We may have purchased a couple of our games, but I think most of them are made by the volunteers. We try to coordinate them with our theme. Last year our theme was "Wonderful World of Disney" and we had Pinochio Ring Toss, Snow White Apple Toss, Little Mermaid Fish Pond, Hundred Acre Wood Book Walk, etc. Those (plus other) games will be repainted and have new signage for this year's sports theme.
We purchase our prizes from a company like US Toy, can't think of the name off hand. We divide prizes up between each game booth, and every child who plays gets a prize.
Like JMES said, we award prize tickets for most booths that can be turned in at the prize room. We have 20-30 prizes in various price ranges and we figure how much each item cost us and then figure how many tickets to charge according to this. Every school is different but we charged 1-12 tickets for prizes. Some of the one ticket items were butterfly hair clips and mini sticky hands-these cost us less than $.05 a piece. Our 12 ticket items included those inflatable crayons-these cost about $.85 each. We used US Toy Co. and Oriental Trading for most of these. US toy also offers prizes in packages and levels. They have a website and you can order a catalog. I ordered some games from them as well.
The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating-in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life. --Anne Morris
There are a few ways of doing the prize awarding. We choose a way that works for us.
Our prizes are purchased from inexpensive sources, usually the Dollar Store. We try to make sure we have prizes for all age groups and for boys and girls. Some of the prizes come several in a pack and some of the prizes are single items. The people working the prize table will sort the prizes into different value groups, 5 tickets, 10 tickets, up to 25 tickets. We award prize tickets at the game booths. The kids collect their prize tickets and come to the prize table to pick out things for the number of tickets they have.
I am starting our 1st Fall carnival for a new school. The prize and game area looks overwhelming. I know we could probably come up with enough games, but the prize-awarding is confusing. A carnival company that has it's own prizes and games appears inviting, but is it worth it? Should we just give it a try for the 1st year?
