Fundraising ideas Secondary Schools Jeans for Genes

Fundraising ideas

Denim bakes

Bake up a batch of blue cupcakes or biscuits, stir up some blue lemonade and sell your blue treats.

Double, triple, quadruple denim

Add a denim shirt, jacket, tie, hat, bag, hairband and shoes. The more denim the better!

Hold a denim fashion show

Encourage everyone to jazz up their jeans and strut their denim stuff, with prizes for the best effort.

Three legged denim race

Pairs of participants wear one pair of jeans between them. One gets the left leg, one gets the right. The first couple of the finishing line wins!

Decorate your denim

Jeans for Genes Day buttons, glitter, pom poms. The more overdone the better!

Make a clay double helix

Visit our arts and crafts web page to download your list of materials and instructions for making your very own clay double helix.

Healthy competition

You’re in luck as we have tons of ideas to pit you against your classmates! Try a games console tournament, a board or card games evening or a round of musical chairs. Other games include guess the weight of the cake, who’s the baby and through the keyhole. If you want something more active try a treasure hunt, Easter egg hunt, or scavenger hunt in teams around your school, charging to take part in all.

Hold a raffle 

Raffle hold a raffle or tombola with donated prizes in your office, charging for tickets? Or you could have a good old game of bingo (or even musical bingo, seeing who can identify all their songs first) charging everyone to take part.

Be sociable

Why not host a social event for families at your school? Try a summer fete with games, cakes, tombola and a raffle, charging for each.

Be persuasive

If you’ve got the powers of persuasion, why not ask your head teacher to wear jeans for the whole Jeans for Genes week – get the whole school to raise money through sponsorship!

Denim dance-a-thon

Are you a dancing queen? Then hold a sponsored dance-a-thon or zumbathon. Or you could host a school disco, charging an entry fee.

Customise your jeans


Denim jukebox

Why not set up a jukebox in your classroom – ask people to donate to pick a song and play it whilst you’re working – you could even ask pupils to select songs beforehand and create a playlist on your iPod.

Athletics day


Get sporty

Have you got the fitness bug? Try organising a sponsored run, walk, swim or cycle for your school with an event afterwards to celebrate your achievement! You could even do the whole event in denim!

Denim drama


Denim Footy


Thrifty Gene


Denim arts and Crafts


Painting Gene


Get wordy


Denim treats


Guilty pleasures


X Factor


Generation Gene


Denim sleepover

Try holding a school sleepover! You could charge a small fee to pupils to take part, or sell snacks for a midnight feast.

Gene-ious Chef 


Eating contest

Have an eating contest in your school! Charge a fee to take part and see who can fit the most marshmallows in their mouth, or who can eat the most dry crackers in a minute.

Opposites Gene

For those of you who aren’t ambidextrous , challenge your class to a left- (or right-) handed day. Charge a small fee to enter, or donate every time you use your dominant hand.