PTO Today

Hello! I love reading all of the great ideas on this board! We are ready to plan our year and are looking for something new.
We have had and will keep our movie night, ice cream social, craft night, end of year celebration and our 2 fundraisers--bingo with raffle baskets and our walk-athon. We did not have much success with reading night and things fell thru with our 2nd science night.
I am wondering if we could pull off a game night but I am worried about having enough volunteers. I love the idea of bunco and even deal or no deal but I figure we will have to have a lot of other activites all going at the same time.
I am open to any new ideas......
Thanks!

We did a Family Game Night with Deal or No Deal and bingo utilizing only 4 adult volunteers and 10 junior high volunteers. The jr. hi helpers were all girls who served as the "models" and then helped with the food and games. The game nights are loads of fun and something families will remember and talk about for a long time. We offered board games in the cafeteria for the folks who wanted to be sedentary, but our big push was the active games in the gym-we got those from the PTOtoday game night packet.

__________________
Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat.

Here are some of the events we do...


Fall Festival
Jingle Bell Jog
Muffins/Moms
Donuts/Dads
Karate Kamp
Talent Show (with the music teacher)
Book Club (One school - One book)
Math 24 Club
Chess Club
Dinner and a Movie
Dreamcatchers Day (for our special needs children)
Legacy Fund Ice Cream sales
Sham Grams for St. Patty's Day
Dr. Seuss Day
Alumni Night (6th graders/parents return to visit the 5th graders and share pizza and ask questions)
Swim Night (rent a local pool for our families for the night).
Baseball Day (go to the local single A team for the game)


d

Our best events each year are:

Back to School Ice Cream Party

Harvest Hoopla (Halloween Party)

Husky Hearts Family Social (Valentine's Party)

Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader Family Night(s)

Field Day

If I was to recommend just one, it would be Field Day. If your school does not have one this would be a big addition. Many schools run this without the control of the PTO, and if that's the case then I would recommend:

The Back to School event. This is a great way to start off the new school year.

But of all of the events that we hold, the one that the kids seem to love the most, is our annual Halloween Party (Harvest Hoopla). We allow the kids and parents to come dressed, if they would like. We have had party games, such as bean bag toss, ring toss on pumpkin stems, DJ games and best yet, a spook house (age appropriate). In year's past the spook house has consisted of a witche's Den, Gypsies, A Wizard and a Mad Scientist. This year we are going to even try an older kids actual "haunted House". Again age appropriate, but fun. Nor gore, but things that the older kids (8 and 9) would like.

If you want to go with a family game night, try an Are You Smarter evening for your older kids. We do it for 3rd and 4th grade, while the younger grades have their own evening playing BINGO. This has been a huge hit. I've posted something on the File Share section here.

Hope this all helps,
presidentJim

Thank you all very much for the ideas!!!!
Also dlf--what is the dreamcatcher day? We have 2 classes of special needs.

Have a Noah's Ark stuff-n-fluff workshop. The kids absolutely love it! Parents are tired of candles, gift wrap, and home decor. Although it may make some money for the school, it doesn;t get the kids involved. Having a Noah's Ark workshop is a great fun night. The kids make their own stuffed animals, paint t-shirts for their animals & have a great time socializing. My school even printed up little t-shirts with the schools name/logo on them for the animals. We all took a picture infront of the school & got our picture ont he paper. They also have come up with a "GO GREEN" Night where the kids learn about conserving energy, water, trees, etc. so the night is both educational & fun! Let me know if you want contact info. you can email me at efgogola at aol dot com

Hi North--well long story short--about 2 years ago I fell down some steps and broke my neck. I'm fine but as I sat in a brace in the chair of my living room (still going back and forth to the PTO offices and school mind you), it dawned on me how difficult it is for our special needs parents to attend our "regular" functions. Of course they are always invited, but the reality of wheel chairs, special food requests etcetera makes it more difficult and not much fun for the parents. With the major muscle coming from our special needs teachers and our assistant principal, we started Dreamcatcher's Day. Held on a Saturday it is a 3-4 hour event that is designed specifically for our special needs children. We come up with games they can play, use their favorite equipment (like the parachute), we invite those children that have been particularly helpful in our school to be their special buddies so the parents can socialize and we attend to the food needs for the children and the adults. After lunch we all head outside for 2 rounds of t-ball after which the children all get called up for a t-ball trophy. We have also these past 2 years had t-shirts donated and make special hats for the children.

