Ideas for large customer appreciation picnic

[MELSMICE]

I'll be having a customer appreciation picnic over the summer for my students & parents.

It will be held right before we march in the community parade. I'm looking for simple, budget friendly, ideas for kids of all ages.

I don't want to get a bounce house for fear of injury with so many kids there. So far we've come up with face painting but I'm at a loss on what else.

It will only be for a few hours before we head to the parade. We'll be having hot dogs, drinks, etc.

So give me your best kid friendly activity that won't wreak havoc & can entertain kids of all ages.

 

[MELSMICE]

Any suggestions?

 

[dakcp2001]

Water balloon toss (toss, take a step back, toss, take a step back)? Egg toss? Three leg race? Musical Chairs?Egg on a spoon race. Talent show? Lip sinc contest? Pet show?

A favorite game in my family has always been duck duck splash. Instead of saying goose you dump a cup of water on someones head. Rest of the game is the same though.

 

[golfgal]

Kick ball is a hit with kids of all ages

 

[MELSMICE]

I know of all those things, but there are going to be a lot of people there. We're talking in the hundreds.

I was thinking more of "station" type of things that the kids could walk up to & do something. I think it would be tough to have organized type games, activities with that many people.

Maybe I'm wrong?

 

[monkeyboy]

Make countries like EPCOT and have them stop at each etc

 

[PixieDustandEeyore]

Fish pond where they fish for little gifts you could get at like dollar tree.
Candy buffet or Sundae buffet or Milk and Cookie bar (we did this at our late lunch for our wedding and it went over well)
Im trying to remember what you do, are you the one with the dance studio? It'd make it easier to brainstorm if we need exactly what you do to make more specific ideas!

If you can do your picnic in a park, you could just have them play on park equipment but I think you want something more exciting than that. Maybe a relay race? You could have them run to a hula hoop spin it 10 times, run to an area where they have to toss a bean bag into a hoop etc. Or if they are say dancers you have them run do a certain dance then run to the next area do a certain dance etc.

 

[MELSMICE]

Fish pond where they fish for little gifts you could get at like dollar tree.
Candy buffet or Sundae buffet or Milk and Cookie bar (we did this at our late lunch for our wedding and it went over well)
Im trying to remember what you do, are you the one with the dance studio? It'd make it easier to brainstorm if we need exactly what you do to make more specific ideas!

If you can do your picnic in a park, you could just have them play on park equipment but I think you want something more exciting than that. Maybe a relay race? You could have them run to a hula hoop spin it 10 times, run to an area where they have to toss a bean bag into a hoop etc. Or if they are say dancers you have them run do a certain dance then run to the next area do a certain dance etc.

Yes, I'm the one that owns the dance studio.

We will have it at the studio. The studio is located in a large piece of property with a lot of green space, so it's a good place for a picnic.

I like the idea of the "obstacle course" type of thing. I like the fish pond idea also. I'll have to look into that.

We'll do the face painting & maybe get some of those temporary kids tattoos. I just want to make sure they have things to do.

It will only be a few hours, but I want it to be fun for them while they're there, not boring!

 

[shinysparklybubbles]

Sand art or some other craft? What are the ages ?

 

[ksjayhawks]

The water balloon toss should work for your type of picnic. Fairly easy to do, involves a large number (20, say) at one time.

Pop toss? Cake walk type activity--but get a cookie instead?

You could do an inflatable--just get parent volunteers to monitor the number inside and number of minutes they are in. My dd gets these all the time for the daycare center she is director of and also for birthday parties. Their neighborhood assn has one at all movie nights.

 

[LuLuO]

Musical cake walk?


I always loved the plant booth at the local picnics. There would be several shelves of potted plants and then you'd pick a popsicle stick out of some containers filled with dirt. If you had a mark on the stick you picked you got to pick a plant from the corresponding shelf.

Maybe you could modify those in some way if plants and cakes aren't ideal prizes.

 

[scrapquitler]

Yes, I'm the one that owns the dance studio.

We will have it at the studio. The studio is located in a large piece of property with a lot of green space, so it's a good place for a picnic.

I like the idea of the "obstacle course" type of thing. I like the fish pond idea also. I'll have to look into that.

We'll do the face painting & maybe get some of those temporary kids tattoos. I just want to make sure they have things to do.

It will only be a few hours, but I want it to be fun for them while they're there, not boring!

How about a giant Zumba class or some sort of dance class? Not really a class, but a way to get all the kids (and maybe the parents?) dancing together, even something like the Electric Slide, the Chicken Dance, Cotton Eye Joe, Cupid Shuffle, etc...

Freeze dance (like freeze tag)?

 

[golfgal]

When we were young my Dad's company held a huge company picnic each year. They were in a park that had a lot of play equipment, they brought in a small train and kids could get rides around the park, they had games with prizes for each age group of kids-frizbee tosses, bean bag tosses, bag races, etc. but mostly the kids just ran around and played.

You could set up carnival type games, fish pond, bean bag toss, cake walk, etc. There are companies out there that will actually do this for you even. Bingo is always a big hit. At DH's old company picnic they would hide coins in a pile of straw and the kids got to keep what they found-that was popular. They also had pony rides, a bunch of inflatables, brought in pin ball machines and video games for the teens.

 

[PixieDustandEeyore]

When we were young my Dad's company held a huge company picnic each year. They were in a park that had a lot of play equipment, they brought in a small train and kids could get rides around the park, they had games with prizes for each age group of kids-frizbee tosses, bean bag tosses, bag races, etc. but mostly the kids just ran around and played.

You could set up carnival type games, fish pond, bean bag toss, cake walk, etc. There are companies out there that will actually do this for you even. Bingo is always a big hit. At DH's old company picnic they would hide coins in a pile of straw and the kids got to keep what they found-that was popular. They also had pony rides, a bunch of inflatables, brought in pin ball machines and video games for the teens.

I think the picnic is inside... pony rides may be a bit awkward

 

[golfgal]

Yes, I'm the one that owns the dance studio.

We will have it at the studio. The studio is located in a large piece of property with a lot of green space, so it's a good place for a picnic.

I like the idea of the "obstacle course" type of thing. I like the fish pond idea also. I'll have to look into that.

We'll do the face painting & maybe get some of those temporary kids tattoos. I just want to make sure they have things to do.

It will only be a few hours, but I want it to be fun for them while they're there, not boring!

I think the picnic is inside... pony rides may be a bit awkward

 

[poohfriend77]

I think carnival games are your best bet! If you know a teacher or someone involved in PTO, you could ask if the school has games you could borrow. Oriental trading also sells cheap-o versions, or you could make your own.

Toss rings around 2-liter pop bottles
Lay out a tic-tac-toe board (with tape on pavement, or even spray paint it on grass) and let the kids throw bean bags
Cake walk" to win a cookie
Borrow a mini basketball hoop and let them shoot baskets
Toss a ball or bean bag at a stack of cups/cans
Pick rubber ducks from a baby pool to win prize
"Dino dig" -- put little toy dinosaurs in baby pool filled with sand and let kids dig until they find a prize (VERY popular at a local school carnival!)
Obstacle course
Wacky races (marshmallow on spoon, walk with ball between knees, bouce on those balls w/ handles)

Have fun!

 

[kacaju]

what about Minute to Win it type games??

 

[MELSMICE]

Sand art or some other craft? What are the ages ?

Some great ideas here. Thanks everyone.

The ages are from 2 years old through high school aged kids.