PTO Help

When my kids were in elementary school (K-5), each fall we had a family night, with hayrides and pumpkin carving.

When I was in Drama Club, we hosted our schools fall festival, if you get the older kids involved in manning the booths, it will be a better turnout. Face painting booth with those easy rub on tattoos, limbo, cupcake/cake walk, haunted house, the fishing booth (think Pollyanna), dance contest, bean bag toss, a fortune teller, kissing booth.

They don't actually have to kiss, you can buy a kiss stamp and stamp a kiss on the cheek.

here are more ideas:
http://www.schoolcarnivals.com/Games/alphabetical.htm

http://www.everybodyhatesfundraising.com/school-carnivals...

The teens from our church did a haunted house last year, one hour was for little kids Pre K , K, 1st and was not scary, funny skits and darkened hallways with scarecrows and jack o lanterns and orange lights, the next hour or two was for older elem and more scary, gets the teens involved in decorating and "performing". We had a hay ride too.

Our school is also a K (actually preschool) through 12 school. It is hard to attract the older kids. They usually help man the booths for community service hours. But in the last couple of years they've started a faculty vs. senior softball game which is a huge hit with the upper school kids.

I know how much work it is in coordinating this, bless you!

Cake decorating contest.

Cake Walk. Have families donate cakes.. Chicken Dance..

Karaoke.

Guitar Hero

"Pringle toss".. Line up 5 cans of Pringles.. if kids gets a hoop over a can they win a can of Pringles.. once again we used to have people donate the chips..

Go fish booth.

Doughnut booth. hang donuts from a string, child must only use their mouth to get a bite of the doughnut.. They get their doughnut and a small prize..

Treasure hunt. plastic pool filled with styrofoam peanuts.. prizes at the bottom of the pool.. kids reach in and find a prize..

Costume contest

Could you do crazy games? My neighbor just had a party for a group of 12 year old girls, and she came up with some neat games that they loved. She had them take off their socks, and they had to dig thru a bowl of freezing cold spaghetti and pick up a marble with their toes. They had to put their faces in a pie plate of whipped cream, dig out a piece of wrapped Bubble Gum, unwrap it with their mouth, and the first one to blow a bubble won the game. I know she had 6 games, but I can't remember the rest. Let me know if you want me to email her for them. You could just do 6 kids at a time, and the winner of each round gets an award, then at the end, you could do another round with the finalists for a prize?

Pumpkin Shooting (Not what you think - ha!ha!): Carve out 3 - 4 Jack-o-Lanterns, light a tea light candle in each one, have 'contestants' stand 10' - 15' back and try to shoot out the candle with a water gun. Whoever does it first wins!

We also found a local horse barn that brought in horses for rides (for FREE).

Our was geared mostly for the little ones...We did have a "frisbee golf" course set up...It was only 2 - 3 of holes (I don't know what they're called). But they were set up and the older kids hung out there and made up contest among themselves...We put it out on a whim, in case anyone was bored...It was a hit!!!

My mom & her best friend used to to be involved in our school's Halloween carnival. They made a bean bag throw. They took a plank of wood, painted an octopus on it & the arms of the octopus curled around the holes in which to try to throw your bean bag through. I think that booth ended up being you got 3 chances to win a prize if you got 2-3 in the holes. Also, there's the traditional apple bobbing or candy grab. A teacher made an elephant that she stuck her arm through the trunk & you gave the elephant your ticket & she reached in a bag of goodies & pulled out something for you, that was always a fun idea. They also had a cardboard box maze you crawled through in the dark, that was fun. There's a cake walk or you can use candy or other prizes instead of cakes. Musical chairs. Kids have fun no matter how 'simple' the ideas or games are. Hope these ideas help.

OKay....I know the older kids just love to dance! You could do a dance off....and set it up with limiting time. It is a huge hit at our church festival.
I saw in Family First this month ....for smaller kids:
They tied weights to balloons....spread them out...and then with black marker wrote "points..like 20, 30, 40,etc..further away more points"...
Use hoola hoops from PE class and they toss them to earn points!
Loved it!