We do a spring picnic, and for the last 3 years we used wristbands which included EVERYTHING - food, bouncies, etc. We charged $5/person pre-sale, $6 at the gate. That encourages people to pre-buy. We took order forms, logged them in, put the wristbands in an envelope (donated) and sent back through the kids' backpacks. (we put in the teacher's mailboxes to distribute) It worked very well. Just put a place for teacher's name on your order form. With all we had, pizza, chips, ice cream, drinks, 4 moon bounces, pony rides, etc, we still made $2000 on this non-fundraising event! There's a great dot com that sells discount wristbands - if you take the ones that aren't printed and maybe mixed colors, you can get them very inexpensively. I'm not sure I can post it, so if anyone wants it, just email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and I'll be glad to pass it on.
Good luck on your event!
We use wristbands and tickets for our carnival. We presell both the week before. Our wristbands give free reign basically to the carnival, except for cash areas like the food. Presell prices are 5 tickets for 1.00 and 15.00 for a wristband. The day of the carnival tickets are 25cents each/4 tickets for 1.00 and 20.00 for a wristband. We've used it for 2 years not and have not taken a hit by using wristbands either year.
We used wristbands for the first time at last year's Spring Carnival. We have a fairly large carnival - outside we had 4 inflatables, dunk tank, gyro ride, petting zoo/pony rides and railroad train; inside we had 15 other places to play games, face paint, cake walk, silent auction and concessions. The wristbands were a huge hit -they allowed for unlimited access to everything except the concessions. We also sold tickets if they didn't want to buy the wristband. Wristbands were $5 (but several parents said they would have paid $10). The one thing we didn't count on was the fact that people would stay longer! We actually started running out of food! We bought our wristbands online for less than the price of tickets (we bought overruns and misprints) and plan to use them again this year.
I've been thinking about the wristband/ticket issue for next May's Spring Carnival, which will grow next year to 4 Inflatables, 2 other non-prize attractions, 4 games, face painting, cakewalk and food services.
Here is what I'm going to present to the board:
Sell Wristbands useable for unlimited use of all RIDES and NON-PRIZE attractions.
Sell Tickets for food, games, face painting; Basically, any booth that provides something tangible to the student.
Last year, we presold "family pack" packages that included food, drinks, and tickets for the activities. This year, we'll offer packs that just include the food and the wristbands, but also sell tickets both presale and at the event.
The reason I want to go to the wristbands is because we hold our event at a city park, and we had more than 100 "uninvited" families that just happened to be driving by and stopped with their kids, and I'd like to be able to sell them wristbands for the activities as well.
This is a great topic. I wish someone would have some insight on the wristbands. We use the tickets and it is a nightmare. Trying to get the big rush at the door. We try to be prepared at the door but there is always a long line. How much would you spend to get a wristband. I know I spent over $10.00 last year on .25cent tickets for one child. That sounds like a lot now but when you were there it did not seem that much. I would love to have some more imput.
