On Jan. 14th our Parent Council hosted a "Family Fun Night and DJ Dance Party". The night consisted of several activities to fit all ages, and grade levels.
First off we sent out an invite to our families with the flyer being typed in Scrabble, Wheel of Fortune and Transformer fonts to make it interesting and activitiy related. Cost was $10 per family up to 5 members along with bringing in one can good or non parrishable item for our local food bank.
We set up our gym for a dance competition with the DJ and along two sides of the gym we had activity tables for those too shy to dance, but wanted to be where the music was. One table consisted of assorted puzzles, some Hidden Object puzzles, etc, printed on colorful paper. The other table was set up with assorted crafts that we had leftover from previous events. One craft was 'make your own picture frame'...these would be used for the family photo shoot we set up in the hallway with a snow scene and mountains with skis and poles as props. One of our families owns a photography business and offered to help out. The theme that night was "Winter Wonderland".
Then in our library across from our gym, we set up an assortment of family games for all ages to play...from Boggle,Operation Spongebob to Elefun and even floor games like a big board of checkers and Twister. We even had some individual hand held games for single player use, like Bop It, and Rubix Cube, etc. Each game could have from 2-6 players at one time. The parents after dancing with their kids grabbed a snack of either granola bars, popcorn, fruit snacks, or cookies and either a juice box or H2O and then came in the library to cool off and relax with a friendly family game. Lots of families played against each other and created their own night of competition.
There was a great flow going with our families as each family went from one activity room to another with snacks in between. There were activities for those that had toddlers, so the parents didn't have to chase after them and could relax and watch them participate in an activity.
We even build a snowman and had a snowball fight. Both games in which can be found on here: Kaboose.com (search: winter games).
We still have parents raving about how much fun they had and how worn out their kids were when they got home, they went right to sleep. It was an active night with something for everyone to do. Most of the games, puzzles, and snacks were donated, so we had very little invested into the event except for time and management.
The family photo was a priceless moment they will cherish for a long time. Hard to get ALL your family members together in one area at one time...between basketball practice, Girls Scouts, and peewee bowling, its hard to be together. Charging one price for the whole family for fun brought a lot of families together that night. The cost of $10 per family covered them for snacks, beverages, DJ dancing, Family game night, family photo, and a few group games for prizes.
