I am wondering how big your schools are ... Ours in K - 12 and we only have 200 students total. I would love to do a Family Fun Night but we don't get a very good turn out in other activites, so I'm not sure it would work for us. I love all the ideas, though, thanks for sharing!
Over the years or PTO held a Family Line dancing night, Board game night, Bingo, Ice Cream scavenger hunt and tamale making for kids and parents. By far the line dancing was the most fun. We didn't charge for any of these events and most items were donated or PTO paid for them.
Unfortunately, when I left the organization, due to working, the new leaders haven't found the merit in family fun nights. Sadly, my youngest son doesn't get the benefit of family fun nights in our small community.
The NASCAR night I did included a racecar from Bowmen Gray Raceway in Winston-Salem. A&T had a racing fab shop and brought out two vehicles. We had real Hoosier racing tires the kids had to race by rolling them. Remote control car cone racing was a hit. We had one of the trusty inflatable slides (always a hit) that was so big it knocked out the ceiling tiles in the auditorium. There was a bookwalk, temp tatoos, and racing type art and crafts and a large bottle of lug nuts that students had to guess how many where in it. We tracked the kids guesses via a simple spreadsheet, then sorted it to find the winner. I always try to get prizes and gifts, even small ones, for the kids at my events. I also had gift baskets donated from NASCAR. This event was easy to pull off since I live in the heartland of NASCAR.
The Wacky Waterday was a blast. I had a heat stroke by the end of the day. The Health Dept. had a "no standing water" rule, so I planned events that did not require this. We basically filled buckets via a refill relay for events that needed it. There was a water slide that the Principal had slide down in a chicken suit. I had two wet inflatables and relay games like passing water from cup to cup to fill a bucket. I worked out a schedule of start and end times for each grade level. It was one event that required everything from bucket and hose donations to ice coolers. We also had cold watermelon for the kids which was nice on a hot day. Space Night I worked with NASA and Lockheed Martin they offer soooo much! I entered a drawing to have our students name flown on a shuttle into space and we won. We had the kids sign it in the spring and then the next fall we had our space night and displayed the poster with signatures and the certificate of flight. We borrowed a space suit and cool photo ops from NASA and all we paid were for shipping. My brother dressed as the astronauts the kids loved that. I give each grade level a activity to man with complete instructions and supplies. Nasa donated temporary tattoos, pictures, they even had a speaker came out. We served dippin dots and had pizza with and without craters (pepperoni)!!! Mad Science brought out their hovercraft. I will include my email and if you would like details for these FFN's or others let me know. With these events I have always had a budget and around 800 students. My budget this year is 1600.00 for two family fun nights. At the enchantment in the Pumpkin Patch this fall we spent 752.70 and raised 3,436.80. I ask for lots of donations and even in this rough economy I still receive several. I can't wait to read more of your ideas!!!
Paula Hurley This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
