Care To Share Some Ideas??

DDD

Well-Known Member
Last year (and the year before) I asked for help planning the fundraising event we have in October. It is held at a lakefront park and groups compete in huge canoes for awards. We also have a sand sculpture contest (which has not been the draw I anticipated for kids, by the way). We cook and serve a heart healthy lunch (chicken terriyaki skewers).

This year on the adjacent soccer field I want to have fun competitions to encourage people to stay longer. It's a bare field. Water baloon tossing, giant step races, volleyball toss ??? Golf putt, closest to pin?

Any ideas? It has to be easy, man friendly as well as teen doable. We have a month. Thanks. DDD
 

slsh

member since 1999
DDD - How about a bird seed race? 4 bowls, 2 teams, 2 wooden spoons, some bags of birdseed. Place bird seed in two bowls at start line, put empty bowls at finish line. Goal is to see which team can transfer the most birdseed using the spoon. Original instructions called for beans but I thought birdseed was more environmentally friendly.

Lifesaver pickup - this was actually a big hit with- Diva's class (5th graders). Straws and Lifesavers candy. Who can get the straw through the Lifesaver first and pick it up. Harder than it sounds. Teachers loved it because the kids were quiet (straw in mouth, LOL). Original instructions called for using toothpicks instead of straws but I could just see a bunch of impaled kids. ;)

I love balloon races - either pass the balloon belly to belly, or have the teams run to to the end of the field and pop their balloon, run back for next person to go (clean up required on that race).

Also did a paperclip chain - again, 2 teams and a set amt of time (I did 5 mins) - first person passes paper clip to second who attaches one then passes it to third person who attaches another, etc. Team with longest chain wins.
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
Sue, those are some creative ideas. The birdseed might give the younger and more agile a step up over the Swat Team from the Sheriff's Dept. who think they are better than "Arnold". ;)

I was thinking water balloon toss but your other ideas will give me fresh thoughts. Thanks. DDD
 

witzend

Well-Known Member
Cotton ball race. (A spoon with cotton balls in it.)

Three legged race.

Balloon popping contest. (chair, balloons, who can sit on and pop the most balloons in one minute?)
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Get a bunch of big trucks, fire trucks, telephone co trucks with the baskets, forklifts, bulldozers, etc... Have them all come and park in the field or a parking lot. Let the kids explore them and take pics with them.

A family here did this as a fundraiser to pay for adopting a baby from overseas. they got several thousand and the kids were charged $4 per kid or $10 per family. (Using the $4 amt, and as a fundraiser for a family, the $4 encouraged parents to tell them to just keep the $1) At one point the machine operators showed a crowd how the bulldozer, cement truck, lift trucks, etc... worked. The kids (and Dads and Gpas) were all fascinated. Since that was near the end of the day, families stayed longer because the kids wanted to see the demonstration.

Another fundraiser? Arm some kids with bottles of hand sanitizer. a quarter gets 2 pumps full, and have them near the food and beverages. Also have kids with babywipes near the restrooms for handwashing or the unexpected diaper change. Some flushable wipes would be handy for sale for cleaning the toilet seat if a person was inclined to do that.

These are things I would HAPPILY pay for at any event. I am constantly baffled that no one does this. our port a potties have a dispenser for sanitizer, but it doesn't last a full day when they put in a refill. and you still have to touch the door handle to get out. That ALWAYS icks me out.

I hope you have a great time!
 

Marguerite

Active Member
Another fundraiser? Arm some kids with bottles of hand sanitizer. a quarter gets 2 pumps full, and have them near the food and beverages.

Sunscreen too. It's a must here in Australia. Also, hats. You might be able to get some sort of hat donated, or even cardboard visors that pack flat and maybe promote some company or other, which you can assemble yourself and sell cheaply as a fundraiser. if they're donated (esp if promoting the name of the sponsor) then all the money you make is gravy.

Tug of war is good. Face painting - practice first and get helpers.

Other ideas - sack race. Orange race where you place oranges out in a line with a bucket at one end. The player has to pick up the oranges and put them in the bucket one at a time, then race to the finish line.

If you do the egg and spoon race, hardboil the eggs first. And no holding the egg onto the spoon, it's got to be done one-handed!

In our village the big fundraiser is the art show. Only locals may enter and all art entered has to also be for sale. The organisers charge a fee to each exhibitor and also charge 10% commission for all sales. It's amazing what you can find. We also charge admission for people to come and see the artwork, when we can put it in a hall.

Another idea to help - also a good drawcard: invite people to set up stalls to sell stuff. Charge a stall fee, make sure they carry their own insurance unless your organisation's insurance will cover this sort of event (in which case you can charge a slightly higher stall fee). People come to a fair and love it, which means you have more people there anyway to pay to join in whatever games you have going. Get prizes donated, make sure sponsors' names are well publicised (do a big sign with all the sponsors names on it and keep announcing things like, "This sack race is courtesy of...")

We get local dance schools, school bands etc coming to perform (which brings the kids plus their parents, so all you need to do is give them something to stay for afterwards).

It all snowballs into a fun event which brings people in, provides for a variety of tastes and interests and keps them entertained, fed, occupied and enjoying themselves while they spend money.

The important thing to remember - don't ask people to give money without getting something in return.

So sponsors need the promise of publicity plus they need feedback on how well it went for them. Members of the public need a product to enjoy for their donation. PLus people need to be fed and need access to toilets. You need rubbish collection points and if you can set it up for recycling, then you could collect all drink cans and sell them afterwards to a recycling centre - every bit counts.

