Jul 23 2008
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Carnival Basics
Carnival Hints, Planning tips, Ideas, and event planning resources!!! Select a Date/Time Selecting the right date for your event can be the most crucial factor in determining the ultimate success of your carnival. When deciding on your carnivals date take into consideration conflicts that your anticipated attendees might have. What other events are being held on your date? Holding your event on the same day as another major/larger event can be both beneficial or detrimental to your event. Many people will choose to go to a larger city wide event and completely overlook a smaller company picnic or school carnival. Other people may prefer to go to a more local event, in order to save time in travel/the hassle of parking etc... These factors are important to take into consideration- try to imagine yourself in your guests position- what would you choose? Ask others people, or take a general poll. If you are in direct competition with another event from the planning date typically for maximum attendance we recommend searching for a date that has very little else going on in your area! When choosing a date, make it far enough in advance to be sure that your guests can plan to be there. Families are busy. Setting up a carnival without giving sufficient notice for people to make themselves available can lead to disaster.
PUT TOGETHER A PLANNING COMMITTEE Having the right team of help can be a saving grace for many carnival planners. When putting together your team, choose people who you can rely on to carry their own weight. There is nothing worse that leaving the cake walk in Betty's hands and finding out the day of the event that nobody is bringing cakes, there is no music, and Betty is vacationing in Jamaica. When putting together your committee- assign each member a particular task. Put someone in charge of food/concessions, someone in charge of games, someone to arrange volunteers, a marketing person, and staff any other tasks you can think of. Give these people deadlines by which they need to offer a proposal of ideas, suggest solutions, and have their tasks completed and ready for the event! The more reliable help you have the better of you are. Thankfully, Checkers Fun Factory is here to help with the entertainment- and we are the most reliable in the industry!
MAKE A WISH LIST Are there certain things you absolutely want to have at the carnival? Certain things your carnival has to have? Write all of these things down on a piece of paper- and GET THEM. Using any method you know make them happen. If you are afraid of being able to afford a certain thing for your carnival you will be able to pay for it if you build it into your admission price. In fact you may be able to make money on an item that draws a larger crowd- or that people want to use more. What you wish for and what you are determined to get for your event will be what decides your events success. And remember, If you don't get the carnival of your dreams this year- you can use this years profits to make your carnival better and more profitable next year.
MARKETING YOUR EVENT Marketing is a huge part of determining the ultimate success of any event. Be sure to use the best resources available to you to market your event. Newspapers, newsletters, making flyers, posters, email campaigns, coupons, preselling tickets, and radio or television campaigns are just a few of the avenues available. For smaller events in smaller communities, there are ways to advertise your event and let people know you are having it. For example: A school might send home a weekly or monthly newsletter, post information on the school reader board, or send a special flyer home with the students the week before the event. We suggest marketing what you will have at the event- and use pictures! These are what will excite the kids and parents alike. Check out this sample pdf of a school carnival flyer that we made for an event. A flyer like that expresses that the event coming will be fun, and the use of "eye candy" pictures truly lets people know what they can expect at the event. They increase excitement and increase your attendance. Getting a few of our attractions at an event will give you a great way to market what is coming!
ARRANGE VOLUNTEERS The best events are ones that have responsible attendants for the rides, attractions, and games. Checkers Fun Factory can staff your event for you, however, some organizations choose to provide volunteers. This is one of the best ways to cut costs at an event. If you can arrange for volunteers to assist with set up, teardown, and attend our attractions- we can offer them at a much lower cost to your organization. But you must be able to arrange the number of people we request, for the time we request, and with good heads on their shoulders. Ride attendants must be responsible, authoritative, and not afraid to take control of a situation. The safety of your event participants depends on the types of volunteers you provide for the event. Also when thinking of people for set up/clean up tasks- keep in mind that many of our attractions weigh hundreds of pounds. We always suggest that you have several adult/adult sized individuals who are not afraid to sweat and lift heavy objects! If you would like we can also fully staff the event- this allows all the people in your community to partake in the activities and entertainment.
DECIDE ON A BUDGET Determining a budget for your carnival will give you a place to start. To assist you with your budget planning and calculations, contact our office we can supply you with a full price list. We also are capable of offering estimates of other services that you require, from catering, to tent rental, event signs and banners, and more.. For those people out there with a large budget, Checkers Fun Factory has the expertise and experience to plan your entire event- from catering to clean up.
SELECT CARNIVAL GAMES Some organizations have committees put together carnival games like ring toss, beanbag toss, and whatever else people can think of... This usually translated into hundreds of hours brainstorming, planning, finding supplies, and building games that often end up looking home made and are good for use once- which means going through the whole process again next year. Checkers Fun Factory offers a full selection of carnival games like dunk tanks, strength testers, ring toss, beanbag toss, field games and more. Why spend hours putting together games, and thinking up ideas- when you can call us? PLAN ACTIVITIES AND ENTERTAINMENT In today's world- the simple carnival games are still great, but people are used to the other kinds of entertainment available to them. At Checkers Fun Factory , we are happy to offer a full selection of entertainment options for even the most demanding of crowds. We have a full line up of entertainment and activities options available: CLOWNS - FACEPAINTING - MAGICIANS - SPECIALTY CHARACTERS- BANDS - JUGGLERS - STILTWALKERS - DJ's - STAGE PERFORMANCES - COMEDIANS - AND MORE! FOR MORE INFO ON ANY ITEMS CONTACT OUR OFFICE TODAY! Some events have a Disc Jockey, or DJ playing music and interacting with the group over a PA system. A DJ can offer entertainment to the entire group at once, offer a fun filled ambience, and help people to relax. SELECT YOUR RIDES AND INTERACTIVE GAMES! Determining the right variety of attractions for your event will translate into how much fun your group will have. You always want to make sure that there is entertainment for every one. This way every one at the carnival will have something to look forward to! Our office staff can help you to determine what the right games and activities are for your group. Contact Us today- and we will help you to determine what attractions will work the best for your group!
SPACE/POWER Determining the space and power requirements for your event can be a daunting task. Fortunately we are experienced in this area, and we can help you. We offer a free sight evaluation for larger events. We will also help you determine these factors during the selection
process of your rides and attractions! With just one phone call your entertainment worries are over!
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