Here is an excerpt from the book about how to run a basket auction. If you enjoy it, check out the entire book at www.everybodyhatesfundraising.com.

Basket Auction

Another great way to make a significant sum of money at your carnival is to add in the element of a basket auction. This strategy of bundling together a group of related items into a beautifully wrapped package has become very popular at silent auctions. So, it’s easy to transfer the idea over to your carnival without too much difficulty.

Here are some very important things to consider when deciding to add a basket auction to your carnival:

You must let the people who will be attending the carnival know, well ahead of time, that you will be having a basket auction in addition to your carnival, since bidding on these items can easily stretch beyond what most people would plan on spending at the carnival alone. You want to make sure that people bring their check books or credit cards to access larger amounts than they might have in their purses or wallets.

You can do this by prominently proclaiming this on the fliers and other printed notifications that go home about the carnival. You could even go as far as to name your event “The ____________ School Carnival & Basket Auction”. It’s kind of hard to miss it then!

Since you will have to solicit the items that you place in the baskets, you will need to put a team together to do this. This is an involved process that requires the right amount of confidence, congeniality, tact, gumption, creativity, and drive from the people in charge. If the average basket has six items in it, and you decide you want to auction off 20 baskets, that’s 120 items your team will have to procure. That can take significant time and effort, but the reward could be well worth it.

Do not forget to properly record each item that is donated, as well as send a thank-you/recognition letter to the donor.

Click here to enroll in Jim Berigan’s FREE year-long school fundraising e-Course!

If your school has a separate auction at a different time of year, I don’t think it would hurt to have a small basket auction add-on to your carnival. However, you want to be careful not to over-burden your business supporters by going to them too many times per year. You may decide to use certain businesses for the carnival basket auction and different businesses for your regular silent/live auction event and not cross the two lists.

Overall, a basket auction will add to the excitement of the event and raise some extra dollars. If your school doesn’t have an auction though, this is a chance to really dip into that “auction” revenue pool.

You will have to make a decision as to whether the baskets will be sold in a silent auction, a live auction, or a combination of both. Since there will be so much else going on however, I’d recommend going with a silent auction format.

Other things to consider with a basket auction:

• To generate excitement for your Basket Auction, take attractive photos of the baskets once they are put together and put them on your school’s website and/or Facebook page. This is the best way for parent to find out what will be available.

• As I mentioned in an earlier chapter, the basket auction will benefit greatly from the use of an emcee. He/she can also serve as the auctioneer and really stir up the interest and the bidding in the baskets.

• You should have a goal in mind for what each basket will sell for. If you see that prices are not going in that direction, use the emcee to fire up the bidders.

Here are some suggestions for basket themes and contents.

1. New York Times Best-seller Basket

A selection of two or three top selling books from the NYT bestseller list, gift certificate to book store, reading lamp…

2. Arts & Crafts Basket
Paint, markers, crayons, scissors, easel, construction paper, craft kits…

3. Baking Basket
Cookie cutters, cookie sheets, pot holders, cookbooks, rolling pin, measuring cups…

4. Barbecue Basket
Selection of BBQ sauces, BBQ tools, a BBQ cookbook like Ted Nugent’s “Kill It & Grill It” and a gift certificate to a local butcher shop…

5. Barbie Basket
A selection of Barbie dolls, clothes, accessories, Barbie DVDs, Barbie sticker books…

6. Candle Basket
Various scented candles, lighter, candle holders…

7. Car Care Basket
Coupon for oil change, tire rotation, small car first aid kit, vehicle emergency kit, GPS unit…

8. Children’s Book Basket
Any kind of children’s books, book markers, gift card to book store…

9. Chocolate Lover’s Basket
Any kind of chocolate candy, hot chocolate, gift certificates to candy shop…

10. Christmas Ornaments Basket
Christmas ornaments, cards, wrapping paper, decorations…

11. Class Projects Baskets
Anything that a classroom decides to make, but it must incorporate personal touches from the students to make it sentimental, such as a toy chest painted with handprints from all the students in the class…

12. Coffee Break Basket
Coffee, nice travel mugs, coffee grinder , coffee cups, and a gift certificate to a coffee shop, mug mats, mug warmer…

13. Comfort Basket
Handmade quilt and a gift certificate to a local family restaurant…

14. Day at the Pool Basket
Floats, sunscreen, flip flops, pool toys, beach towels…

15. Dog Care Basket
Dog biscuits, bones, dog bed, dog toys, leash, collar, gift card to pet store…

16. Entertainment Basket
Buckets of popcorn, a selection of popular DVD’s, a few oversized pillows, a gift card to a local movie rental place, soda pop, and candy…

17. Games Basket
Family fun board games and maybe some tickets to a local amusement park…

18. Gardening Basket
Shovel, wheelbarrow, seeds, bulbs, watering can, kneeling pad, hat, garden book, pots, gift certificate to a garden center…

