Fabulously Fun
School Carnival
Ideas
Inside this eBook:
Ideas for how to
organize a carnival for
Schools, Churches and
Community groups
Suggestions for games,
activities, food, and
fundraisers
Tips for making the
carnival fun for all ages!
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© 2011 by VolunteerSpot DOING GOOD Just Got Easier!
Copyright holder is licensing this under the Creative Commons
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Carnivals are FUN!
Many schools and congregations hold carnivals every year because they are fun, involve the community, and can be a profitable fundraiser. We’ve collected ideas from carnival veterans to help you plan your event. Whether it is your first or 50th, we hope you will find some ideas to make your carnival a fresh success!
Carnival Ideas / VolunteerSpot , DOING GOOD just got easier!
Carnival Basics
Share the work and have more fun! Create subcommittees with a chair responsible for key teams. Use VolunteerSpot for simple volunteer scheduling and parent signups!
Ticket Sales
Concessions
Rentals
Sponsorships
Publicity
Booths
Raffle or Auction
Music and Entertainment
Setup/Cleanup
Choose a theme to tie the carnival together. Your carnival can be planned around any theme, for example:
The Circus
Beach Party
Future/Outer Space
Hollywood
Mardi Gras
Sports
Fiesta
Carnival Ideas / VolunteerSpot , DOING GOOD just got easier!
More stuff means more money. Offer a variety of booths and activities attractive for all ages. Once you have a theme, let it guide your booth and entertainment choices.
Good publicity and signage drives attendance. Start spreading the word 4‐6 weeks before your event. At the carnival, hang brightly colored signs identifying booths and concessions stands. (Kids can help make them.) Prominently recognize sponsors on banners and signs. Save time, Plan your Carnival
Online with VolunteerSpot
Example: General Carnival Committee Signup
Example: 4th Grade Balloon Pop Booth Signup
VolunteerSpot’s simple online signup tool
makes it easy to get the help you need.
Once volunteers have picked a shift,
VolunteerSpot sends automated
confirmations and reminders to help
everyone keep their commitments.
Volunteers signup on‐the‐go, from their smartphones!
Where should we hold our
carnival?
You can hold your carnival anywhere that is safe and has enough room. Either indoors or outdoors
Any area that's safe for kids
In a space that is big enough to fit all your booths and activities
A backyard
A big garage
A church or school
A playground
Need Permission? Need Permits? Plan ahead!!
Carnival Ideas / VolunteerSpot , DOING GOOD just got easier!
Our school holds a carnival every year.
The kids, teachers, and parents, all look
forward to it. It’s such a fun way for our
families to spend time together while
raising money.
-- Parent, Campbell, CA
How can we turn our carnival
into a fundraiser?
• Sell Tickets! Offer tickets for sale in the weeks before the carnival at a discount. This builds interest in your event while earning a base of funds. Avoid cash handling at all the activity booths and concessions stands by having a few designated ticket booths. Set a ticket price (# tickets) for each booth or food item.
• Sell student designed t‐shirts, community recipe/cookbooks, arts and crafts, etc.
• Keep costs down. Ask local businesses to donate food or supplies. Purchase inexpensive prizes for the games at party stores.
• Add a bake sale or cake decorating contest.
• Hold a silent auction or raffle. Include themed baskets where each class parent donates one small item for a collectively generous basket. Possible themes:
Family Games, Backyard Fun, Cook’s Delight, Gardener Goodies, Puzzles, Arts & Crafts, Pampering, Slumber Party, Water Fun
Carnival Ideas / VolunteerSpot , DOING GOOD just got easier!
Don’t forget to give recognition
and send a “Thank You” note to
those businesses that helped!
What else can we do
besides games?
A carnival isn't complete without at least a few good shows. Feature your community talent and charge tickets for admission. Some ideas:
Magic Show
Puppet Show
Talent Contest
Skateboard Freestyle Demo
Dance Performances
Short Play
Choral Groups
Local Bands
Art Show
Ask teachers and staff to support
the talent show by allowing
students to practice during lunch
period or after school.
