Hi Lori,
It sounds awful and wonderful at the same time!
If you wanted to get more ideas for father and son events, you could post a question on our new Facebook Group called PTO & PTA Leaders. We just set this up so leaders would have a places to share info, swap ideas, and support each other.
We had a very successful father/daughter dance last year, and plan to have it every other year (this year we had a father/son gross out night.)
We try to make all events as easy as possible, as we do not always have strong volunteer support. We hired a dj, and his associated production company provided a wonderful make your own sundae bar, complete with chocolate fountain, and lemonade and punch fountain. He charged us $5.00 per person.
We also had a parent volunteer to take digital photos of each father and daughter, as well as groups of friends that wanted their pictures together. The pictures were then posted on an internet site... I think the Kodak share gallery. We let each parent know before hand the pictures would be posted there, we got their email, and sent them the link to the album.
We also had a parent who worked at TGI Fridays when she was younger, and she had made balloon arches for years. She recruited some helpers and made a balloon arch that easily would have cost hundreds of dollars through a caterer. (ask what your parents can do!)
We have a very large elementary school with 1100 students. We could not accommodate the 500 people who had signed up in our school cafeteria, so we had it at the local high school for a nominal fee.
We also had very simple centerpieces that were a painted pot with a silk flower arrangement inside. We got pink table cloths.
We charged I think $15 per couple, and if the father had more than one daughter to bring we charged an additional $5.00. We also partnered with a local florist and sold corsages at cost.
We broke even for the whole event, which is always our plan when an event is not a fundraiser.
