Creative Fundraising Ideas for Schools: Personalized Buttons and Novelty Items

One of the greatest and most rewarding uses of a button machine is the creation of novelty items that can be an excellent addition to your list of creative fundraising ideas. Many schools, from the elementary level all the way up to high schools and colleges, have made the relatively small investment in a button machine to create personalized promotional buttons for clubs, causes, and classes.

American Button Machines has published an extensive feature article about using a button machine to create pinback buttons for promotional and fundraising purposes. So why is purchasing a button machine and making your own novelty buttons an excellent creative fundraising idea?

Let’s count the ways.

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Customer Spotlight: Monkey Threads

We’ve got a quick new Customer Spotlight entry for you today, and it comes courtesy of Twitter.

As I try do at least once every week, I logged in today to see if anyone had messaged us or if anyone had any button making-related questions I could answer. Much to my excitement, there were a few messages. (This is typically what happens, but it’s still exciting every time! And that’s why you should follow us.)

One of the messages was from Twitter user @MonkeyThreads and said the following:

@ABMACHINES I worked my machine making 100 wedding favors. http://www.etsy.com/listing/37116137/bottle-opener-i-heart-my-wife-225-inches

Naturally I clicked on the link, and what I found was, indeed, quite the wedding favor!

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Button Maker Price Comparison: American All-in-One Kits v Chinese 3-in-1 Button Makers

Welcome back for post #2 in our weeklong series discussing American-made button maker kits and Chinese-made button maker kits. Yesterday we provided an overview and debunked a few myths about Chinese 3-in-1 button machines. Today we are going to do a button maker price comparison, contrasting the costs of Chinese-made button makers to the costs of our American-made button makers.

First, let’s take a look at the hard costs as we dig into this button maker price comparison.

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How to Start a Button Business

Given the current economic situation, many families are forced to cut back on their spending while they try to come up with some ways to make extra income. One easy way to supplement an income for a very small investment is for a family to start their very own button making business.

The small investment for a button making system and the necessary supplies can allow an entrepreneurially minded family to easily start their own button business making pinback buttons. Pinback buttons are extremely versatile and have an enormous popularity. From campaign buttons to concert souvenirs, pinback buttons are a popular novelty item. Continue reading

Button shows that not even the stench of death can deter one happy bride

By the time their wedding day comes around, most women have dreamt about it and visualized it over and over and over again.

The dress, and the ring, and the cake, and the music, and the invitations, and the flower girls, and, oh yeah!, even the groom…for most brides (and certainly for whoever is in charge of planning the wedding) that special day is one for which all the t’s must be crossed, the i’s must be dotted, and even the tiniest curveball can be cause for concern and consternation.

So you might that think that even the most even-keeled bride would turn into a bridezilla if they had to deal with what Jessica Zabala feared she would have to deal with on her wedding day.

And what is that, you ask? Oh nothing…nothing at all…just the smell of death emanating from across the street, nefariously infiltrating the noses of everyone in its vicinity.

Ms. Zabala’s reaction? Wear a button that says “I Love Lois” in honor of the famous “Corpse Flower” from whence the smell was wafting.

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Our Pledge: When you buy from ABM, you’re buying quality button parts

It is July 22nd, 2010. Do you know what that means? It’s officially Reiterate Our Pledge to Our Customers Day at American Button Machines.

If it sounds like we just made that up a couple of seconds ago, you would be both right and wrong.

Is today actually Reiterate Our Pledge to Our Customers Day at ABM? Sure it is. The tricky part is that, to us, every day is Reiterate Our Pledge to Our Customers Day.

And our pledge to our customers is very simple: when you buy a button machine or any button making supplies from us, we pledge to you that you are buying the highest quality button parts available. Bar none.

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Common Myths About Chinese-made Button Making Kits

Over at our American Button Machines website, we recently posted a couple of new pages that offer a detailed comparison between American-made button making kits and Chinese-made button maker kits. While we are sure that some of you have noticed the links to the new pages on the ABM homepage and checked them out, we are quite certain that most of you do not spend your days hitting “Refresh” on our homepage awaiting new links.

Thus, we are going to post the content of those pages here, in a four-part series that breaks the content on the website up into four smaller chunks.

In the first part of the series that we are posting today, we are going to provide an overview and take a quick look at a few common myths about 3-in-1 button makers that are manufactured in China.

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Button University Lesson 10: Badge-a-Minit Button Making Supplies – Size and Other Differences

Hello once again from your button blogging friends at American Button Machines. We are thrilled to have you back for the 10th and final lesson of Button University. (Please, take moment if you need to go grab tissues so you can wipe away the tears.)

Yesterday, we talked about fabric button machines and systems. Today, we are going to talk about Badge-a-Minit Supplies. For some of you, you are asking, “What in the world are Badge-a-Minit supplies?” Let me explain.

There are basically two kinds of button making supplies in the USA.

1. Industry standard button-sized supplies. These supplies fit 99% of all standard-sized button machines. Yes, we are in that 99.9%.

2. Badge-a-Minit sized button supplies. These supplies are slightly larger than the industry standard. They are designed specifically to fit Badge-a-Minit machines. People who are not aware that Badge-a-Minit machines don’t work with the US industry standards can end up wasting a lot of money when they buy the wrong sized button supplies.

To help out our customers, we also offer Badge-a-Minit 2.25″ supplies or our Badge-a-Minit 3.0″ supplies for a lower price at. Our BAM Supplies are Certified and Guaranteed and Badge-a-Minit “sized”. They will work…hassle-free.

Not only are they less expensive when purchased from us, but our same standard of excellence applies. Here are the differences between their supplies and our BAM Supplies.

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Button University Lesson 9: Fabric Button Machines and Systems

Welcome back to another installment of Button University Lessons! In Lesson 8, we showed you some quick videos and outlined step-by-step button making guidelines, reconfirming the simplicity and speed of our machines. Today, we are going to talk a little bit about fabric covered buttons.

Our Fabric Button Machine allows you to make your own fabric buttons or ponytail holders! In fact, Using our large eyelet two-piece button sets, fabric covered buttons can be attached to shoe laces, flip flops, shoe charms, hair ties & more!

There are a couple of machines that we have that will cater to whatever needs you have. Here are the details on those machines.

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Customer Spotlight: Houston Museum of Natural Science

We are proud to call the Houston Museum of Natural Science one of our customers and it is our pleasure to feature HMNS in an especially timely edition of our Customer Spotlight today.

Why is it so timely? Well, because the HMNS is distributing buttons to commemorate an impending experience that has been described as “a combination of rotting vegetation and rotting flesh.”

Wait…what?

Allow me to explain.

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