19. Golf Basket
Golf balls, tees, golf shirt, hat, funny golf books, a biography of Tiger Woods, a new putter, free golf pass…

20. Ice Cream Basket
Ice cream toppings, bowls, scoopers, gift card to ice cream parlor…

21. Lego Basket
Selection of small Lego sets, Lego adventure books, a subscription to “Brickmaster” magazine…

22. Lottery Basket
Lottery scratch cards, bingo daubers, bingo chips, Casino Tour bus tickets, cards, poker chips, How To Win manual…

23. Pamper Me Basket
Bath products, tub pillow, relaxing music, gift certificate to nail manicure or message…

24. Pasta Basket
Various pastas, large pasta bowl, colander, pasta sauces, gift card to Italian restaurant…

25. School Supplies Basket
Paper, pencils, notebooks, crayons, markers, scissors, colored pencils…

26. Scrapbooking Basket
Scrapbook paper, blank album, specialty scissors, stickers, glue, scrapbooking pens and markers, gift certificate to local scrapbooking shop…

27. Snack Attack Basket
Chips, nuts, bowls, gift certificates for pizza, candy, popcorn…

28. Spa Basket
Makeup donated from local Avon or Mary Kay reps, a gift card to a spa for a manicure and/or pedicure …

29. Spirit Wear Basket
School sweatshirt, T-shirt, sweatpants, hats, car decals…

30. Sports Basket
Sports tickets, water bottles, bat, ball, hats, golf balls, tees, folding chair…

31. Stationary Basket
Stamps, journal, note cards, greeting cards, pens, markers, pencils, paper, stickers, envelopes,…

32. Tools Basket
Hammer, screws, drill, safety goggles, wrench, socket set, tool belt, tool box, how to books…

33. Wrapping Basket
Tape, scissors, wrapping paper, tissue paper, gift bags, creative wrapping idea book, cards, bows, ribbon…

34. Movie Night Basket
Family DVD selection, popcorn, candy, bowls, movie tickets, movie theater candy, soda, juice, 3-D glasses…

Photo by: mothernaturebeauty

Would You Like to Make More Money at Your Next School Carnival?

Did you know that some people (school administrators & parent-teacher group leaders) don’t see the carnival as a real money making machine? (I couldn’t believe it, but it’s true!)

Did you know that many schools regularly leave hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on the table each time they hold a carnival?

Did you know that from the minute a family walks into your school carnival, everything they see and experience must be tweaked tomaximize profit? Are you doing this?

Do you know how to respond to the mom who says “$15 to play some silly little games is ridiculous! Why can’t I just buy individual tickets? Come on, son, we’re going home.” (This is an actual quote I came across in an anti-school carnival blog post.)

The planning of a school carnival is absolutely filled with critical questions, just like these.

If you want to make sure you are doing everything you can to make as much money as possible for your school, you must be armed with knowledge and conviction. The conviction will come from your own heart. The knowledge, however, you can get from our

*This is an e-book, not a printed product.

School Carnival Money Making Guide

Within these chapters, you will discover that each topic has been written about from a perspective of “How to make money”. For example, in the Volunteer chapter, I highlight all of the ways that Volunteers can actually produce income for your school and not just save it. (Active earners, instead of just passive earners!)

In the Prizes chapter, I break down all the various methods that a school can award prizes for midway games. Some methods are preferred by the kids, but are a nightmare for adults. Other methods save you time and money, while still being popular with the students. You need to get the prizes issue right, or else you’ll hear about it!

Inside our e-book you’ll find incredibly useful information, such as:

Questions to ask during the planning process

The planning process is perhaps the most critical time of your entire carnival campaign. Whether you make a lot or just a little (or actually lose money!) is determined by how wise you are in your planning. Here is a list of 11 questions that you must answer in detail before you get very far along in your planning process. In the e-book, I go into great detail on each one of these below topics.

Here are the 11 questions I pose to you:

1. What are your priorities, in order of importance, for this carnival?
2. Should you use a theme?
3. When will you hold your carnival?
4. Where will you hold it?
5. Do you have a large enough volunteer pool to pull from?
6. Do you have the support of the school’s administration and staff/faculty?
7. Should you hire a carnival company to run your event and provide your supplies or should you do it yourself?
8. Should you buy carnival games from a supplier, or should you ask volunteers to build approximations of the games?
9. Should you have a combination carnival with another school to cut down on expenses?
10. Should you serve beer and wine for adults?
11. Should you also consider raising money for other causes at your carnival?

Did you know that…

• Most parents HATE having to hit up their friends and family to sell items like cookie dough, wrapping paper, and microwave popcorn?
• A school carnival is a great alternative for families that don’t want their children turned into little salesmen for fundraising companies that take half of the school’s profits, or more?
• If you plan your carnival correctly and maximize all your earning opportunities, you may be able to eliminate all the other small fundraisers your school is currently undertaking. Imagine… no more cookie dough. No more wrapping paper. No more catalogs with useless trinkets that quickly wind up in the trash.

