Planning and Promoting a Fun and Profitable School Fund Raiser

There’s no doubt that schools need much more funding than they receive to provide the quality education they want to give.  Like most schools, yours is likely involved in some form of fund raising throughout the entire year.  A profitable and fun way to raise money for the supplies your school needs so desperately, is to host a seasonal or holiday fair that will draw people from all over the community.  Think big when planning your event.  The more exciting, fun, and appealing your event, the more people will attend and the more press coverage you’ll receive. 

Think big, think inflatable rentals!

The best way to give your school fair a big feel is by bringing in lots of fun, colorful, inflatable rentals.  Imagine the grounds when fair goers are having fun wrestling in gigantic inflatable sumo suits, racing against friends on an inflatable obstacle course, or engaged in a match of inflatable gladiator jousting.  With inflatable rentals, you can literally inflate an entire fair ground in just one day. 

Games and activities

Fair games are simple to make and are a great project for students.  They can also be a big revenue generator for your school.  You’ll want to invest in some small prizes to give out to everyone who plays.  Position your games and activities around the inflatable rentals so that fair-goers can play while waiting for friends and family member to complete their turn on the inflatable activities.

Most fair games are simple to create.  One idea for a simple and fun game is a fishing game that requires a small plastic pool, a few rubber ducks with magnets attached to the head or back, and a fishing pole with a magnet on the end. When players lift up the duck, they discover a number on the duck’s belly that corresponds with a specific prize.  Other ideas are beanbag toss that requires only beanbags and a piece of wood drilled with holes, and a Frisbee throw game where participants try to throw a Frisbee through a hula hoop.  Building games is great fun for students—challenge them to come up with more fun and interesting games and have them work together to build them. 

Using the media to create buzz

The bigger your event, the more press coverage you are likely to receive.  Local newspapers, radio stations, and television stations are always looking for exciting events to inform the community of.  Start by sending out press releases to these media outlets that includes information about all of the different inflatable rentals, games, and vendors that will be at the event.  Monitor the places that you’ve sent your press release to and contact individuals at the media outlets that haven’t yet mentioned your news to inform them personally.  You’ll be amazed at how much free publicity you can receive and how many people will hear the message.

Drawing in passers by

Inflatable rentals aren’t just a lot of fun for everyone; they also attract a lot of attention.  Those who didn’t hear about the event from press, posters, flyers, or word of mouth will see the colorful inflatable rentals while driving by.  It’s difficult to miss a 22 foot tall inflatable obstacle course and even harder to resist the urge to give it a try.  Be sure to have lots of signs near roads letting passers by know that the event is open to the public and also provide dates and times that the event will be running as well as the cost so that curious people will be more likely to drop in. 

Plan early, book your inflatable rentals early, and appoint several people to get the word out around town through radio advertising, flyers, posters door hangers, and other local community news outlets.  It’s easy to plan a wonderful event and raise a great deal of much-needed cash for your school with inflatable rentals, homemade fair games, and a little publicity!