If you have the volunteers, I would sell tickets at the entrance (we charge 50 cents per ticket--just purchase some of those roll tickets at WalMart, Office Supply Stores, etc.). Instead of paying cash at each booth, people simply use "tickets". For instance, at the dunk tank, put up a sign that says "DUNK TANK -- 2 TICKETS" or whatever you want to charge. Ask the people at each booth to save the tickets (give them a shoebox or ziplock bag with the name of the booth) so you'll know how much money each booth earned.

You would also use the tickets at the food booths. (HOT DOGS -- 3 tickets; Drinks -- 2 tickets, etc.)

We learned that it is much easier for the booth operators to handle tickets instead of cash. They won't have to worry about giving change, or running out of change, or trying to break big bills.

We also have a price list (# of tickets) for each booth and food items so that families will have an idea of how many tickets to purchase. We just make a big poster board and tape it to the wall behind the ticket table. If you don't have a wall handy, you can make a big sign that hangs off of the ticket table, or have photo copies of prices people can carry around with them.

Good luck!

Oh, BTW Oriental Trading sells roll tickets that have prices pre-printed on them. We buy the 50 cent ticket rolls. Makes our lives so much nicer!

I would figure 1 student & 3 family members for a count (give or take a few)for the food/drink & the prizes the same way but add about 1000 more. For the prizes, I usually get the gross count. I use www.goodtimeattractions.com I hope all my other info helped you out some. Good luck!!! Relax & have fun!!!!!

I am putting out a plea for HELP! I have found some of the best ideas on these boards and I am working on a committee planning our spring carnival for May 20th (which will be here before you know it). We have approximately 500 students at our elementary school and there has not been an event of this kind held in several years. We have 3 inflatables (sp?) a dunk tank, and 10 carnival games set up for that day. But we are having trouble figuring out how many food, drinks, prizes, etc. we should have on hand. We want this event to be a success, but we really have no comparisions from prior events to go on. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! :confused:
Thanks,
Liza