If you’re ready…

If you are ready to get serious about earning real money for your school in a way that families can gladly support, then you absolutely need to read our school carnival money making guide.

At only $20, this comprehensive e-book will pay for itself dozens of times over. Go ahead, try it out!

Would you like to learn more about school carnivals?  Check out Jim Berigan’s “School Carnival Money Making Guide!  It’s 186 pages of advice, suggestions, and ideas that will help your school make the money it needs!

When planning a school Halloween carnival it’s important to include lots of fun games for the kids to play. Playing games, competitions and winning prizes make the event so much fun for the students.

Many times each grade or class will have their own game booth. The game idea that your group picks should be age appropriate. There are a wide variety of game ideas that are good for each age level.

There are some games that students will expect to see each year, such as the bean bag toss. Be sure to include the most popular games that your school carnival had last year. Students also like to find something new and different. So finding a few unique, fun Halloween carnival games will bring some new excitement to your event.

Traditional Games

Just about every carnival should include the traditional, tried and true games that everyone enjoys. Some of these are kids games and others can be for older siblings and adults.

Dunking Booth – Who can resist dunking their teacher, classmate or school principal. You just need to prepare for the logistics of hosting the booth, making sure it works properly and is safe. If you don’t want to build one, check with local rental companies.

Duck pond – This is great for toddlers to grade 1. Fill a galvanized tub with water and colorful plastic ducks. Each duck has a number on the bottom that corresponds to a prize with that same number. The child picks up a duck from the pond and the person working the booth awards the prize. Easy and fun for little ones.

Darts – You cannot have a carnival without the traditional balloon dart game!

High Tech Games

Why not incorporate technology into your Halloween carnival?

Wii games – Have a Wii set up to play one of the sports like bowling. Have a time limit!

Wii tournament – Even better have a Wii tournament.  Each player signs up for a time slot ahead of time, paying an entry fee.  Players come back to play one another in the tournament rounds to determine who the best player is.

Guitar Hero or Garage Band – These are other very popular games that kids enjoy.

Jeopardy – This long standing TV show is available as an interactive game.  Classroom Jeopardy is customizable with your own questions or you can just use one of the Jeopardy software programs for your game system.

Click here to enroll in Jim Berigan’s FREE year-long school fundraising e-Course!

Big Event Games

Draw a crowd — plus media attention and publicity ahead of time — with an unusual game.

Super-sized board games – Take your regular, old fashioned board game and make it BIG.  How about putting together lots of Twister sheets for the “world’s largest Twister game?”  One group found success with a life size checkers game.

Sports tournaments – Hold a tournament at the same location of your school Halloween carnival.  Great for teens who are “too old” for kiddie games and costumes.  You could have several age brackets to make it fair.  Start filling up the entry level brackets and times before the day of the carnival so people know when to be there.

Inflatables – There’s so much more to inflatables than just a simple bounce house!  Now there are activities like obstacle courses, bungee competitions, and slides.  Check with your local party rental place to see what’s available near you.

More Game Ideas

Here are several great websites that have more ideas to help you create fun carnival games:

A to Z Carnival Game List – Long list of many popular carnival games & variations

Muscular Dystrophy Association Carnival Game Ideas – Carnivals are held for MDA fundraisers. They offer some ideas that may be good for your Halloween carnival too.

Carnival Savers – Has a lot of ideas for Halloween carnivals – fast & easy games, build it yourself game booths, popular foods, petting zoos and other fun activities

These school Halloween game ideas should get you started on the right path. With some creativity you can probably come up with many other activities that your kids will love!   Is there an unusual game that’s worked for your school in the past?  Let us know in the comment box below:

When planning your school carnival, you may find yourself in a situation where you’re having trouble coming up with enough volunteers, due to the high number needed. At this point, you may consider recruiting older children, perhaps middle school or high school age to fill the gaps.

I think this is a fine solution to your problem, as long as you are able to give the student-helpers strong direction and supervision. While this may be a stereotype against young people, many of them do not have extensive experience in customer service or even a work history whatsoever.

Be very clear in your instructions and expectations.

As a precaution, you should be very clear with them that while they are on duty, their first priority is the entertainment of the children. Therefore, no cell phones or other electronic devices may be used while they are “working”.

Also, instruction should be given on your expectations for how to talk to customers. Each worker should greet the children and their parents with a friendly hello and continue to be polite and welcoming throughout the families’ entire experience.

Ask the student helpers to put themselves in the place of the parents.

Explain to the student-helpers that if a parent feels his or her child is not being made to feel welcome, the parent may start to develop negative feelings about the entire event. As a result, that parent may spend less money at the carnival and could even leave early, before other money-spending opportunities, such as the basket auction, have even begun.
I would also insist on having a dress code for all the volunteers. If you apply the restrictions to everyone, the teens won’t feel singled out.

