need ideas for school family day party

[linnettevl]

My sons elementary school will host a family recreational night for all the student and their families from prek to 6th grade. we need ideas on what to do with the kids and their families for 2 hrs we have some face painting and games but nothing else, What to do wilth the parents ,what activities can anybody suggest that we can do( it is free, pta is taking care of expenses but do not have a big budget) Also what kind of food can we serve. We want for the families to have a great time but don't have enough money to spend. Please help!!!!!

 

[Disneymommie]

pe-k to 6th is a large age bracket. Our school has family fun nights with 2 grades at a time. The kids and parents enjoy relay races in the gym. Maybe if you have access to another paert of the building, you could divide the times up and have prek-1st, 2-4th, and 5-6 have times for races then in another section of the scool have a few crafts and maybe a couple small games like..ring toss, knock the cans down and simple things like that. Have the kids each have a ticket with activity a b c ect... on them and cross off each activity on the ticket as they complete it so you know it is done. Also if it is a free night I am sure you could get parents to bake things to bring as snacks and have the pta donate drinks. I hope this helps.

 

[mommytotwo]

How about making picture frames and windchimes. You can make different ones according to the different age groups.

 

[JulianneP]

My sister's kids school does Bingo and use donated prizes such as gift cards to resturant, movie passes etc.. It really is a big hit that thye do it twice a year now.

 

[clh2]

I have a couple of ideas...

What about a cake-walk using donated baked goods for the prizes. Click here for some ideas: cake walk

Our PTA does a dance once a year (we are a K-5) school, where admission is $1 per person, and there is a $5 max per family. This covers the cost of a DJ. The kids have a great time, and the parents get to chat. Snacks and soda are available for purchase. And, generally there are drawings for a couple of raffle prizes. The goal on this is to break even - although the last couple of years we've made about $100 or so. The themes we've had in the past are 50's, disco, western etc.

The other idea is just an old fashioned carnival. There is at least one company in the Milwaukee area that has carnival games and prizes. They set everything up, the PTA gets volunteers to run the games. The games cost .25 or .50 each, and the children can earn tokens to trade in for prizes. Soda and snacks are also available for purchase.

 

[linnettevl]

Thank you, thank you so much for the wonderful ideas!!!!Mommytotwo: I love the picture frames and windchimes but do not know what will I need where to get the materials, Is there a web site that I can order from? clh2 I got excited with the idea of a cake walk and did look at the link , when I spoke to the pta president she said that we are not allowed to charge parent for the activities!!!!!!the principal of the school told the pta that we are not to ask parents for money, now how do they want us to do fundraising is beyond me.....They also did not want bingo because it promotes gambling??????????????Iam a member of the pta and all the material and things that we need I am paying for so far I have spend over 200.00 (will not get my money back) as it is this is getting me too stress out and I hope that I will not end up in the hospital(I am disabled)Thank you all for allowing me to vent this out of my chest>>>>

 

[letfuller]

How about cookie decorating, or creating a small journal book?

We have a carnival at our high school which costs a ticket (.25) and kids can participate in different activities. The most popular are fishing, cake walk, and video games.

Good luck.



Linda

 

[J&D]

I love the picture frames and windchimes but do not know what will I need where to get the materials, Is there a web site that I can order from?

Try orientaltrading.com. They have a very large selection of craft and party supplies. Their picture frame making kits are pretty cheap ($2.95-4.95 for 12 frames).Link

As for the food, how about keeping it simple and serving county fair type foods? You could serve hot dogs, hamburgers, corn dogs, funnel cakes (I have the recipe if you need it), snow cones, etc..

all the material and things that we need I am paying for so far I have spend over 200.00 (will not get my money back)

I am sorry to hear that. Perhaps you could get the craft supplies and food donated. I am a teacher, and we can usually find many local businesses that are more than happy to help out.

Good luck, and try not to stress yourself out over this!

 

[mommytotwo]

For the picture frames, you can go to a craft store, and buy those big boxes of popsicle sticks, you can buy big bags of feathers, and other scrap materials that they sell in bunches, and put them all together and the participants can choose what they would like to use. You can also put a wish list in each staff members boxes saying that if they have extra items at home, you would need...

For the windchimes, you can get little metal rods, have the kids decorate them, then have the parents help them in attaching them together.

 

[RumpleMom]

Find out who has family members serving overseas in the military. Hang a large sheet of white paper( every school has this kind of paper) on a wall and invite everyone to write a message to someone serving our country. This banner could have a large thank you written in red, white and blue. Children could trace around their hands and sign their name, if they didn't want to write a message.

 

[pfishgirl]

When my son was in elementary school we always had a Bake Off Auction. Mommy and Child or Daddy and Child baked something then auctioned off each item baked. You were NOT allowed to bid on your own stuff either. It was alwys alot of fun and the kids loved it cause they helped bake the item.

hope this helped a little

 

[MerryPoppins]

Ice cream with a variety of toppings was always a hit at my kids elementary school. The PTA would dip the ice cream and the donated toppings were out on a table for the kids to create a sundae.