Carnival Ideas / VolunteerSpot , DOING GOOD just got easier!
Activities for Little Kids
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Learn a cheer with a High School Cheer leader (in uniform)
Diva Center – paint nails, glitter hair, face painting, etc.
Dress‐up corner
Face painting
Decorate a flower pot and plant a seed
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Football throw or soccer kick (with a uniformed HS player helping)
Basketball toss Tackle the quarterback (with a uniformed HS player as the tackle target)
Water balloon toss
Knock stacked cans with a ball
Carnival Ideas / VolunteerSpot , DOING GOOD just g
Activities for Older Kids
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American Idol –like Karaoke Stage (charge per song)
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Who Wants to be a Millionaire – like Trivia Stage
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Hot dog or pie eating contest
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Chalk mural, Group Graffiti Canvas or Trash Sculpture – group art project where everyone contributes
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Temporary hair coloring, hair braiding and tattoos
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Dunk Tank
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Balloon dartboard
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Corn Hole Toss
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Cake Walk
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Basketball Shoot (Miniature for indoors)
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Silly Photos (Create painted character panels with head slots cut out. Have a digital camera and printer on site.)
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Guess how many pennies in the jar – closest number wins the jar!
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Chicken Drop (Create a numbered checkerboard in a 5’ x 5’ space. Sell tickets for each number. The number the bird ‘drops’ on wins.)
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Cow Drop (same as chicken drop, but section the football field into a numbered checkerboard.)
Carnival Ideas/ VolunteerSpot , DOING GOOD just got easier!
I love going to my church carnival. It
reminds me of when I was a kid!
-- Grandparent
Freehold, NJ
Activities for kids of all ages!
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Silly string corral (sell small cans of Silly String and rope off a fun zone)
Shaving cream/bubble corral
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Cascarones (confetti eggs, kids smash them on each other)
Box maze (made out of refrigerator boxes from a retail warehouse and Please visit our blog for more
volunteering suggestions and
to share your carnival ideas and
stories.
lots of tape)
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Hula Hoop/Jump Rope contests
Pick‐a‐pop
Fishing booth
Duck race
Ring toss
Dime toss
Water gun targets
Balloon Pop Relay
Fun fortune‐teller or palm reader
Carnival Ideas / VolunteerSpot , DOING GOOD just got easier!
Creative Carnival Game Ideas
Potty Toss
Players try to toss toilet tissue rolls through toilet seats hung from the ceiling. Each seat is marked with a different point value.
Human Slot Machine
Setup three large refrigerator boxes in a row & cut out a large window in the front of each. When a player pulls an imaginary lever, a volunteer standing in each box tosses possible wax fruits (orange, banana, apple) up and down, finally picking one. Three in a row wins!
Dinosaur Dig/ Treasure Dig
Players dig in shallow boxes of sand for plastic “dino” eggs. Each egg contains a slip of paper with a number. Players can redeem the prize assigned to the number found on their paper. Pirate variation: hide chocolate gold coins & trinkets and players dig for buried treasure.
Carnival Ideas / VolunteerSpot , DOING GOOD just got easier!
End of the Rainbow
Draw a rainbow in chalk on an outdoor surface. At the end of rainbow place a miniature pot (or fake cauldron). Players try to flip pennies into the pot from a designated point. Prizes increase depending on the number of pennies the player tosses into the pot.
Quack Shack
A costumed volunteer pretends to be a mad scientist and decorates the kids with fake scars and wounds.
Carnivals are a good
way to teach kids how to
work in teams, make
decisions, and get
organized!
Organizing a carnival is a
fun way to use math, art,
music, science, and
language arts skills.
With a few simple clicks,
VolunteerSpot can help
you organize your next
carnival – and it’s free!
Just log on to
www.Volunteerspot.com
to get started!
Fun for Rent!
You don’t need a big budget to have a successful carnival; however, adding a few well‐selected rentals can increase ticket sales and expand the fun.
