maker or purely something to pull in the crowds. For attractions that everyone can enjoy,
set up a performance area inviting local judo, streetdance, morris dancing and theatre clubs to demonstrate their skills. This will give your performers who are not pupils will bring their families along to the fair. See if there are any school clubs willing to
perform, too, be it dancing, singing or martial arts, as this means free entertainment while promoting the talents of your students. External entertainment could add gravitas to proceedings, with birds-of-prey companies, petting farms, magicians and musical acts all proving popular.
PTA+ online
Visit
pta.co.uk/fairs/springsummer for more summer fair ideas and advice.
THEMES Giving your event a theme will add magic and excitement – and make it a lot easier to think of related stalls and attractions. What celebrations does 2018 have in store? It’s 250 years since the about bouncing ideas around the World Cup? In need of inspiration? Read our fabulous case studies from PTAs that have incorporated various interesting themes into their summer fairs!
Vintage fair and other ideas
‘Last summer, our theme was “vintage” – we had lots of old-style games such as a coconut shy, skittles, retro sweets and candyfl oss, tombolas and a raffl e. We even had teachers being soaked in the stocks! A family within the school have a large steam engine, which they kindly brought along for children to sit in. We invited local businesses along to sell crafts, books and soaps, and a sports group attended to put on free games. The Lions Club catered, which took the pressure off us fi nding volunteers, and gave us a percentage of the takings. Our total raised was £2,358.16!
In 2016, the theme was
“emergency vehicles”. We had police, fi re, ambulance and a blood bike. The children absolutely loved being able to dress up in uniforms and sit in the vehicles. We always have groups from within the school take part – the breakdance club generally opens the fair, the gymnastics group puts on a display and in 2016, Year 4 performed a musical extravaganza! This year we’re doing the
World Cup, and then “circus” and “farm” are on the list!’ Chrissie Read, PTA Chair, Okehampton Primary School, Devon (700 pupils)
Create a carnival feel
‘The themes for our summer carnivals have been “circus”, “under the sea”, “space”, “around the world” and “L-fest”. All children and teachers get involved, as do our PTA volunteers. Space and L-fest were two of the most popular themes. All our carnivals start with a parade of the children and teaching staff dressed in costumes relating to the theme. For example, for our space theme we had aliens, spaceships, rockets, astronauts and Star Wars characters. We have our regular stalls no matter what the theme, as they are popular money-makers: pony rides, bouncy castle, go-karts, tombola, hog roast and raffl e. Additional stalls for the space theme were lime jelly (AKA alien
48 SPRING 2018
pta.co.uk
brains!) a spacecraft tent, and a photo booth. Each year group also organised a game or sold crafts related to space. “L-fest” was everything beginning
with “L”, because it’s the fi rst letter of our school’s name. Visitors came along dressed appropriately, and we had Little Red Riding Hoods, a lighthouse, LEGO men, lumberjacks, lions, leprechauns, Little Mermaids, Lassie, lollipops and even Leonardo DiCaprio! We had a “luscious” cake stall, L-coholics Pimm’s bar, “lots of teddies” tombola, lucky dip, LEGO lotto and Looby Lou face painting. We always make around £2,500. Our theme for 2018 is “at the movies”.’ Karen Cale, PTA Chair, Ledbury Primary School, Herefordshire (450 pupils)
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