We spoke for over an hour, and I learned a great deal from her. Below, I have listed eight of the best tips she shared with me for running a carnival that makes a lot of money. If you would like to see an excellent example of a website set up just for a school carnival, check out their site here.

Here are a few of the ideas I picked up from our interview:

1. Use older students in the school to promote the carnival to younger students.

Barbara told me that their planning team recruited a handful of fifth graders (who are the oldest students at Tomahawk) to go into the younger classrooms and get the K to 4th graders totally fired up to attend. They made sure the students they chose were very outgoing and personable.

These mini-pep-rallies happened just a couple of weeks before the carnival itself. Barbara said that the fifth graders have much more “influence” over the younger kids than teachers, the principal, or the PTO volunteers do. Believe it or not, the fifth graders are “cooler” than adults. (Who knew?) The lesson is: If you want a lot of kids to convince their parents that they “have” to go to the carnival, get the older kids to stoke their passion!

2. Get teachers involved in the planning process.

Barbara said she learned this lesson the hard way. Two years ago, they had a number of teachers actually sit on the carnival planning committee. As a result, these teachers were very aware of all the latest news and deadlines, and they twisted the arms of the other teachers to support the event in their classrooms.

Last year, however, there was an unfortunate mis-communication that resulted in many teachers missing some key information about carnival planning, and consequently, teacher participation was way down. This hurt the overall effort.

The lesson is to be absolutely positive that each teacher is fully aware of all the vital dates, deadlines, forms, and other news that they should know. On a practical level, Barbara strongly recommends that you make sure teachers are actually reading the fliers that they are stuffing in their students’ homework folders. Many times a teacher gets busy and can miss vital information.

3. Use yard signs to promote the carnival.

One of the best marketing tools Barbara told me they use are the campaign-style yard signs that you see during political elections. She said they spent approximately $300 and purchased 50 or 60 very simple signs that read “Tomahawk Carnival This Saturday”. That’s it. Big bold letters. No date, no time, no directions. She said that more people comment to her about those signs than any other form of advertising they’ve tried. Also, since the message isn’t date specific, they can use the signs year after year. They just had to commit to the idea that their carnival would always be on a Saturday. Sometimes, low tech is the best approach!

4. Negotiate with any organizations who conflict with your carnival date.

Barbara told me that the only conflict they found on their carnival date was a youth football league in their city. A number of the students at Tomahawk play in this league, so she was fearful that the carnival attendance would be down.

Therefore, she went to the football league organizers directly and explained her situation. She asked them, well in advance of them creating their season schedule, if they could use her date as the “bye” week. She also asked if they could delay the start of the games that would be played that day until later in the afternoon, so the kids could still attend the carnival and then make the game in plenty of time.

Because she used the right approach, was respectful, and made her request far in advance, the league officials were able to work with her, and the conflict was resolved. The moral of the story is don’t be afraid to work with people to get what you want

5. Be careful not to lose money if you sell activity wristbands.

One of the interesting observations that Barbara shared with me involved the sale of wristbands that allow carnival-goers to participate in many of the games and activities without having to buy individual tickets. I really like the wristband concept for many reasons, but Barbara did have one warning.

Just this past year, Tomahawk decided to switch from a ticket-based system to exclusively using the wristband system. However, in reviewing the results of this experiment, she noticed that the school actually lost some money.

To explain, she used herself as an example. Last year, under the ticket system, she, personally, spent over $100 total at the event with her kids. That includes food and game tickets. She spent more than many other families, because she was there all day, organizing the event, and her kids were with her.

But, when the school switched to the wristband system this year, her total outlay was under $50! Same amount of kids, same food consumption. She realized that she spent way more money buying her kids individual tickets than she did buying the wristband, which was priced at $10. That was good for her personally, but bad for the school overall.

To make up for this gap, Tomahawk will raise the price of the wristband next year to $12, sell a combination of wristbands and individual tickets, and possibly increase the number of activities that the wristband doesn’t cover.

There are many advantages to selling activity wristbands. Just don’t make them so affordable, that you lose money.

6. Don’t buy expensive concessions to re-sell.

When it comes to picking your carnival menu, be careful not to pay too much for the food that you sell. For instance, in the past, Tomahawk has contracted with the fast food chain Chick-fil-A to provide their tasty chicken sandwiches. They get a deal from the restaurant because they are buying in bulk and because they are a non-profit.

