We just had our first carnival where we did our own games vs. paying a company to run it for us. It was a ton of work, but went very well. In preparation, I read a lot of posts about chuck-e-cheese style prizes vs. prizes at each game.

We decided to go with the prize booth, and contemplated how to count tickets. We came up with a punch pass that each kid wore around their neck. They thought they were pretty cool. They looked kind of like a backstage pass. They were numbered 1-50. On the back it listed to 2 prizes available at each point level. Each game attendant would punch the pass with what ever the winning prize was (1-3 punches). There were no tickets to count at the end. For the last 20 minutes we had 4-6 people in the prize booth. I think the longest the line was was 5 minutes. We only offered 2 prizes at each level, so it limited the choices. Most kids were able to decide quite quickly, or already knew what they wanted when they cashed out.

We had some prizes that were extremely popular, and 2 out of 12 that were not so popular. Overall, I think the kids loved it- they went home with basketballs, gumball machines, glider planes etc. instead of a pocket full of junk. The parents definitely loved it.

We will do it the same way next time!

That sounds like a good idea. We have prizes at each booth so the children (or parents) end up carrying all the trinkets around all night. We have several items to choose from and I feel this takes the children longer. I am going to suggest for next year we only offer 2-3 prizes per game. One for a win and one for a consolation. GAmes like plinko and duck pond have 3 options so those would have 3 prize buckets with equal value prizes. I like the prize booth idea, but I know our Board wouldn't go for it.
Glad to here you found something that worked well for your school and volunteers.

That sounds like a great idea. I think we're going to try a prize booth this year. We're doing a few new games this year and didn't want to confuse everyone with a new prize booth too.

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I love your idea. Could you provide more detail? What were the prize levels, how did you determine prizes and where did you get them? We had a prize booth and found the kids redeeming after one or two winnings-it was crazy. Our expense to Oriental Trading was over $2,000 for junk! Thanks for sharing.

I have been trying to convince our PTO to do the prize redemption to add a little more excitment to the Carnival this spring. I would love to have a few more details on your prizes, levels, and budget amount. I have been debating the punch system or tickets, I think the punch pass is a great idea!

I like the punch pass idea--- we have done tickets for years and it would save a bunch of trees t do it this way instead-- thinking pro-active here.

We have purchased prizes from Fun services in our area-- and when you buy so many prizes they give you so many games for free-- it's a win-win-- the kids love it and we make up the showcase the week before the fair to entice the kids with some of the prizes they can win and how many tickets it takes-- next time how many punches--