What a grerat idea! and kudo's to you and your friends for taking on such a large task. No matter what the outcome, you will be rewarded by the smiles on the faces of everyone who comes!

First you should really get some help from the special olympics in your area. See if someone there is willing to help you with this. Several reasons behind this--1. when asking for sponsors, an adult associated with your project and a representative from S.O. will have more pull. 2. a person who works with SO will be able to get you in contact with the people you want to invite 3. they have probably done these kinds of things before, and will be able to help with the planning plus, they will know who likes to donate to SO and who to ask for donations.

Good luck with this! Let us know how things go!

you can contact your local food stores and submit a donation request. They need about 6 weeks and you have to use thier paperwork. Fred Meyer, Winco, Albertsons, Safeway. You can ususally get a gift card to use either as a prize or to buy items needed. We always try to buy the food for concessions with that. Oriental trading can be helpful for cheap prizes in bulk. I've got more! This kind of stuff is sooooo fun! [img]smile.gif[/img]

I am just 16 years old and my friends and I are trying to put on a carnival for people with special needs. All of our proceeds will be donated to a research center. I have checked with the local Special Olympics organization and they say that there are roughly 225 special needs people participating in the special olympics in my area. I have never planned a major event before, but would like this to turn into an annual thing. I have a few questions:

Does anyone know how I should go about figuring out how many people to expect to come?

Does anyone have any ideas on how to estimate how many games/prizes to have?

Does anyone have any ideas on how to find sponsors who would be willing to donate to a few 16 year olds?

Where are the best places to purchace things like food, prizes, and games?

How do I pay for things if I do not have any money from previous years to start with? Should I rely completely on sponsors?

How much money should I expect from sponsors?

Also, if anyone has any tips or and other advice, my email is monkezluvbananas @ yahoo.com (w/o the spaces).

Thanks a tun!!