I just found that our Senior class is planning Cow Plop bingo as a fundraiser. I'm not in that group so don't know any details personally, but I was sitting by one of the volunteers at a meeting this week. When I asked how they would mark the squares in the field, she said, "oh, they don't actually mark it with paint or anything - it's all done with GPS now!".
You pick a field (preferably one visible for weeks ahead of time) and do what you need to do to be able to use it. Most folks will volunteer its use after hay baling season.
Make sure you can get a cow loaned to you. Make sure that person will be responsible for transporting it back and forth (using their insurance). You need to make plans to feed and water the cow while he or she is in your care. You need to have volunteers available to help unload and load the cow back into the trailer after the event.
Make sure it's OK to do this in your area - it is considered a gambling event.
Then you post a nice sign about what you are planning to do and when. Make sure you list who people can contact for tickets. Sometimes on a slow news day, you can get free publicity.
Decide on how many tickets you want to sell. You basically need to decide how many squares you can fit in a certain area. The bigger the squares, the better, or else you can have a situation where one pile is on several squares. Decide on a fair price and a fair prize. For instance, charge $10 a square for $1000 prize. That's fair.
Print on the back side of your tickets or post in several places the rules of the event. Give so many hours for the cow to work, or a drawing will take place. Specify who will draw the ticket (I suggest a child). Specify how big the squares will be and how big the field of squares will be. Specify how many tickets will be sold. Don't let people pick their squares or else you'll never get your tickets all sold.
Three to four days prior to the event, begin marking out the size of the field, the squares, etc. This will generate even more interest among passersby and result in ticket sales. It's also good to put up a sign listing "Just ___ tickets left!"
Use spray paint in a DARK color to mark the field! Don't use chalk or anything light colored. MAKE SURE YOU USE A RULER TO MARK THE SQUARES - don't get those folks who think they can sight everything out. Paint numbers on each square to correspond with the numbers on your tickets.
Put up portable fencing that will prevent the cow from being able to get out. You can sometimes rent that or get it loaned to you from a contractor or even a farmer. You must prevent people from being able to get into the fenced in area. You must also put enough space between the fence and the people watching to prevent someone from feeding the cow.
Unload the cow well away from the area. They will definitely poop either during loading or unloading. You don't want that to get on a square and ruin the event before it starts.
Things to watch for:
1. Unscrupulous people who will try to feed the cow something that will harm the cow. There is medicines available in feed and seed stores to make the cow poop. This can hurt the cow unless given by someone who knows what they are doing.
2. People who want to pet the cow and get stepped on or worse by the cow.
3. People who try to hawk their tickets when a few hours have gone by. They will try to buy the tickets of others in the areas where the cow seems to be hanging out.
4. It's OK for people to try to call the cow over to their square. It actually makes it more exciting! But they shouldn't be allowed to actually get to the cow.
You pick a field (preferably one visible for weeks ahead of time) and do what you need to do to be able to use it. Most folks will volunteer its use after hay baling season.
Make sure you can get a cow loaned to you. Make sure that person will be responsible for transporting it back and forth (using their insurance). You need to make plans to feed and water the cow while he or she is in your care. You need to have volunteers available to help unload and load the cow back into the trailer after the event.
Make sure it's OK to do this in your area - it is considered a gambling event.
Then you post a nice sign about what you are planning to do and when. Make sure you list who people can contact for tickets. Sometimes on a slow news day, you can get free publicity.
Decide on how many tickets you want to sell. You basically need to decide how many squares you can fit in a certain area. The bigger the squares, the better, or else you can have a situation where one pile is on several squares. Decide on a fair price and a fair prize. For instance, charge $10 a square for $1000 prize. That's fair.
Print on the back side of your tickets or post in several places the rules of the event. Give so many hours for the cow to work, or a drawing will take place. Specify who will draw the ticket (I suggest a child). Specify how big the squares will be and how big the field of squares will be. Specify how many tickets will be sold. Don't let people pick their squares or else you'll never get your tickets all sold.
Three to four days prior to the event, begin marking out the size of the field, the squares, etc. This will generate even more interest among passersby and result in ticket sales. It's also good to put up a sign listing "Just ___ tickets left!"
Use spray paint in a DARK color to mark the field! Don't use chalk or anything light colored. MAKE SURE YOU USE A RULER TO MARK THE SQUARES - don't get those folks who think they can sight everything out. Paint numbers on each square to correspond with the numbers on your tickets.
Put up portable fencing that will prevent the cow from being able to get out. You can sometimes rent that or get it loaned to you from a contractor or even a farmer. You must prevent people from being able to get into the fenced in area. You must also put enough space between the fence and the people watching to prevent someone from feeding the cow.
Unload the cow well away from the area. They will definitely poop either during loading or unloading. You don't want that to get on a square and ruin the event before it starts.
Things to watch for:
1. Unscrupulous people who will try to feed the cow something that will harm the cow. There is medicines available in feed and seed stores to make the cow poop. This can hurt the cow unless given by someone who knows what they are doing.
2. People who want to pet the cow and get stepped on or worse by the cow.
3. People who try to hawk their tickets when a few hours have gone by. They will try to buy the tickets of others in the areas where the cow seems to be hanging out.
4. It's OK for people to try to call the cow over to their square. It actually makes it more exciting! But they shouldn't be allowed to actually get to the cow.
We held this event last spring in conjunction with our Spring Festival. It was very fun, family friendly, but a lot of hard work. We used the field adjoined to our school and manually painted the squares with field paint. We sold the squares and set a 5 hour time limit in case the cow couldn't "perform". After 5 hours, we drew a square in "raffle" style. We decided that it was not worth the return for us as we only made $2000.00 and it was a lot of work. If you have a larger school with a lot of volunteers, give it a shot!
Cow plop bingo seems like a fun activity. I get the basic idea on what to do but can someone tell me about the bingo card itself? Do you do the number of squares that are on a regular bingo card or do you add more? Do you let more than one person pick the same square or do you close the game when you sell all the squares? Any help would be appriciated.
