What neat things do you have at your event that make it really special?
Everyone has tips and tricks, organizational hints, contacts, performers, that they use....share your knowledge with your fellow event organisers...and use their ideas to make your Fair or Event extra special.
Just e-mail me your ideas and I’ll post them here.
Do you need someone to provide a concession at your event?
Hot day or cool, Kim has the products you need! She offers a professional event concession service with her sleek, new, spotlessly clean and fully equipped trailer.
Kim’s Cotton Candy offers cotton candy, Coke products, hard ice cream, snow cones, home-made fiddle sticks, smoothies, popcorn, home-made candy apples, and for the cooler day(I know, none of us wants them, but lets face it, once in a while we get them) coffee, cappuccino, and hot chocolate.
Give Kim O’Hara a call at 204 725 0923.
And while we’re on the subject of concessions.........where are you going to put them?
Often they like to set up near the childrens’ games...thats where the families gather.
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Do you have a set time for lunch at your event?
Does the Hog Roast start at 5pm?
If it does, plan to have the children’s activities end at 5pm, or just before.
It can be very frustrating for parents trying to get their children to come and eat, when all the kids really want to do is stay on the Bouncer.
And you certainly don’t want to see the kid’s games standing empty while all of the kids are tucking into their hotdogs!
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Bad weather can be a real dampener for an event, and it can really hit the gate at a paid event.
Last summer was one of the most difficult that we have seen, with high winds and torrential rains, so please everyone, have an indoor space available. We may not be able to fit everything in, but we will try our best. if there is a severe weather watch or warning in effect for your area we WILL NOT set up games outdoors.
Plan your alternate indoor venue well ahead of time; can you condense the lunch or exhibit space a little to make room for a couple of inflatables if the weather is bad?
Check the forecast a few days ahead...it’s better to make the decision to go indoors in good time, so you can let everyone know that the fun is going ahead as planned !
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Volunteers
Volunteers are becoming really tough to recruit. If you’re reading this you are probably a person who already has at least 3 different jobs to do in your organisation....and thats just on the day of the event !
When you are finding volunteers to help with the kids stuff, young people will do a fine job, but try to stagger their ‘shifts’ a bit, so that they can have some fun on the games themselves as well. Offering them free entry for the fun can help with recruitment too.
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Timing
Timing can be everything when you are planning an event.If you have a parade before your event it can work well to have the games start 15-30 minutes after the parade ends...to get the crowd to stay for the rest of the fun.
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How good is the electricity supply to your event site?
Think of all the different things that are going to need power on the big day...from the sound system down to the coffee pot...or should that be the other way around?
Check it out well before the day....we can bring rental generators to power the games if required...generators also mean no leads snaking around the grounds....wouldn’t that be nice?
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EVENT IDEA
Hold a Zero-Turn Mower Driving Contest
Remove the mowing deck, set up pylons or poles (electric fencing posts work well for this) to make a course, and invite competitors to drive around the course. Throw in a few 3-point turns, some obstacles to negotiate and some really narrow spots to make it interesting. Participants can compete against the clock, with time penalties for touching a pylon, or just on a points basis. You could have a small trophy for the winner, or do it just for fun and bragging rights.
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"MORE THEN JUST MUSIC"
Expressions Entertainment Services
Bryan Podworny at Expressions Entertainment Services provides a professional and fun entertainment and music service. Give him a call at 204 761 5652, e-mail sales@expressionsentertainment.com and check his site at www. expressionsentertainment.com
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Hot New Item! Keepsake Buttons!
Make your party or event really unique….create a special memory with a keepsake button.
We’ll make custom buttons for you for your friends and customers; for a party or event, grad, birthday, anniversary, or special achievement.
No minimum order…introductory price only $1.00 a button, plus a $10.00 set-up fee, per design.
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Location Location Location
We know that most of you have acres and acres of ground at your disposal...but you don’t have to use it all!!!!!
Try to keep the children’s activities reasonably close together, close to the bathrooms, and the concessions, and close to the rings...but not in a dip thats going to become a mud-hole if it rains the day before..please!!.
Families want to have fun, while keeping an eye on the smaller children,,so don’t spread things out too much. The young mom with the stroller, or the grandma with 2 live-wires under age 6 don’t want to be trailing across a half mile of grass to get to the bouncers!
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EVENT IDEA
Straw Pile Treasure Hunt
This is simple, inexpensive, and lots of fun.
Open bales of clean, dry straw (not barley straw, that’s itchy!) and make it into a heap. Hide lots of small novelties & toys in the heap. Cover it with a tarp until the designated time, get all the kids around the heap, and let them burrow in and find the prizes.
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Event Idea : Human Curling
Here’s one of the best we have seen in a long time..simple, inexpensive and LOTS of fun for all ages! Thanks to Snow Lake Winter Hoot for this great idea for a winter event… Human Curling !
The game get as many teams of 4 people as you can; each team member gets two attempts. As a fund-raiser charge an entry fee per team, $5 per team is a good amount (and grab some sponsorship from local businesses as well!) half the entry fees goes to the prize money, half to the fund-raising effort.
What you need: A hockey rink, 2 8′ × 4′ sheets of plywood and a large tire inner tube, a couple of 4" ‘L’ brackets, and a couple of 4" flat ‘brackets’.
How to set it up; Build yourself a ’runway’ on the ice surface. Start on the long side of the hockey rink opposite one of the face-off circles (that will be your ‘target’). Secure 1 sheet of plywood to the boards, (long side touching the boards), using the L brackets, then attach the second plywood sheet to the first plywood sheet (short side of the second sheet touching the long side of the first sheet) to make a T shape on the ice. That will provide some ‘grip’ for the competitors to make their run! Place a large tire inner-tube on the ice at the end of the runway.
How to play; have the competitors take a run down the runway and dive onto the tube, Superman style, and slide across the ice to the target (the face-off circle) When the tube and rider stops sliding, measure how far they are from the face-off circle; overlapping the circle scores a 0, 1 foot from it scores a 1, 2 feet from it a 2, and so on. The team with the lowest score wins!
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Insurance
And finally.......whoever you choose to provide your event or party entertainment........make sure that they have Public Liability Insurance, and that they send staff to set up the games and supervise them while they are in use.
Inflatables should be properly secured, and supervised by a responsible operator while they are in use.
A responsible company will have at least $1M of insurance coverage. Be safe.....ask to see a copy of their Certificate of Insurance.
Professional rental companies do not drop off equipment at an event for you to ‘do it yourself’!