Bounce castle
Giant slide/ Water slide
Photo booth
Pony rides
Petting zoo
Dunking Booth
Video game trailer
Lazer tag
Go carts
Test your strength – hammer game
Sumo wrestling
Jousting
Transportable Carnival Rides
Carnival Ideas / VolunteerSpot , DOING GOOD just got easier!
Spreading the Word
Having a big turnout is key for your Carnival fun‐raiser! Getting people to show up takes planning and effort.
Fliers. Hand out information about your carnival at school or congregation and to everyone you know. Include the date, time, location, what kinds of things you’ll have at your carnival, and a list of sponsors.
Newspapers, newsletters and local websites. Ask your local newspaper, congregation, or school newsletter to run a free announcement about your carnival. Posters and Banners. Make colorful signs that tell people about your carnival. Tell the date, time, location and all the things you’ll have: “Games! Prizes! Food! Entertainment! Silent Auction! etc.” The more posters you put up on telephone poles, at school and at nearby businesses, the better.
Carnival Ideas / VolunteerSpot , DOING GOOD just got easier!
Word of mouth. Tell all your friends and their parents. Food and Drinks
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Popcorn
Snow‐cones / snow balls
Hot dogs/hamburgers
Cotton candy
Soft Drinks & Italian Soda
Peanuts
Cookies
Candies Pretzels
Churros or Doughnuts
Trail mix
Fruit
Caramel or candy apples
Ice cream/ Italian Ice
Carnival Ideas/ VolunteerSpot , DOING GOOD just got easier!
Many local restaurants and businesses will donate food in
exchange for sponsored publicity.
Tips for a Successful Carnival
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Print maps of your carnival space.
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Share the fun! Give each class or group the responsibility of planning and staffing a specific booth. That team should consider decorations, setup, cleanup, and prizes.
Give out prizes right away at each game booth, or kids can collect ‘point tickets’ redeemable at a prize booth. •
Ask yourself, “Can everybody play this game?” You may have people come to your carnival who use crutches , wheelchairs. or have less strength in their arms and hands. •
Set aside a safe, shaded area for babies and toddlers to crawl and play without having big kids around. A few gym mats, some baby toys, a fence of some kind, and chairs for parents could be all that you need.
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Cash Sense. Keep cash‐handling locations to a minimum and staffed with two or more people. Have locked cash boxes on hand, and a process for moving and storing large sums of money. Many banks and supermarkets provide an auction and carnival service and can help with your cash process.
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Have plenty of lined garbage cans and a trash team to keep them ready. Set the trash cans back away from your serving area to avoid flies or odors. Price your tickets so a typical family can have a lot of fun and enjoy multiple activities. Give discounts to people who buy 20 tickets at once, or pre‐order. Consider selling fixed‐
priced wristbands if your carnival is more of a community‐builder than a fundraiser. Wristbands are simpler than tickets, but typically not as profitable for the carnival.
Offer both substantial food and treats. Hungry carnival goers appreciate something filling like pizza or hot dogs in addition to candy and popcorn. Carnival Ideas / VolunteerSpot , DOING GOOD just got easier!
Simplify ALL Parent Volunteering
Helping parents, teachers and volunteer leaders coordinate activities and events simply and easily all year round!
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Soccer Snacks
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Scout Campouts
• Walk‐a‐Thons & Fun Runs
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Swim Meets
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Sports Tournaments
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Vacation Bible School
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Girl Scout Cookie Booths
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Neighborhood Clean ups
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Coat, food and toy drives
and more . . .
Class Parent Carnival Ideas / VolunteerSpot , DOING GOOD just got easier!
Additional Resources
Click here for Sample Class Parent Letters: www.budurl.com/BTSSampleLetters
See our other free eBooks with ideas and
best‐practices for:
• School Carnivals
• Teacher Gifts
• Family‐Friendly Volunteering
• Fundraising with Kids
• Bake Sales
• Talent Shows
and more . . . www.VolunteerSpot.com/ebooks
Class Parent Carnival Ideas / VolunteerSpot , DOING GOOD just got easier!
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© 2011 by VolunteerSpot DOING GOOD Just Got Easier!
Copyright holder is licensing this under the Creative Commons License, Attribution 2.5.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/
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