It is a wonderful day for all of us who participate and really makes you feel blessed to be a part of giving our families that may not always feel comfortable attending our events a time designed with their enjoyment especially in mind.

d

ps--I got the term "Dreamcatchers" from a team of t-ball players I saw on a TV show. They were all special needs children--so this day is dedicated to every child that has a dream...and especially those that need a little more help catching it.

Thanks D--what a wonderful idea!!!!

We hosted several fundraiser game nights in 2007-2008 with different schools raising a little over $10,000 for the schools we worked with.

If anyone needs specific information on how you can make this work as either a fund-raiser or just a free family night you can contact us at Gnome Games in Green Bay, WI.

[email]mail@gnomegames.com[/email]

Pat Fuge
The Head Gnome

Hi! Over the years I've been involved in a number of fundraising activities, large and small. Our most successful in the k-3 school are: Halloween Party in Oct, Movie Night in January, School Dance in February, Bingo Night in March, Talent Show in April and end of year carnival and picnic!

How do we make money? Ask for donations from local merchants and charge for the refreshments. For example, at movie night, we pick a fun kids' movie and then work around a theme. We get free popcorn from the local movie theater, bag it and sell the bags, bottles of water and small cans of soda. Families come in their pj,s and sit on blankets on the floor. The district provides a projector and we show the movie on the school gym wall. Raffles work well too. Depending on the movie, cheap and easy toys can be purchased that go with the theme and then kids buy tickets for a chance to win.

Other ideas: sell candy at the school dance and during Bingo Night.

How we do it. For the dance, a student's dad has his own DJ business so he offers the music and light system for free. Bingo Night: we have an "old fashioned ball turner" and use a microphone to call the numbers. We also write the numbers on a large wipe off board. At each table are disposable Bingo sheets and a basket of crayons.

Our biggest fundraiser is our annual "Penny Carnival" done toward the end of the school year. We grill hot dogs (sell the dogs, chips and drink) and have games (sell 20 tickets for $1), etc. The raffle prizes are donated..and that's where we get most of the money.

Here's a Family Night idea that isn't money maker, but good for cold winter nights. For a reading night, have a local "celebrity" come and read the books. One year we had a local, well-known TV sports anchor (who happened to be a student's grandfather) come and read books to the families. We brought in an arm chair, table and lamp and set it on a rug in the gym. We turned out the lights. Everyone sat on the floor, it was very nice. I had found four interesting sports-related picture books for him to read. He got them about a week ahead of time so he could look them over. I got the books at the library so it was no charge. Afterwards, we had refreshments (cookies that families brought in..). Our family events only last an hour, so this worked out great. He also took questions afterwards about sports..

Another money maker: have a t-shirt design contest. I've done this every two years for many years. Introduce the student body to the contest by wearing a plain white t-shirt. Can be done during lunch periods. Tell them that it would be great to wear a shirt that showed school spirit, etc. Send home a flyer that introduces the contest and explains rules (if you have any). Set a deadline and watch the entries roll in!

The winner is: I again ask local "celebrities" to come and be judges. They include the principal, superintendent, bus drivers, crossing guards, firemen and police, and the most popular: high school cheerleaders!

Each entry is mounted on black construction paper and given a number. They are hung in the hallway. No one's name is on the front. The judges choose their top three favorites and majority wins.

The winner is announced during a family breakfast..and receives a framed copy of their entry and a free t-shirt. We sell t-shirts, sweatshirts in sizes for the whole family and tote bags...charge a little more than the t-shirt printer and make some money!

I'll stop now!