Marg
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
For small kids, the picking of ducks in a tub for prizes is fun or bean bag toss is fun.

How bout a casting contest for men? Let them see how far they can cast a fishing pole.

Tony says...horse shoes and volley ball.
 

Marguerite

Active Member
Prizes in a tub for kids - cut out cardboard fish, put a paperclip on each one. Write a number on the fish. The number corresponds to a prize you have stashed under the counter or wherever. Kids go fishing with a pole which has a magnet on the end of it and the number written on the fish they catch tells you what they have won. Or if you only have one prize per fish, you could write the prize on the fish or put a picture on it. But it's more fun when they don't know what the number represents.

The fish gets tossed back in, if there are more prizes with that number still available.

Easy to set up - use an inflatable kids wading pool and lots of shredded blue cellophane. Or if you want to use real water, cut the fish out from a plastic sheet or perhaps the plastic lids off ice cream containers.

Marg
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the ideas. Most of the people attending are adults. We have two crews of policemen, one canoe of firemen, some family filled canoes and quite a few teen groups. There really are not many little kids there.
We are trying to retain the canoe competitiors so they don't just compete, grab lunch and leave....so it has to be a bit "manly". ;) DDD
 

Marguerite

Active Member
What about some classic Scottish sports? Shotput, caber toss, putting the stones... although you need something for canoeists who aren't as beefy as Highland games blokes, as a rule.

Arm wrestling Round Robin? Spaghetti eating competition? That draws spectators as well as competitors.

We were at a spaghetti eating competition a few years ago, easy child 2/difficult child 2's ex-boyfriend (a7 foot tall with an appetite to match) entered and won. And the prize? A voucher for the local spaghetti restaurant! We hung around and got it all as takeaway.

Marg
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Ok...how can we pit the cops against the firemen? How bout some kind of super water soaker obstacle course type thing. Kind of like a paint ball game. Get pallets from somewhere and set them up as hiding spots and then let them go at it. The horse shoes would still work as they could be set up in teams.
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
http://www.youthwork-practice.com/outdoor-indoor-games-collection.html

This place - at the bottom had a load of ideas to click on and scroll through....

Here are some of my personal favorites.....

Siamese Baseball Tournament - COPS VS. FIREMAN - you could SEW RED TSHIRTS WITH 2 firemen in it VS. BLACK T SHIRTS FOR 2 COPS - and they are ALL FIT - and everyone LOVES to play softball - right? NICE FALL GAME OF SOFTBALL????

What you do is get a whole bunch of old T-shirts (one per player), cut off one sleeve (a left on one and the right on the one you will sew it to), cut them up the side and sew them together. You now have one BIG shirt that two people get inside together. They both put their heads out the large head hole, and each person gets to stick out one arm.

Then you play baseball as usual, but you have to do everything together--running, batting, etc. The pitcher has to take turns pitching with one arm and then the other, so both players participate. I suggest you use a soft rubber ball instead of a regular baseball so no one gets hurt.



Dark Tshirt – Sock Toss

What to do with left over socks. Take the socks and fill them with flour and tie a knot at the top. Give each person 10 socks and then they play a game where they throw their socks at the other kids for a certain amount of time - like 5 or 10 minutes. At the end, count up who has the most hits, etc. because the flour will leave a white mark on the kids. This is best done with BOYS because we did this with the girls and - well the girls got down right UGLY after 5 minutes - the boys did too - but the big difference was - afterwards the boys were laughing and the girls were split into groups and clicks and the only thing that regrouped them was CHEETO HEAD.

Cheeto Head

· Plastic shower caps or rain ponchos with hoods
· Shaving cream
· Cheetos
· Pairs of teens
How to play:
One of the pair puts on the protective garb and gets shaving cream piled on their head. The second of the pair steps back 4 feet and throws Cheetos at the shaving cream for 2 minutes. The pair that has the most Cheetos on the shaving creamed head wins.

Beach Blanket Volleyball

Like regular volleyball – except - you use 2 blankets and each team holds the blankets on either side of the net and the volleyball is replaced with a beach ball – scored just like volleyball.

I would pay GOOD money to see cops play SIAMESE baseball - but know it will NEVER happen. lol -

The cheetos thing is hysterical for tweens and new teens. And just so no one is left out - we did shower caps on the tossers as WELL as the cheeto heads.
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
OR = Canoe relays. Maybe where they would have to paddle to the other side of the lake and save a damsle in distress or put out a fire.....and then paddle back and then do it again? I dunno -
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Give each person a white tshirt with the name of the event printed on it. Then arm the contestants with supersoakers. Fill the soakers with water with RIT dye or food coloring in it. Black for the policemen's guns (or dark blue) and red for the firemen's guns.

They can either run around and play soakertag, or they can take the canoes and supersoakers out and fight while others paddle them around.

log rolling would also be fun.

Offer cold beer and get a local radio station to donate a dj for dancing.

Have a poker tournament, or offer casino type games as entertainment. There are companies out there who do this for you if you want.

Have door prizes drawn every hour. A cooler prize each hour - must be present to win. Maybe some local companies could donate tools, services, and other guy related stuff?
 

susiestar

Roll With It
How about a chili cookoff? Or other local food contest? Maybe a grilling contest for the guys to bring their grills and show off their skills and special recipe sauces?
 
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