We had our first carnival/auction last spring and are attempting for bigger and better this year. My advice for year one is to keep is fairly simple and enlist LOTS of volunteers.
Some game ideas that worked well for us were-
face painting, a football toss, ring the bottle with bottle of donated soda, and we also had a karaoke machine that the kids loved--again donated for use by a parent.
Hope this helps.
We have our carnival in the fall. But the second grade class came up with a real cute game and the kids loved it.
PING-PONG Fishing... They had nine fish bowls (The little ones that only one fish lives in / they don't have to be the same size. They got several of them donated from a parent who had some old bowel laying around her house. They all weren't fish bowls but looked like them). The fish bowls sit on a small shelf of steps (a parent made). They put three fish in the nine fish bowls. The players had three ping-pong balls (3 chances) to bounce the ball into the bowls. The ball has to bounce in front of the shelf (place a piece of tape 4" from the shelf of fish bowls). If the ball lands in the bowl with a fish they win the fish. If the ball lands in a bowl without a fish they get a prize. If none of the balls go into a fish bowl they win a smaller prize.
We are a small school with around 300 students (k-12). They had 50 fish and ran out. A fish store donated the fish for the game. I didn't get to watch the game, but was told the kids loved it. They had one student who played the game all nite. Other kids got to paying him tickets if he would win them a fish. He got so good at the game that they had to start moving the fish bowls around.
We have a dish pitch game that was down the hall. Alot of the kids would go there after winning a fish to try and win a bowl for their fish. (You pitch pennies into glass-ware) The parents that didn't want a fish just by passed the game. I never heard any of the parents complain about the game, and the room was full all night long.
You might check with your parents and see if any of them know how to tie (make) animal ballons. The younger kids love them, but we had a lot of High School kids walking around with ballons too. You can buy the ballons for pennys.
Here's the trick to fun fair. Keep the same
games every year but change your fair theme.
We have a cute "pocket lady". A seamstress
YEARS ago made a cute large, long apron with
pockets in it. A teacher wears it and for a
ticket a child can pull a little trinket out of the pocket. She (or he) can wear a different hat for the fair theme. Usually our theme corresponds to whatever the vacation bible school at one mom's church is because we can use leftovers!!!! Or coordinate with other schools in district for use of props. The large fake palm trees were used last year for our fifth grade party, the middle school dance and a h.s. function!!!! Our games are so, so simple and we use the same ideas every year. The kids love it so they know what to expect! The 5th grade runs a booth or two to raise cash and they have had a M*A*S*H booth where they with fake blood and cut up sheets made wounds for 50 cents each. We have a duck pond--duckies in a kids' blow up pool. We have a sponge throw--throw sponges at fifth graders. Each classroom is in charge of a game. Supplies are given and each room parent signs up parents to work. Easy enough-you are there anyway. We also put an auction with the fun fair. The fun fair does
not MAKE money so everyone can enjoy. Families in need are descrretly given free tickets. Food is cheeeeeep. Dominoes pizza and soda for family of 4 is $8 or so. We auction kid stuff here--like teacher donations. Like, ice cream and a trip to the book store for one book with Mrs. Smith.
A trip to the museum with another teacher and
2 of your friends. A bike ride with another.
Fun, free stuff that parents pay up to $80 to $100 for SOMETIMES!!! Our school is well
established in middle class suburbs with about 320 kids. Good luck! Keep it SIMPLE!!
How about an engraving booth? The necklaces are cheeap thru the catologs.We have a Putt-Putt hole and Plinko (as in the "Price is Right"). We rent our's for $5/day. Pencil pull or lollipop pull are easy. The kids can keep the pencil or lollipop. If the tip has a color on it you win a bigger prize. There's treasure chest where you find a colored poker chip in cedar chips.You win everytime.Tic-tac-toe with 9 little crates and 3 balls.If your 3 in a row is in the colored line you win a bigger prize. We do a spaghetti string pull.The board looks like a guy with a plate of spaghetti. You pull a string. If that string has a colored tip, you win. Hopes this helps.
The ideas you are sharing are great but I am looking for something our parents can do without spending lots of money on renting equiptment. We have a small school of 153. I am planning a spring carnival and need ideas for booths. Cake walk, fishing, ect. Would like new ideas that would bring new life into our carnivals.
