For several years now, our PTO has hosted a Family Spaghetti Night and Sauce Competition. We provide pasta, salad, and bread, and contestants bring in crockpots of spaghetti sauce for all to enjoy. Winners receive fun prizes like gift cards, etc.

However...we have been doing this for three years now, and our attendance gets lower each year. People enjoyed the idea of a dinner night, but we are all pretty tired of spaghetti! We are trying to come up with new ideas for, well, what's for dinner? lol

Anybody have any ideas?

We hold a Pizza Night. We get a local pizza shop to donate pizzas and have three different seatings (5pm, 6pm, and 7pm) and families pay in advance for tickets. We also have a raffle. Although we don't make a ton of money (around $1500) it's a fun school wide family night out.

Suggestions I've seen: Chili, Fish Fry, Bar-B-Que, Hawaiian Luau, Taco Night.

At our school the Spaghetti Dinner is traditionally done by the teachers after Winter Break, so we wouldn't dream of messing with it. I believe attendance was up this past year.

JMMUS29-
I know you said that you like the idea of a dinner but thought I'd throw this out there: how about a pie bake-off? You could either have a potluck before it, or just make it a dessert event. Perhaps having a shorter evening event, after dinner at home, would boost attendance numbers.

Lisa

Taco Night (with a separate fixin's bar)
Spaghetti with different Sauces Night (red, white)
Salad Bar night
Barbeque with pot luck sides.
Soup Suppers

Thanks for all the great ideas! I love the idea of Pizza Night...just not sure how to get the donations. Potluck and pie bake-off sounds very interesting! I know there are a lot of moms & dads who bake! This definitely helps! Thank you!