The PTA pays for the bingo/sundae night. There is no charge to the parents and students who attend. The PTA pays for the ice cream, and the toppings are donated by room parents. This is one of our ways of giving back to the kids a little of what we fundraise during the year. We have bingo night on Friday evening from approximately 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. We are in the process of changing over to a PTO but have no plans to change this family night.
Do you charge for the bingo games? What days are they scheduled for (Friday nights, Sunday afternoons, etc.)? How do you charge for the ice cream sundaes? how long does this event last? Do you do it more than once a school year? This sounds like something I would like to suggest to our PTO. Thanks for the info.
Our school does a bingo/sundae night as part of our family fun week. We play bingo, awarding inexpensive prizes we purchase from oriental trading, and then have make your own sundaes which is usually vanilla ice cream, chocolate/strawberry syrups, and many different toppings. We asked for the toppings as donations from the room parents. It's one of our most successful nights. Always a full house.
Bingo is generally very popular, and pretty easy to run. We've done it for two years as an additional activity in our Spring Family Fling night. I think it might be a good stand-alone activity, too. Or, maybe in combination - perhaps a sock hop for the kids and bingo for the parents.
Anyway, Bingo is usually considered gaming/gambling and heavily regulated at the state level. In Texas, an organization has to go through a fairly rigorous application process to get a Charitable Bingo License and then pays a 5% fee based on the value of all prizes distributed. I've heard similar regulations in other states, so be sure to check that out.
Would like to get information regarding family bingo nights. Is this event successful in terms of participation and dollar value? We are in a new school and think this would be a good family get-together. Our school is preK-3rd .