However, they are still paying a relatively high price per sandwich. So, they can’t very well turn around and tack on a huge amount to make a substantial profit from their carnival customers. No one would buy the sandwiches at outrageous prices.

So, from a money-making perspective, make sure the food you’re selling is cheap enough (preferably donated!) for you to make a decent profit. Having a popular item, like a Chick-fil-A sandwich, is appealing, but ultimately, it is counterproductive to your goal to raise money.

7. Make sure parents know the carnival is a fundraiser, not just a feel-good get-together.

While this may seem like an obvious point to those of us deeply involved in volunteering at our children’s school, there are many parents who just don’t put two and two together. If your school carnival is meant to raise money, you need to make sure this message is heard loudly and clearly by everyone in your audience.

That means you’ll need to repeat it over and over again to make sure the concept sinks in. Barbara suggests putting this “fundraiser” disclaimer on every piece of written information that goes out to the community.

I would even suggest being very specific in telling moms and dads what the money will be used for. If you hope to convince parents to drop significant dollars on silly little games and to get locked up in a “jail”, you’re going to have to appeal to their logical sides and show them the bigger picture- i.e. the school’s financial need. Just don’t assume they know that you actually do want to raise some funds.

8. Don’t get too caught up in having a theme.

I asked Barbara if they used a different theme each year, like “Pirates” or “Day at the Farm”. She told me that their carnival takes place just before Halloween, so there are a few autumnal decorations, but overall, they didn’t want to get locked into the time or the expense that comes with rotating out a different theme every year.

There are many schools that do go the whole nine yards on costumes, decorations, and “atmosphere”, but Barbara thinks that by keeping themselves “theme-free” they can be flexible from year to year and never get pigeon-holed. Ultimately, by not using a theme, they save time and money.

Conclusion

Over the past four years of her involvement with the Tomahawk Elementary School Carnival, Barbara Rypkema has learned a great deal about putting on a first rate carnival event. All of the lessons above come from practical experience and first-hand trial and error. I want to thank Barbara for her time and willingness to share her expertise with me for this article.

If you would like to learn more about planning a successful school carnival, please visit my website, EverybodyHatesFundraising.com. I have many more free school carnival articles, as well as my 186 page e-book, The 2009-2010 School Carnival Money Making Guide.

Here are five really good reasons to consider hosting a golf event, or partnering with another organization to plan a golf outing.

1. The Earning Potential is High

The first reason your school should have a golf outing is that these events are money makers, if they are done right. Here’s a list of eleven ways you can earn money at a golf tournament:

1. Golfer/team fee
2. Corporate sponsorship fees
3. Underwriting opportunities (meal, beverage cart, course fee, etc.)
4. Merchandise sales (your organization’s t-shirts, hats, hoodies, etc.)
5. “On the Course” contests
6. Mulligan sales
7. Raffles
8. Auctions
9. General donations
10. Separate dinner tickets for those who don’t play golf but just come for the meal
11. Revenue from an add-on of a walk-a-thon (held at the same time as golf outing and both groups come together at a shared banquet)

2. People are Familiar with Golf Tournament, So It’s a Natural Sell

Another reason that your PTO/PTA or school group should have a golf tournament is because they have become so popular. As a result of this popularity, you will have an easier time convincing people to attend. Certain incentives like an awesome course, a good crowd to network with, the ability to win some cool prizes, and the chance to escape the office for a day are all reasons people will be very open to your invitation. Of course, people will also want to support your non-profit, as well.

When it comes to fundraising, it’s best to stick to known entities. For the creative people who run non-profits, I know it’s sometimes frustrating to do what everyone else is doing. Where’s the originality? Where’s the stamp of your own unique personality? “Everybody has a golf outing. How boring!”

While the spirit of this thought may have validity, the fact of the matter is that if you want to ensure you raise money, you should stick to the events that are proven to do that very thing. Golf outings are designed to do exactly this.

3. It Offers Opportunities for Parents to Network

This reason can be a real selling point when you are trying to recruit teams to golf. Not only will your participants want to support your school, but many of them will also look forward to networking with other golfers who will be in attendance.