To be fair, I have worked with many young people who have had vastly superior customer service skills than most adults. So, please don’t get me wrong. Teenagers could be a terrific asset to your carnival. I’m only advising you not to assume too much and be prepared to teach some things that you might actually take for granted.

Your Turn

Do you have any ideas on the subject of letting teen-agers work for your school carnival?  What’s your experience been like?  Please share with us in our comment section!  Thanks!

Photo by: St Peter’s Community News

This is a guest post written by Nate Jaehnig.  Nate is the owner of AZ Bounce Pro in Arizona, which rents inflatables for school carnivals in his local area.  With his experience in this field, Nate has become very knowledgeable about how many people can actually participate on individual inflatable per hour and how this effects your overall carnival income.  Not all “bouncy castles” have the same earning potential, so read carefully to make sure you are making wise financial decisions. – Jim Berigan

The primary goal of almost every school carnival or fundraiser event is to raise money for a specific cause or organization. Many carnival organizers do not realize one of the best and most effective ways to raise the most amount of money at a school carnival is by maximizing throughput at each ride or activity at their carnival.

What is ride throughput? Throughput is a simple measurement of the number of participants a certain ride, game, or activity can register per unit of time. Throughput is typically measured as a number of participants per hour. It is the single factor that can have the greatest impact on the profitability of a fundraiser or carnival.

You want throughput to be a high number in order to maximize profitability. A high throughput also results in shorter and faster lines at each activity!

When you are assessing which rides or activities to have at your school carnival, throughput should be at the top of your list when evaluating your ride choices. How many participants can you register per hour on any particular piece? Should you go for the inflatable slide or the sumo suits? Throughput will be your guide when you need to make decisions about which activities you want at your event.

There are three things that affect throughput. Participants per play, transition time, and play time are the three factors that affect the throughput number. Participants per play is the number of people per round that can participate on the ride or attraction. Transition time is the amount of time between rounds at the activity. Play time is how long the ride or attraction lasts per play.

Throughput Demonstration

Let’s see how throughput affects carnival profitability by looking at the example of sumo suits and an inflatable slide at a school carnival.

Sumo suits are a popular item amongst older kids at carnivals. It involves two people suiting up in large, over-sized suits and battling each other in a sumo ring. The participant who knocks the other out of the sumo ring wins the game. Let’s examine the throughput of this ride:

-Participants per play: 2 (one in each suit)
-Transition Time: 3 minutes (prior participant un-suits, next participant suits up)
-Play Time: 5 minutes
-Total Time: 8 minutes

Inflatable slides are staples at any carnival. The premise is simple, you climb up the slide and slide down the slide. Let’s examine the throughput of an inflatable slide:

-Participants per play: 1 (this would be 2 for a double slide, 3 for a triple slide, etc.)
-Transition Time: 0 minutes (there is no “suiting up” necessary)
-Play Time: 1 minute
-Total Time: 1 minute

Let’s calculate the throughput for each attraction by using the following formulas:

1. First find the Plays per Hour
(60 minutes) / (Transition Time + Play Time) = Plays per Hour
2. Next find the Throughput
(Plays per Hour) x (Participants per Play) = Throughput

The sumo suit throughput is calculated at 15. The inflatable slide throughput is calculated at 60.

This means that you can get 15 participants through the sumo suit attraction per hour versus 60 participants per hour on the inflatable slide. This shows you that the inflatable slide has a four times greater throughput than the sumo suits! Four times as many people can ride the slide in an hour than the sumo. This makes a big difference in profitability.

How does Throughput Affect Carnival Profitability?

You charge carnival attendees per ride. The more rides that you get during your carnival time frame, the more profit you make. This formula is quite simple! The higher your throughput, the more money you can make on the ride, game, or attraction!

Therefore if the sumo suits have a throughput of 15, and the slide has a throughput of 60, you will need to charge four times as much for a sumo play than a slide play. This will allow you to break even with the slide. Will your guests pay four times as much to do the sumo as opposed to the inflatable slide? If they will not, you will make less profit with the sumo than the slide.

Remember, profitability should guide your decision making and planning for your school carnival. Don’t forget the formula for throughput is a major determinant of running a highly profitable and successful carnival or fundraiser.

Photo by: The National Guard

This guide contains many practical tips on how to make your next carnival a success. Jim provides advice based on his own experience and from those of other school volunteers like you. Besides just planning the carnival, the book helps you reach the goal of making the carnival a great school fundraiser.

This book will save you lots of time and add a fresh, creative twist to your event. Check it out: the School Carnival Guide

1. School Carnivals Are Incredibly Popular With Students and Parents Alike
Quick, which would you rather do- go to the school carnival or visit to the dentist? See? No contest. OK, maybe that’s not a fair fight, carnival vs. dentist, but the fact is, a school carnival is one of the absolute highlights of the year for any school that has one. It has all the best rolled up into one great package: people having fun, the school making money, and if it’s a really good carnival, there’s always food of some variety on a stick.

