, water and a hose for spring plants; a cover or tent for pumpkins and poinsettias.
- Carts, wagons or boxes for carrying, and two adult loaders for heavy items.
- A table for spares and walk-up sales, with prices marked and a card reader or a cash box with starting change.
- A plan and a deadline for unclaimed orders, and a phone list to call late families.
- Care tags in every order, and a thank-you note saying what the sale raised and what it will buy.
- A short note afterward on what sold out and what was left, so next year's order is better.
Sources
- Publication 94-183: School Fundraisers (02/2022), Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Smart Snacks: Fundraisers and Foods Not Intended for Consumption at School, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Administration (accessed 2026-10-30)
- 86 Ill. Adm. Code 130.2009: Personal Property Purchased Through Certain Fundraising Events for the Benefit of Certain Schools, Illinois General Assembly, Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Sales Tax Information Bulletin #10: Nonprofit Organizations (July 2026), Indiana Department of Revenue (accessed 2026-10-30)
Frequently asked questions
How do you run a school plant sale?
Choose one season and a local grower, agree in writing on prices, delivery and returns, then take pre-orders with payment for two to three weeks. Place one order with a small buffer, have the plants delivered on the morning of pickup, sort them by family, and hand them out during a set window. Plan in advance what happens to spares and unclaimed orders.
How does a pumpkin patch fundraiser work?
The group buys or takes on consignment a load of pumpkins, sets them out on school grounds or another approved site, and sells them over one or more weekends with adult volunteers taking payment. Because a load bought outright has to sell before it rots, ask the grower about consignment, which means paying only for what sells. Get district permission and insurance details first.
What is a pumpkin drive-through fundraiser?
It is a pre-order pumpkin sale with curbside pickup. Families choose sizes and pay ahead, get a pickup number, and drive through the school lot on the pickup day while adult volunteers load their order. Plan a one-way traffic route with the school, stage orders in numbered rows, and keep children away from the loading area.
Are plant sales taxable for a PTA?
It depends on the state and sometimes on the plant. The Texas Comptroller lists plants and seeds as nontaxable but poinsettias and holiday greenery as taxable, Virginia Tax has ruled school fundraiser sales nontaxable when the net proceeds go to a qualifying nonprofit school, and Illinois generally taxes school volunteer groups' resale of goods they bought. Confirm with your treasurer and your state revenue department before the sale.
How can a PTA raise money for playground mulch?
Ask your district's facilities staff first, because they set the surfacing material and depth and decide whether volunteers may spread it. Then raise the cost with a local sponsor, a short donation drive or a spring mulch sale to families, and hold a volunteer raking morning if the district allows it. Larger surfacing projects are usually done by the district or its contractor.