I realized this point very early in my nonprofit career. I would be making calls, trying to get folks to commit to playing in our outing and more than a few people would specifically ask me if certain individuals had already signed up or if it was likely they would be signing up. I came to see myself as a kind of a golf tournament match maker.

At the time, I was relatively young and working at a summer camp, and I didn’t realize it, but many of the campers’ parents were very aware of who the other parents were in the camp community. Our golf outing was the perfect vehicle for them to get to know one another and potentially create some new business connections.

Once I opened my eyes to this reality, I saw it happening over and over and came to view our golf outing not only as an excellent fundraiser, but also as a service to the parents of our campers and the camp alumni.

Once we actively started to help people make these introductions, the value of our outing increased and in the long run, greatly benefited our nonprofit.

4. It’s a Great Chance for You to Have Personal Contact with Donors

From the moment you arrive at your golf tournament (as the leader), there are literally dozens of items that need your attention. It is very easy to get pulled into handling one crisis after another. Before you know it, half the day is gone and you’re already exhausted.

On the day of the golf outing, the best thing you can do for your school is to be an incredibly gracious host. Golfers will be looking for you when they arrive. They’d like to feel welcomed by the “boss”. So, this is exactly where you should be. Greeting people when they arrive, seeing foursomes off at the tee box, milling around the cart corral – these are the hot spots for mixing and mingling for you.

Once players are off and away, a good place to visit would be one of the contest holes, like “Closest to the Pin” or “Longest Drive”. There is always a lot of fun going on at these special holes. You can encourage the players to bet high and really have a good, relaxed time with the players. They will really appreciate the time you spend with them in this way.

(If it makes you feel better, you can take a walkie-talkie or cell phone with you so that you can be reached by your staff in case of a planning emergency.)

I’ve always found that golf tournaments provide an excellent opportunity to share a few quality minutes with my important (read: bigger) donors. I can run new ideas by them, ask them for advice on a particular project and just make myself exclusively available to them for a few minutes. This has always been well received.

It’s also a chance to build better relationships with those who could become bigger contributors. A few laughs and some sincere camaraderie can go a long way toward developing your donor base.

However, if you’re back at the club house, working on organizational details, you’ll miss these incredible opportunities and in the long run hurt your cause.

5. It’s a Great chance to Honor People at the Banquet Afterwards

Since golf tournaments usually attract a large number of people from your community, it is a fantastic time to use the banquet after a day of golfing as a time to hand out some of your organization’s most prestigious awards. In fact, if you establish the post golf-outing banquet as your organization’s premier ceremony, you could draw people just to this event itself.

The mood is perfect for it. Everyone is gathered, they’ve spent a day in the great outdoors, having fun, and enjoying each other’s company. At the banquet, all the participants come together to share a meal and swap stories from the day of golfing.

As the leader, you can first hand out all the golf-related awards from the contests like “Closest to the Pin”, “Longest Drive”, and of course, all the teams who won the different divisions. This will be a good segue into the more serious recognitions.

When I worked for the summer camp, this is when we passed out our “Thomas Bean” award, which went to the person who best exemplified the ideals of a servant leader for the year. We would always have some wives and even mothers who would come to the banquet just to see the “Bean” award passed out. It became a great tradition.

I would recommend that you have a volunteer whose sole job it is to take pictures all day long. Of course, many pictures should be taken during you award ceremony.

Conclusion

If a school golf tournament is planned and run correctly, it can be a day filled with joy, excitement, humor, good will, and generosity. You can improve existing relationships with donors and develop new friendships that could lead to future support. You can also help develop the bonds that exist between people inside your community, and at the end of the day, you can raise thousands of dollars for your non-profit.

If you’re not running an annual golf outing, I would strongly urge you to get in touch with some local golf pros and leaders of other non-profits to inquire about their experiences and suggestions.

For more information on planning a school golf tournament see: Three Important Steps to Planning a Charity Golf Outing

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.

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:

• You have commitment ahead of time so you know how many people to expect at the actual event.
• They are fun, competitive events that people enjoy participating in.
• You can hold additional fundraisers at the tournament: food/drink sales, raffles, auctions, etc.
• Tournament fundraisers are great for all ages!