2. Carnivals require lots of people as volunteers, but the work is fun and not stressful.
Even though carnivals require a number of people willing to take charge of a wide range of responsibilities, the vast majority of jobs involve having fun and interacting with people. Whether it’s baking items to sell, running games, passing out prizes, decorating the carnival space, face painting, or even selling tickets, the atmosphere of a school carnival is light and enjoyable. These are exactly the kinds of jobs to break new volunteers in on. Once a person has mastered the art of the school carnival, he or she may be ready to take on more challenging volunteer duties within your fundraising team.

3. Carnival Expenses are Low
Since carnivals are held in the school building itself, there won’t be any facility rental fees the school will have to pay, which can often be one of the most expensive items in the budget. Also, food can be donated, and games can be used year after year. Many decorations can also be used more than one year. Of course, there will be a desire to add some new things each year, but the core of the activity can be relatively inexpensive to operate year in and year out.

http://www.everybodyhatesfundraising.com/school-carnival-ebook/

4. Carnival Income is High
While expenses are kept low, the opportunities to generate revenue are high. Of course, you have the admission tickets, but there can also be charges for food, entertainment, games, and contests. All of these can be purchased with tickets or tokens, so that cash doesn’t have to be handled and potentially lost. Also, revenue can be made from renting out booths to local non-profits, so they can market themselves to the carnival attendees.

5. School Carnivals Become Instant Traditions and Reliable Income
In fundraising, you are always looking for something that will be a guaranteed success, year after year. It’s important to be able to count on a certain range of income. Therefore it is wise to develop activities that will become traditionally expected by your community. Carnivals are so popular, they become one of these traditions almost instantly. Imagine holding your first carnival one year, and then canceling it the next. That doesn’t seem very likely.

6. People are Familiar with the Concept of a School Carnival, so They Come Ready to Have a Good Time.
Even if your school hasn’t ever held a carnival before, most people have been to at least one sometime in their lives. Therefore, you’re not going to have to do a lot of explaining or convincing to get folks involved. This is one of the reasons why you could expect a very respectable turnout your very first year doing it. People are hesitant to try things that are unfamiliar to them. The good news is that most everybody not only knows what a school carnival is, but they also have good memories of it.

7. Carnivals Allow for Teachers and the Principal to Relax
Once you swing open the doors on the school carnival, a whole new feeling spreads over the school. Gone are the worries about tests and having a hallway passes. The joyous, euphoric, and electric atmosphere allows everyone, including teachers and the administrative staff to relax and enjoy the festivities. Having worked as a school principal, I always felt is was important to take every opportunity to have fun with the parents of my students, as well as my staff of teachers. It improved all our relationships and increased our ability to work together.

8. Carnivals Build Camaraderie with Both Kids and Adults.
Carnivals also have the ability to help parents get to know one another. I think that when parents of students get to know each other in a relaxed atmosphere, friendships can be made. This is not only beneficial to them, but also to the school in that it seems to increase the number of volunteers we get for school activities. Even if you have a busy schedule, if your best friend is working the school carnival, you might also be inclined to do so, because it becomes a social opportunity.

9. Since So Many Schools Do Annual Carnivals, There is Abundant Information Available Regarding Carnival Themes, Games, Contests, Entertainment, Revenue Producers, etc.
With the exponential growth of the Internet, it is simple to find out extensive information on almost any subject- school carnivals, especially. A simple Google search will yield a wealth of knowledge. Also, it is wise to talk with families who are new to your district. Perhaps they have suggestions from their old school that worked. Trust me, if you put the word out there that you’re thinking of launching a school carnival, you’ll have people banging down your door with ideas.

Conclusion
Fundraising for any kind of a group is hard work. Often, the results are uncertain, but I can’t remember a time when I ever was ambivalent about how much money we were going to make. There’s always been an urgency to make as much as possible with every event or sale. With a carnival, you have just about the closest thing to a sure bet that you can find in this world of fundraising. As I mentioned in the introduction, a carnival mixes the best of everything, and everyone has a good time. In my estimation, that makes the idea of having a school carnival a real no-brainer.

July 2011 ANNOUNCEMENT- Will You Be Running a Raffle in 2011-12?  If so, check out the brand new e-book from Sandra Sims and Jim Berigan.  RaffleSecrets is 50 pages long and comes with three free bonus books. Excellent content from authors you’ve known and trusted for years!

Introductory sale going on now!  Don’t miss the savings!  If your non-profit is having a raffle this year, you’ve got to check this out!

School carnivals are one of the most popular ways to raise money for schools in the United States. While the amount of planning and organizing that goes into this type of an event may be very high, the pay-off can also be substantial. If you find yourself in charge of running your school’s carnival, take a few minutes to read about the things NOT to do, if you would ever like to resume this position in the future.

