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Hosting Guide

The LWPTea Party season is May to Sept

Please aim to host your event during these months. This will give you time to organise your event, hand over your fundraising and allow us to report back to all supporters in our Winter 2025 issue of Ichthus. Following the steps in our hosting guide below will your event be as succesful as possible.

Confirm your venue, date and time

Venue: think about where you’d feel most comfortable as the host, how many guests you’ll invite and how much help you’ll need to prepare, cater and collect donations.

Date and time: Consider when most people will be available to attend.

Duration: Two to three hours is probably a good duration. Make sure there is plenty of time for people to socialise, enjoy the refreshments, take part in fundraising activities and, of course, donate.

Recruit a co-host

You can host successfully on your own but we recommend you get together with a friend or two. They can help with setting up the room, greeting guests, serving tea and cakes and organising activities.

Recruit bakers and food donors

Ask friends and family if they can bake or donate a cake or batch of biscuits to keep guests well fed. If possible, have them delivered to you the night before. Use the cake flags in the downloadable resources to let guests know exactly what’s on offer and price up items.

Set up your JustGiving Page

LWPT has used JustGiving as a trusted fundraising partner for many years. Go to https://www.justgiving.com/lwpt and create your own fundraising page linked to LWPT. You can use your page to collect donations from people unable to attend on the day.

Promote your event

You’ll find everything you need to promote your event in our suite of downloadable resources on our website:
Email graphics and signatures
Posters for your church and other public spaces
Invitations for those who’d appreciate an invitation in writing
Social media graphics for your Facebook, X and Instagram posts
Signposts to welcome people and point them to comfort stations
Bunting to create that party atmosphere
Cake flags for everything on offer
Branding for donation buckets

We recommend you give at least four weeks’ notice to make sure as many people as possible can attend. Collect RSVPs to make sure you know how many to cater for. Send reminder emails in the run up to the event.

On the day

  • Give yourself plenty of time to set up the room

  • Allocate jobs to yourself and your helpers

  • Arrange the seating

  • Arrange the food and pop in the cake flags

  • Set out cups, plates, napkins etc

  • Get any other activities ready to go

  • Put up welcome notices and signage e.g. WC

  • String up the bunting

  • Place the donation bucket in a prominent, safe place

  • When you feel the room is at its fullest - say a few words of welcome and thanks and please tell them about LWPT’s mission

Pricing

You decide how you’d like to price your menu. It’s reasonable to charge more for home-made cakes and biscuits. People will understand that the point of the event is to raise money.

Extra fundraising ideas to run at your event

Have fun at your event while you raise money. Games and competitions, where you charge to enter, can really help towards your fundraising target.
Consider a raffle, tombola, guess the weight of the cake or bingo. Do some Googling to find the many websites that will generate your bingo cards for free.

And don’t forget to…

  • Take photographs to send to LWPT at lwptoffice@lwpt.org.uk

  • Make time for a prayer

  • Thank your guests

  • Follow up by letting them know how much they have raised