Our second Bingo night is coming up in a couple of weeks. Big consideration with a school your size: how many people can you comfortably fit in your gym/cafeteria to play bingo? We have nearly 700 kids, but are limiting ticket sales to 375 total (kids & adults) due to space constaints.
Last year we solicited/bought/begged enough prizes for every kid in attendance, but there was a lot of disparity in value and desireability. We spent about $250 on school-logo water bottles so no one went home empty handed. But this year, we're not trying so hard - it was disgusting to see PARENTS come up and ask to trade their kid's prize for something else because little snookums didn't like it. And then we had the trouble of having "girl" prizes and "boy" prizes because of what was donated. That's not the point of the night, really. This year, we have a box in the school lobby for families to donate a prize, max $10. I'm not sure how that's going, but I suspect the committee will need to buy somethings to supplement the donations (go to the dollar store or similar discount store for cheap stuff).
For a $5 ticket, each person gets a taco or hotdog, chips, drink, popcorn, and a popsicle, plus a bingo card. Last year we considered having other activities that would encourage the families to float around the school, but in the end, we kept it to 2 hours of bingo, with a couple of funny activities on the stage to break up the evening. It was great - families actually sat together (as opposed to kids racing through the school looking for the other activities). And when the night was over, many parents spontaneously started cleaning up so the whole mess was gone, tables put away, in about 15 minutes, rather than an hour with a few volunteers. Easy, fun project. Good family event.
[ 01-21-2004, 11:26 AM: Message edited by: Critter ]