Repeat the Same Games, Activities, and Entertainment Year After Year
A surefire way to decrease the annual attendance at your school carnival is to find some activities that seem to work and then use them year after year after year. It’s very easy to fall into the mindset that since an activity or event was popular one or maybe even two years, it will always be so. However, this is dangerous. People get bored. Also, just because you still have some props left over from previous carnivals, and it’s cheaper not to have to build new ones is no excuse to stick with the “same-old, same-old”.

The only exception to this rule is something that is considered a local tradition. Perhaps there is a long-established talent contest or chili cook-off that is responsible for actually drawing people to the carnival.

However, these kinds of perennial events should make up only a small fraction of your carnival agenda. Most of the entertainment, activities, and events should be continually updated to keep attracting a large audience each year.

Have Poor Food Choices
Believe it or not, there are some groups out there who place very little importance on the selection and presentation of food at school events. From bake sales to sporting events to school carnivals, food is important! You can not give a lazy effort when selecting what items to sell. You can not just wrap a Rice Crispy treat in cheap cellophane and walk away, thinking you’re going to make money.

If you are in charge of organizing your schools carnival, I recommend finding the most creative person on your team and putting him or her in charge of food sales. This person should be responsible for making sure there are interesting and unique food items for sale and that the presentation of all items is highly attractive. This will boost sales and your income dramatically.

Don’t Talk to Lots of People When Picking a Theme for the Year
A school carnival should reflect the tastes and interests of your entire school community at large. If the event is going to be a success, it has to appeal to a wide cross-section of your parents, students, and school staff. For instance, I personally can’t stand anything to do with Sponge Bob Square Pants. I forbid my children from owning any Sponge Bob merchandise, and they know that even over at friends’ houses, they are to avoid this awful, awful cartoon.

Anyway, that’s merely my personal opinion, and if I were going to organize a carnival, I would have to be open to somehow incorporating a Sponge Bob theme, if that’s what my community wanted one year. The point is, you should seek out a wide cross-section of opinions while determining what theme you are picking for carnival and not rely on your own personal likes and dislikes, just because you’re the boss.

Not Having Lots of Places for Families to Spend Money
A school carnival is great because it serves so many purposes. Not only is it a wonderful community builder, but it is also an opportunity for a school to generate a great deal of revenue. A huge mistake on the planners’ part would be not to create as many places as possible for parents to spend their money. Of course, there are the traditional opportunities, like admission tickets and food items. However, put some thought and research into other ways to get the cash registers ringing. For example, I would recommend using a space to create a small store and stock it with items from the Oriental Trading catalog. Kids love these kinds of things.

Also think about holding a contest before the carnival for students to design the official school carnival t-shirt for the year. The winning design would be featured on the front side of the t-shirt, while sponsor logos could be sold on the backside. Then these t-shirts could be sold at the event. I would also charge separately for any type of “rides” like a moonwalk or other bouncy type activity.

I would also recommend eliminating cash from your carnival and instead do everything by ticket or token. This will avoid many headaches for you and families at the event.

Not Researching School Carnival Information Online Beforehand
These days, there are so many online resources for you to investigate anything before diving into it. Not only are there traditional sites that will sell you carnival-related items and services, but there are also blogs like this one that offer general advice. Additionally, there are plenty of places, like Yahoo Answers that allow you to post questions and receive answers from people at large about a particular question you might have.

The point is, there is no longer any excuse for not finding out the very best way to run a school carnival. The Internet has provided us all with a free and easy way to gain knowledge on a mind-boggling array of topics. Use this amazing tool to assist you in your planning process.

Not Selling Booth Space to Local Non-Profit or Other Family-Focused Organizations
This may fall under the topic of raising as much money as possible at your carnival, but I thought it was important enough to deserve its own headline. Since you will be drawing a significant crowd of a desirable demographic (families with young kids), other groups will be very desirous of getting in on that action.

I think you should dedicate a section of your carnival space to non-profit groups or other family-focused organizations, so that they can pass out information about their own services. They shouldn’t be allowed to sell anything or to solicit donations from those in attendance, but they can pass along information about themselves that would lead to future support. In addition, each group should be required to provide, at their booth, some kind of kid-friendly activity- even if it’s something simple like fishing for a prize or a coloring contest.

Lastly, I would charge these groups for the booth space. All non-profits I have ever worked with have a budget for advertising/marketing and participation at a school carnival could easily fall into that budget category. Of course, make it affordable to them, but even at $100 per group could net you a tidy little sum for something that will add to the atmosphere of your event.

Not Embarrassing the School Principal to Raise Money
As a former school principal, I cringe at what I’m about to write, but it’s true- you should most definitely use any way possible to embarrass the head of the school for cash. In a related article, I wrote that you should shave, dunk, follow, or jail him or her to raise as much money as you possible can. Inflicting (imaginary) pain on the school principal is something that appeals to the child inside of everyone, including the parents and the staff of the school.

