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Sandy Spring Friends School
Sandy Spring, MD
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Hold a carnival! The eleventh graders of Sandy Spring Friends
School had a full-fledged carnival, with games, balloons, pumpkin
and face painting, a cake raffle, and even a haunted house. Tickets
were sold for each activity, and students and their families from
all grade levels - the school goes from pre-kindergarten to twelfth
grade - were invited to come.
This
was a risky fundraiser. No one had tried to do something like
it in the past, so it wasn't clear how many people would be interested
in coming. Fortunately, the carnival turned out to be a success!
It was initially scheduled to last two hours, but because demand
for the haunted house was so high, the carnival ran for nearly
an extra hour.
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Research,
research, research. When you try a new fundraiser at
your school, there are lots of things you don't know about
- the most important of which is how many people will be
interested in your idea. Research can help you with this.
A quick survey, for example, can help weed out ideas that
won't fly. Or maybe another school in your area has done
something similar, and can give you some advice.
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Post-game
analysis doesn't hurt. The carnival organizers kept track
of how many tickets each activity sold, so that they can
plan better for demand in the future and spice up the activities
that didn't do as well.
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Keep
your costs low. With an elaborate event like a carnival,
equipment and other setup costs can really get high - Sandy
Spring's carnival cost about $120. Contact local businesses
and see if you can get at least some of your costs covered
through sponsorships or donations.
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Long
Reach High School organized a similar kind of carnival, this
time for Homecoming.
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Century
High School had an event for students at a baseball game
that included a student getting to throw the first pitch,
skits performed by the drama club, and fireworks.
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Catonsville
High School held a flea market.
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