We have a " suggested" age range for events, and target different grades at different events. We are a 500+ student school, and just don't have the room to have any event with most kids and their families, so we target events for either K-2 and then 3-5, and we remind parents in all the flyers that they are responsible for their children at all times!

If you do the game night, why not plan it for one particular group, and then plan another event for the other group?

We have always, in the past, tried to keep the halls clear for safety reasons. Maybe scheduling a few simple items in them would help with the problem.

The Principal was not there but the Vice-Principal was present all night long. His presence did help, we don't even consider doing an event unless we know for certain that at least one of the two of them can be present.

Initially the event was confined to two indoor areas and an outdoor area. All close together. Due to bad weather though the outdoor events had to be moved inside to the gym, which is almost at the other end of the building. There have been other events in the past using the same three locations but the choas never seemed so out of control. Actually, this event is almost an exact repeat of the same event last year, the only difference is it was on a Friday night instead of a Thursday night, to increase participation. Which, after doing the figures this morning, I have determined that participation was only up by about 15 people. So, the turn out wasn't the problem as far as numbers creating the chaos issue. Plus, the number of volunteers for this years event was doubled. Although all of them where females, which I personally feel was a factor, since some children respond better to male authority then female. (No slam against all of the great mom's and female volunteers, though, just know for some that is a factor!!) For the Game Night I had all ready planned on the Dad's needing to be more involved, especially in the physical games, for the event to be able to be somewhat organized.

Thanks for the feedback though! I will certainly keep it in mind when I meet with the Principal & VP later this next week to start working on the game night plans!

Couple questions came to mind? Is your school principal there? We found out that if they aren't then it seems a little more wild. So any authority figure from school.
Is your event confined to one area with a check point that the kids cant wander into other school areas (unless you want them to)
Is it stated on flyers and on the announcements that kids need to be with an adult and supervised. we have sent kids home when they try to come in without a grown up.
I wouldn't be afraid to "talk" to the kids, in the past I have yelled at kids even with their parents there. If the parents ask I just say that it is a safety issue and we cant have them running around...

we started a Family Fun Night a few years ago and had kids running out of control in the halls because we did not keep them busy enough....We decided to put lots of activities in the hallways, this eliminates their ability to run around and we added more entertainment for them by hiring a juggler, it worked well. It's hard to have things that a K and a 5th grader both consider fun....the ages are too different.

The fact is parents will not supervise their children like they should...I am one of those..I am usually too busy volunteering at the event..I just rely on the help of friends to keep an eye out for my kids...The event gets better each year as we fine tune it for our school...

Last night we hosted our first family event of the season. It was a pumpkin party and I am not certain if it was a success or not. I think everyone had fun but there was total choas a large portion of the time with some older students (this is a k-5th) out of control it seemed and parents who weren't paying attention.

We have a family game night in November but I'm not so sure what to do now. I feel like last night was a failure due to the choas involved.

Any suggestions on how to contain the choas at future events?