Try selling tickets for a dunk machine, or set a bar of $1000 dollars donated to the PTO and the principal will shave his head, right there at the carnival, you could have a huge hit on your hands.

Not Providing Special Activities and Supervision for Younger Siblings
If you fail to consider that many families have younger siblings (or even elderly grandparents) that could also enjoy the carnival, you are missing a huge opportunity. In all of your promotional information, you should highlight that you will be providing supervised play areas and special activities and events for younger siblings that will be separate and protected from the older kids. You should also mention that there will be plenty of seating areas for grandmas and grandpas to come and enjoy the fun.

By inviting the entire family along, you take away the need (or obstacle) for families to hire a babysitter and also increase your gate receipts. Some families could very well decide that if they can’t bring their little kids, they aren’t going to bother coming at all and then you lose out.

Spend lots of money on promotion of the event
Advertising can be very expensive and dramatically eat into any kind of profit you’re hoping to make from the carnival. There is no reason for your school to drop lots of money in getting the word out about your event. You can do a fantastic job of promotions and only have to spend a modest amount on making copies of your flier.

First of all, you should be sending home information sheets about the carnival months ahead of time, seeking volunteers for all the necessary tasks. Keep the event in the top of the parents’ minds on a regular basis right up until the day before. Posters and fliers can be hung up around the school, as well.

Out in the community, many stores will post your fliers for free. Likewise, churches will often cooperate and write a small blurb in their weekly bulletins. I would even write a short public service announcement and send it to your local TV and radio stations. You should assume that your advertising budget is almost zero and work fro there.

Conclusion
Although taking charge of your school’s carnival may be daunting, there are many resources available to help you succeed. By putting in some effort early on in the process, you will greatly increase your likelihood of pulling off the best carnival your school has ever seen!

Originally published in March 2008.  Republished on September 15, 2008.

BUILD YOUR CARNIVAL AROUND A REALLY GOOD THEME
By selecting a different theme for your carnival each year, it both keeps your families interested and engaged, and also it forces your planning committee to develop new ideas for games, events, costumes, food choices, etc. The selection of a theme is the foundation for the rest of your carnival planning. It is vital to keep your auction from becoming predictable each year.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
It is important to know what kind of people will be attending your carnival. This demographic knowledge will help you in deciding what kind of a theme to choose and what kind of activities will make you the most money. Basically, make sure you are giving your audience what they want. If karaoke is popular, give them a karaoke booth. If a football throwing competition would be popular, give them that. If you think silly string would be a big seller, have plenty of that on hand and mark it up.

Would you like to learn more about school carnivals?  Check out Jim Berigan’s “School Carnival Money Making Guide!  It’s 186 pages of advice, suggestions, and ideas that will help your school make the money it needs!

THINK LIKE A GUERILLA (MARKETER)
The key to making a lot of money at your carnival is to have lots of people there. Make sure you have an excellent team in charge of getting the word out. First, utilize every method of free publicity: press release, road-side banners, lots of fliers in shops over town, church bulletins, etc. Also let your school families know how important attendance is and that their efforts in bringing others to the event is encouraged and appreciated. After you have exhausted these low or no cost means of advertising, perhaps you can consider a well-placed paid advertisement in the local paper or radio station. Only do this if you’ve had success in the past and can afford it. There are so many means of cheap marketing. Check out the book Guerilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson for more ideas like this.

SECURITY AT DOORS = PARENTS FEEL SAFE
Once parents have arrived, they want to make sure their kids are safe to run around. This sense of security will go a long way toward making mom and dad comfortable and willing to spend more money. I know that if I’m constantly worried about where my kids are and what they are breaking, I’ll be looking at the clock and planning my exit strategy. I’m not going to drop a lot of dough. Make sure to have volunteers specifically assigned to the front doors to make sure no one escapes. I would also station a male and female adult by the bathrooms to make sure no trouble happens there. Try to imagine any place there could be trouble in your physical space and solve the problem before it happens.

SEEK A WIDE VARIETY OF DONATIONS
One way to make money is to not spend it in the first place. Therefore, do everything in your power to get food and supplies donated. This process should happen very early in your planning. Seek out natural connections within your school community. Who knows, one of your sudent’s dad might own a company that rents out inflatable bounce houses and would be willing to rent them to you for free. You won’t know until you check. Make sure to give out a lot of recognition (both verbally and through prominent signage) to all those who helped, and make sure that a committee takes responsibility for sending out thank you letters to every single person or business that helped you during the carnival.

