Using Cheerleading Bows To Raise Money For Your Squad

by Amy Garrett

Cheerleading is often a neglected sport in many school budgets, meaning you and your squad need to come up with your own fund-raising techniques. Designing, creating, and selling cheerleading bows to spectators in your school can not only help you raise money but raise school spirit to higher levels. 

Designing Your Bow

When you're looking to design your cheerleading bow, you need to choose ribbon colors that accurately reflect your school. Obviously, you're going to want to include your school colors. But what other design choices should you make? Beyond your school colors, you should try to integrate positive and powerful colors, such as:

  • Yellow – happiness, joy, energy
  • Red – aggressive, passion, love
  • White – purity, strength, goodness
  • Blue – health, power, integrity

Using bow adornments (such as stringers or sewed-on words) with these colors helps your bows look cuter, stand out, and send a positive message towards both the people wearing them and the competing athletes.

Tying The Bow

There are multiple ways to tie hair bows, but the following method is among the simplest. Cut two strips of 1 ½ inch-wide ribbon made of your school colors to about 14-inches. Combining the two will create a four-inch bow, which should be more than large enough for your purpose. After you cut the ribbons, heat the end with your lighter to seal them.

Fold each ribbon into a loop, place the ends of the loops together, and sew them to create a figure-eight. Pull the top of the loop downward to about the middle of the loop and then the bottom to create a simple four-fold ribbon. Tie the center tight with embroidery floss and glue or sew a hair clip to the center to allow it to get held in your hair. Add other decorations, such as sewed words, after you are finished. Try to personalize them to specific athletes (by using their names or number) to create more individualistic bows.

Selling Your Bows

After you've finished making a couple hundred bows, you need to sell them. Try to set a price of about $5 per bow. This should cover your material costs and make you money at the same time. A few places where you can sell bows include:

  • During games
  • At craft shows
  • In school stores
  • During other fund-raising events
  • Online at craft sites or the school website
  • On Ebay or other bidding sites

Make sure that everyone who buys your bows knows exactly where the money goes. The more specific, the better. For example, if your squad needs new pom-poms or needs travel money, make sure you discuss that up front. People are more likely to give if they know where their money is going. Also, make sure that men (who may not be prone to wearing hair bows) can receive alternative versions (such as ribbon pins) that they can wear on their shirt.

Follow these tips and you'll soon have raised a good amount of money and raised school spirit at the same time. Make sure your girls wear their bows during games to further increase their effectiveness.

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