Here’s a list of some of the most popular tournaments and links to resources to help you plan them:

Some of the best tournaments appeal to a wide audience:

Team sports tournaments are great for elementary to high school students (and even adults)

Volleyball: An Annual Volleyball Remembers a Special Girl

Basketball: A three-on-three basketball tournament or a Shoot for the Hoop game

Soccer: The Ultimate Guide to Running Your Own Soccer Tournament

Bowling: Bowling Tournaments for Fun and Fundraising

Not quite a tournament, but football contests can be fun!

Individual sports are also great… Tennis Tournaments a Successful Fundraiser in Any Season

And there’s golf tournaments of course: Three Important Steps to Planning a Charity Golf Outing

Think beyond traditional sports. How about…

Pool Tournaments are great for anytime of year: Annual Pool Tournament Fundraiser a Success

You could have a darts contest the same night as the pool tournament.

A horseshoe tournament might sound old-fashioned but it’s easy to add on to another outdoor event.

Dodgeball Fundraiser lets you re-live your school days.

or for summertime fun, a dodgeball tournament using water balloons!

For those who’d rather exercise brains than brawn:

Your fundraiser passes GO with a Monopoly game tournament.

Or choose another board game instead.

Bunko is a fun game that’s easy to learn.

A trivia night is sure to bring out the competitve spirit!

With Microsoft Works I created two documents that may be of help to you. First is a personalized checklist for all the to-do’s involved in planning and organizing a bake sale.  This checklist can be customized to fit your bake sale to-do’s as well.

Bake Sale checklist (excel)

We all know just how important volunteer involvement is in any fundraiser.  This is the best way to keep track of your bake sale happenings from planning to clean up and all the sweet stuff in between.  Feel free to download and customize this document and be sure to print plenty of copies to hand out to your volunteers.

Bake Sale Volunteer list (excel)

The most important thing to do is advertise as much as possible.  Be sure to keep a couple of  flyers on hand so wherever you go you can ask if they would allow you to post one of the flyers in their location. Reynolds has a variety of templates to boost the look of your bake sale advertisements.  Use the signs as flyers to help get the word out.

Bake Sale Sign (PDF)

Bake Sale Table Sign (PDF)

And finally when it comes to pricing all the delicious cookies, cakes, brownies and other sweets that are there for the sole purpose of raising as much money as possible for your group or organization, go ahead and do it up right with these decorative labels.

Bake Sale Label template (word)

Bake Sale Label template (PDF)

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.

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.

According to The Advocate (Stamford newspaper), the students at Stamford High School have taken to operating a bake sale every single day. It takes place in the time before school starts each morning. There are over 70 different student groups that sign up for the time slot on different days. An average morning of bake selling can bring in upward of $200.

The article is quick to point out that in addition to all the sweet morning treats, there are often healthier options, such as bottled water and mandarin oranges. Some groups even bypass food altogether and collect money in other creative ways.

Wow. Can you imagine being faced with fundraising efforts every single morning? I mean, who do they think they are? It would be absolutely unbeara- …wait a second. Going into a place each morning where they sell muffins, bagels, coffee, juice, etc. and paying money in exchange for these goods. Hmmm. Where have I heard this idea before? Oh yeah, it’s called a gas station or a Starbucks, or one of those little drive-thru shacks. Except, instead of making the gas station owners rich, I’m giving it to a school-related cause.

I think this is a brilliant idea! Here is a school that knows it needs to raise money to support all of these extra activities and it allows its students to really get involved in helping themselves.

Could this idea work at your school for your group? People, especially high schoolers (and teachers!) spend their disposable income on food like this anyhow. Why have them spend it at some store down the road?

If a typical student spends just $5 a week on these bake sale items, by the end of a 36 week school year, he’s made a total gift of $180. Does this exceed what he might raise if you only hold a couple of fundraising events a year?  Which are you more likely to get close to 100% participation in- a product sale or a bake sale?  Also, what percentage of the profits do you get to keep from a product sale?  40%? 50%?  In a bake sale the group keeps 100%. 

Granted, a product sale can raise much more money in a condensed period of time.  However, with more and more parents balking at the idea of their children becoming candy bar salesmen, this daily bake sale approach may be growing in its appeal.

(For more outstanding reasons to hold a bake sale, please visit my previous post “9 Ways to Rake in the Dough at Your Next Bake Sale“)

Think about it.

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.

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.