Three Common Mistakes School Carnival Planners Should Avoid!

Are you stressed about planning your first carnival and have NO idea where to begin? Carnival Savers is here to help you out! An excellent starting point in planning your first carnival event is to learn to avoid the three common mistakes listed below. Sometimes, knowing what not to do is as helpful as knowing what to do!

 Mistake #1: Not Selling Pre-Sale Tickets

Planning a carnival is similar to planning a massive party. Carnival planners - generally, PTOs and PTAs need to have a general idea of how many people are attending their carnival, the same way you have a basic understanding of how many folks are coming to a party you are planning. 

You certainly don't want a tiny event with many carnival-goers. Nor do you want a huge, expensive carnival venue with only a few attendees. Vastly over- or under-estimating the amount of attendees would be one of the worst mistakes that could be made. 

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The above image shows an outdoor ticket sign.

The easiest way to know the number of attendees is to have a pre-sale of carnival, raffle, and food tickets. This is a nearly guaranteed number of carnival attendees and an excellent place to start "guesstimating" the number of attendees you'll have! 

Of course, many folks will be last-minute walk-ups for your carnival, which is fine - but with pre-sale tickets, you at least have a starting point!

In addition, one of the best ways to ensure you have a good head count is by selling pre-sale tickets for your school carnival because once someone purchases tickets for your carnival, they have "saved the date" and will attend your event!

Also, don't forget one of the best ways to encourage families to buy tickets early is to offer a discount or a sale!

Many schools will have before and after-school ticket sales the week before their big event. Volunteers set up colorful tables where parents who pick up and drop off children can see the ticket sale table and find it easy to purchase. Also, sending home flyers with pre-sale information for children who ride the bus or have after-school care allows parents who do not drop off or pick up their children to have an opportunity to buy their tickets early, too!

For example, discounts many school carnivals offer are 10 tickets for $5 before the carnival and 8 tickets for $5 at the door of your festival. Or, for food discount ideas, you can offer a free drink ticket or cookie ticket with every meal ticket bought before the day of your event. 

 Mistake #2: Not Choosing Some Games With Predictable Winnings 

This means having a few carnival games in which the number of top prizes is guaranteed. Having a guaranteed number of your more expensive prizes, like stuffed animals, makes your job easier (as the carnival planner). Why? It's less costly to purchase a set number of top prizes, and know that you will not run out during your event!

How does it work? Some carnival games have a predetermined number of top prizes - see our list below.

The above image shows a young girl playing the Fishing Carnival Game.

For example, in the Fishing Game, volunteers stand behind a screen and randomly choose what prize to add to the clothespin at the end of the 'fishing line". See the Go Fishing Booth for step-by-step instructions.

You certainly don't want too few or way too many carnival prizes! However, it still is better to have too many prizes than too few.

Another example of a game with a predictable amount of top prizes is our Lollipop Tree game. If you have 48 top prizes, mark the end of 48 lollipop sticks with a bright color to signify a top winner! It's played like this: players choose one lollipop from a Lollipop Tree cut-out filled with lollipops. Some winners receive an additional top prize (if they choose a lollipop with the colorful dot on the end.) If you expect more players than your lollipop Tree holds, be sure to keep out some of the top prize-winning suckers, so you have top prizes kids can win throughout your festival!  Lollipops removed from the tree by players are not replaced; the number of lollipop holes in the tree cutout predetermines this number. The number of winning lollipops, and therefore top prizes, are predetermined. 

Here are some other carnival games with predictable winnings: Grab Bag, Dinosaur Dig, Pony Races, and Giant Dice Roll games. They're fun for kids, so be sure to check them out for more game ideas!

 Mistake #3: Trying to Feed a Crowd with Homemade Food

It always sounds easy... "Sure, let's have a taco bar. We will all bring our crockpots."  Although this sounds so simple, trust us - we do not recommend school carnival planners serve homemade food as the ONLY food to feed a hungry crowd!

It may be difficult to get enough volunteers for your very first carnival, so don't dilute your help with the food preparation and them to spend hours cooking and cleaning when there is a much simpler, faster option! (You may even need permission from your local authority to serve homemade food.) 

Trust us: you'll need every minute your volunteers offer, so have them working your game booths and ticket booths and maybe passing out drinks but not cooking meals for your first event. 

The above image shows food being served from a food truck.

This better option is to invite food trucks (or other food professionals) to your carnival. You should be able to negotiate a 15%-25% commission of their gross sales to allow them to serve food at your event. This money will go towards your fundraising carnival. They'll handle the food purchasing and prep, employees, paper plates, napkins, utensils, and kitchen clean-up which allows you to focus on events and activities of the carnival!

Alternatively, you could have a few restaurants, like a popular Mexican restaurant, offer a taco bar or pizza company to deliver pizzas as needed - we have seen this work well at many school carnivals!

A big PLUS is that commercial food service establishments like food trucks and restaurants are required to have licenses in order to legally serve food. These food licenses ensure the food served to your carnival-goers will be safe, clean and at the proper temperature!

The above image shows water bottles and ice in a toddler pool at a school carnival.

Just because you hire food trucks or a few restaurants to help with the main course doesn't mean you can't sell some easy carnival treats and drinks and keep all the profit!

For example, cold drinks are a fantastic fundraiser and fairly simple for school carnivals! Many schools borrow large coolers (or use toddler pools as shown above) from the school (or from volunteers) and purchase ice bags and bulk bottled waters, sodas, and Gatorade-type drinks from discount warehouses and resale at their carnival.

Don't be afraid to charge $1 (or maybe $2, depending on your area) for each water bottle, even if the cost is 20 cents each. Sodas will cost more.

Remember, you had to purchase, store, organize, and ice them down - folks know you are trying to make a profit for a good cause.

Some other easy food items to sell for a nice profit include popcorn (we sell popcorn bags and large popcorn cups), snow cones, cotton candy, and more! We even have some adorable carnival food signs you can purchase for these food items to add a festive flare to your carnival! 

We hope that by pointing out these three avoidable mistakes, this will be helpful to your planning! Wishing you all the best with your carnival planning! Thanks for visiting the Carnival Savers blog! 

We have plenty of other posts written to help save you time and money at your next carnival, so be sure to check them out as well.