CHARGE FOR VENDOR BOOTHS
In addition to the rides, games, and scheduled entertainment at the carnival, there is an opportunity to provide parents and kids with another great experience: vendor booths. You can sell booth space ( can be as simple as 8’ folding tables) to local business who want to market to your specific audience. You can also require the vendors provide some kind of freebie or activity to whoever visits their booth. Pencils, Frisbees, coloring books, etc- and they can put their logo on everything they give away. They can pass out coupons as well. This is a great marketing opportunity for the business and it adds to the overall excitement of the event. If you get enough vendors, you can also make some decent money off of it. If you charge $100 per booth and get 12 booths, you just made $1,200 pure profit. And, $100 for such a great marketing opportunity is not out of reach for many local businesses. I have even heard of carnivals with booths set up for health and wellness information, including free flu shots, blood pressure screenings, for example. You can give price breaks on booths to non-profit groups, if you wish. The more booths = more excitement.

SELL TICKETS FOR EVERYTHING- KEEPS CASH AT A MINIMUM
Take a cue from most arcades out there today, convert cash into tokens or tickets whenever possible. This accomplishes two important purposes. 1) It prevents individual booths from having to handle and secure cash. With all the excitement and activity, why take a risk on cash being lost, stolen, or mishandled in any way? 2) People are much more likely to spend tokens or tickets freely than real cash money. It’s a psychological thing.

TAKE PLASTIC
Even though you may lose a few percentage points for the transaction, I recommend setting your carnival up to accept debit and credit cards for tickets and maybe some of the higher price add-ons you have. This way you avoid the situation of a parent running out of cash, even though they still want to make that last minute purchase. Don’t lose that sale!

PLAN SOMETHNG FOR EVERYBODY
In your planning, make sure that you include activities for everyone. For instance, you may get lots of younger siblings. It would be wise in this instance to set aside a safe area for them to crawl and play without having big kids risk accidentally hurting them. A few gym mats, some baby toys, a fence of some kind, and chairs for parents could be all that you need. Even if you offer this toddlers’ area for free, you are doing a service for parents who won’t have to spend money on babysitters or feel rushed to leave, due to their younger children. On the other hand, it would also be wise to provide lots of seating areas and coffee (decaf) for grandmas and grandpas. Make sure that nobody feels uncomfortable or un-catered to. The more people through your door, the more ticket revenue you pick up.

BOOK A GREAT EMCEE
I am a strong believer in designating someone to serve as the overall host or emcee for the event. Give this guy or gal a wireless mic and let him or her use charm, humor, prodding, and enthusiasm to get people having a great time and spending money. Don’t settle for a bland voice telling people the talent show starts in five minutes. Get a person who will have the natural ability to hype it up. The emcee can also call attention to booths that aren’t doing well and need attention. Just make sure that the emcee doesn’t cross the line into being obnoxious. This can be a tall order, but if you get the right person, it can make a world of different to your event.

FOOD, FOOD, FOOD
Basically, forget everything else I’ve written. It’s really just all about the food. People love to eat and they’ll spend money to do it. Offer as many choices and styles as you can think of. If people like to eat it and it’s convenient to mass produce and serve, do it! I really don’t think you can over-do it on the food.

This is an opportunity to really hype up a specific item. For instance, this could be the only time all year that third grade teacher Mrs. Riley makes her world-famous elephant ears. Your school carnival is the only place on Earth to get them. “Tell your friends and family! Don’t miss this once a year chance!”

(Remember to get as much of the food donated as you can, because it would then be 100% profit!)

OFFER LOTS OF PLACES TO SPEND MONEY
Besides selling tickets for games and food, think about ways you can sell additional items. I know of carnivals who have successfully sold student designed t-shirts, school community recipe/cookbooks, family photos, and raffle tickets, to name a few. Also, look at the Oriental Trading Company Catalog for very inexpensive items that kids love to have. Silly string for instance is a great seller. You can even set up a little store for any of the above mentioned items. Don’t miss any opportunity to get people to spend their hard-earned dollars for your school.

LEVERAGE THE “CELEBRITY” OF TEACHERS, PRINCIPAL
Kids are always amazed to see their teachers in any situation out of the classroom. I remember thinking that my elementary school teachers actually lived at school. They couldn’t possibly have a life in the “real world”. To run into one of them at the grocery store was like running into a movie star or the President of the United States. You will be sure to have a hit activity anytime you can put a teacher in a funny situation. Think dunk tank or pie throwing, etc. Maybe the principal could get his head shaved if a certain level of money is raised that night.

Conclusion
The school carnival is a great opportunity for your community to come together, develop relationships, and raise some much needed money for your school. Be as creative as you can in selecting a popular theme and planning activities that will accomplish your fundraising goals. Good luck!

Originally published in February 2008.  Republished on September 11, 2008.

The theme was “Pay it Forward.” Event proceeds, including T-shirts and calendar sales will benefit the music department at the middle school. Last year’s fundraiser benefited the band department of Lemon Bay High School in Englewood and raised $5,400. The committee aims to raise funds for schools in both Charlotte and Sarasota counties.

Calendars and T-shirts are still available at local stores, including Stevens the Florist South, Rubber Tree Carpet and Tile and at Serenity Coffee House.

Source: Herald-Tribune.com