Just wondering if anyone could fill me in on how you set up your treasure hunt and what is a lollipop tree? Thanks appreciate the help!

Several companies that sell supplies for these type events also have publications that might be worth viewing. I don't intend this as a personal recommendation for any company - just a list of resources I've stumbled across:

Super Cool Stuff & Rebecca's Online Catalog have a free carnival planning guide on their websites (it's the same one)
www.rebeccas.com/eventplanner.pdf
www.supercoolstuff.com/items/planner/planner.pdf
(Be sure you have the "bookmarks" tab in Acrobat displayed as there is a nice online index of topics)

Oriental Trading has had one available in the past. Sometimes you could find it as free PDF via a Google Search, sometimes you asked and they sent it to your free, and then at one point I think they were selling it for $5. Might be worth asking about. (As I vaguely recall, it looked a lot like the SuperCool/Rebecca one.)

School Carnivals.com has a bit of planning advice on their website
www.schoolcarnivals.com/Planning/planning.htm

Carnival Planning Guide (Book / $16)
www.carnivalplan.com/carnivalplanhome.html

I know our town has a dunk tank they use for events and will donate/rent out for events so check with them first before renting one.
When we do face painting we have 3-4 people painting at one time--another thing the kids here like is hair paint--you can get the spray stuff cheap at the dollar stores and have adults spray the kids hair--we have our carnival and the principal always lets us have a wacky hairday the day after so the kids can come to school with their hair painted.
At the middle school level we do a last day of school event with a dunk tank, tug of war(boys vs girls, teachers vs students, grade vs grade--endless possibilities), relay races,dunk tank, water balloon toss,basketball games,egg/spoon races, obstacle courses, music area(radios, karoake, dancing)--the principal grills lunch for the students with a big chefs hat on--teachers also enjoy the day--really a big chill out day!! We have a list of activities and during lunch a week before the event the students each sign up for 3-4 activities they would like to participate in during the day--say balloon toss at 1oclock will have 20 teams and then we will have another balloon toss at 2 oclock with 20 more teams--
On the last day we give each student a paper with their games and times on it so they know what they are signed up for and what times--when they aren't at an activity they are at the dancing area, basketball area, chatting, or watching the other events.

We have done a spring carnival for a few years--along with a harvest(fall) carnival. As far as admission--we have charged $1 per person one year and and the next we charged $2.00 per student and Parents free with child. As far as food we sell pop for 50 cents and water for 50 cents(we get this donated in from stores and parents), we sell hot dogs for $1.00(again the hot dogs and buns are donated) and slices of pizza for $1.00(our local pizza shop gives us a discounted rate on pizzas for our events). Our spring fling we hold outside so we rent the bouncy toys and slide --we get 6 of them for $1400 for 3 hours and the company sets them up and tears them down--we have parnets supervise during the event--we usually break even on this event
For our fall fling we have pony rides (a local horse farm brings a couple ponies and we charge $1 per ride--all this money we then give to the horse people for bringing the horses--it usually averages aout $50.00-$100), we charge 1.00 admission to this event and all games are included in this price--we have roughly 10-12 games--plinko, fishing game, face painting, nails painting, treasure hunt, lollipop tree,bowling game, etc. We also hold a silent auction for baked goods during this event--parents donate all foods. One year we had a petting zoo, a scarecrow contest. We don't do food with this event we hold it when the high school FFA serves their footall kickoff celebration and they have food and then many families come over to play before the game. Many times we have pulled off the fall fling without spending a single dime. Takes alot of organization and asking for donations. Our school has 375 students.

Thanks for this post! I'm in charge of our Carnival for the first time this year and looking for new things to do!

OK.. that's a start. Here are some thoughts on what you are thinking about so far.

Face Painting takes a long time to do.. average 5 minutes a student, perhaps? We used to have face painting at our Fun day, and kids spent a lot of time waiting in line to get it done, when they could have been enjoying other activities. Then, there's the issue of paint on the clothes. Lastly, there's the issue of hot, sweaty kids and the paint runs.

I would opt for buying the press-on-with-water and a sponge "tattoos". You can get them VERY inexpensively through www.orientaltrading.com and they offer a wide selection. We buy the big assortments, and then pull out a few that may not suit our public school ( like crosses, or skulls).

Doing the tattoos is easy, and fast, all you need is tubs of water and sponges, and several kids can do it at the same time.. no lines, no waiting.


Next, on the " awards ceremony".. if your school has been struggling, perhaps rewarding honor role kids would be a good thing. However, in my opinion, it doesn't seem quite fair to celebrate 30 kids on a day when the hard work of 380 kids should be rewarded. Perhaps a big posterboard with their names on it would be enough?? This thought depends entirely on the philosophy of your school.


Last, on the BBQ. Does your school already provide a food service? will you be buying the food through your school dept? ( it is MUCH cheaper this way).. Will you rent grills? Are you allowed to have propane or open flames on your school grounds? WIll your health dept allow rented grills or grills from home? Will your school cooks do the grilling, or are they contracted to only do their part in the kitchen? Do you have any parents who have food safety knowledge, who can be sure all foods are cooked to the safe level??

I know all those food questions seem ridiculous.. but all it takes is for ONE thing to go wrong, and some parent will sue your city or make a big stink about you not following procedures. It's better to get ahead of these issues and know exactly what you need to do.

On the admission price, I think it's a bit tough to " charge admission" per se. What you could do, is send home a nice flyer saying that in order to pay for this event, students are being asked to contribute xyz $$ toward the cost. You could add that any leftover monies will be carried over for next year's event.

more later!