My dream carnival by nonsequitur
Part 1.
First there would be a carnival chairperson, an auction chairperson for a silent auction inside and a food committee chairperson because it is so labor intensive. Three chairpeople because, let's be honest; a carnival, an auction and a lunch and/or consessions are 3 fundraisers at once. Just divide clearly what space and budget each group gets before any other planning.
For the carnival itself, we'd start with at least 10-20 booth leaders, a treasurer, a pr rep and a facilities coordinator under the carnival committee chairperson. (DO NOT PANIC, this is just my fantasy.
My church does a carnival with much fewer people. )
Game Booths
The sponsors would be: Dairy Queen, Target, Walmart, local banks, restaurants, grocery stores, real estate agents, insurance agents and anyone who wants to look like a good community supporter. Each booth would cost $100-200. The cost would cover making the game and providing prizes. The sponsors would be allowed to advertise on the booth and need to be man it with volunteers from their businesses.
The games I have seen that look fun are: lollipop game, dart throw, sponge ball tic tac toe, balloon darts, football throw, milk bottle games, fish pond, basket ball game, rubber baseball game, ring toss , bowling, cake walk, bean bag toss, knock down the cans, eating contests, eat a donut off a string, drop the clothespin in a bottle, penny hay castle (look for pennies in hay), bean playpit, fun house - made of boxes, hay maze, face painting, duck pond, wacky photo booth, throw sponge balls at ?, pin the dart on the bullseye, spider web- strings w prizes on end, relay races from Zoom web page, frisbee toss, dart ball – velcrow, bushel / baseball toss, penny pitch, goblet toss, velcrow baseball, swinging hula toss, plinko, soda bottle ring toss, toilet seat toss w/ roll of tp, duck race - strips of gutter, ducks, water bottles, dunking booth w/balls, jail, King/queen of the carnival - penny votes, poster toss, book walks/ pickle walks, ect, fortune telling, minigolf, climb the rope or net, a hay maze and duck-o-war (long tub, 2 water guns, one duck – challengers try to get the duck to opposite side of tub to win).
A sponsor or group of sponsors would rent a moonwalk. Or we would rent it. I consider a moonwalk to be more for advertising than a money maker. If it makes money, great. But it makes the carnival feel a lot more fun. Plus people have to stick around for their kids' turn.
I would look to the craft stores and local volunteer groups for “camp craft tables.†Sand art can be less expensive if you get white sand and color it with tempera paint. Colored sand, glue and card stock make a great craft. I have plenty of other craft table ideas. You can copy or buy a ton of the crafts at Oriental Trading company, your local craft store or serch crafts on-line.
I would ask for business sponsors first and then ask in the school for groups who want to do a booth. Then I would fill in gaps with volunteers from other groups such as the Foresters, scouts, JayCees and any other volunteer group I could find. If they can’t find a sponsor, then we would give them money for supplies. I think each group should decide their own prizes so there is a variety. (If you are paying for the prizes have the treasurer combine and make the orders to get a discount.)
Each booth needs a leader to make sure there are enough volunteers as well as to organize the prizes and build the game. There should be floaters at the time of the carnival that can fill in for emergencies.
We might have a friendly competition to see which booth can bring in the most money.
To be continued....
