In search of ideas

Hi guys, I am on the hunt for ideas for a street fair. I've been asked to revamp ours and make it awesome! Apparently they think I know how to party or something

Here are a few of the things I'm tossing around right now...

Beauty Pageant
Power Wheels Drag Race
Strong Man Demonstration
Classic Car Show
Cupcake Contest
Good Music (of course)
Vendors & Buskers

Other suggestions have been...

Jump Rope competition
Hop Scotch
Basketball Tournament

I really think we could just put those last things in a play area and not worry about doing a competition.

Also, I could use some help in how to go about finding buskers and enticing them to come?

get Elsa and Anna..(sorry, it just begged to be said, based on your other post)

:p

Treasure hunt? Minute to win it competitions, petting zoo, dunking booth?

add hulu hoops
don't do bubbles!

love the power wheels drag racing idea

Have a dog show? But paint all the kids as dogs-have them do tricks, bark like a dog, drink like a dog and so on.

-or cat show and so on....

What's wrong with bubbles?

Absolutely nothing is wrong with bubbles... unless they land in your paint. It creates a nasty, sticky blart in your paints. If someone uses the "Touch-A-Bubble" bubbles, it can ruin a man's suit.

Make sure your event insurance covers the cost of replacing a client's ruined clothing if you are using "Touch-A-Bubble". This happened to someone at a 90th birthday party I was hired to face paint for, and the twister had an assistant blowing bubbles. I was contacted regarding the ruined suit, and to see if I used the bubbles.

love the dunking booth and hula hoops ideas!

anything with food is good, in my area they have both a chili cook-off and a chowder making contest, so your cupcake or local favorite dish should work.

another kids event in my area is a "mud day", oh yeah, exactly what it sounds like - big muddy pit made from lots of dirt and water, add kids, toddlers, their parents, teens, people old enough to know better..

on a similar note, i presided over a homemade water slide at a local summer picnic one year -
need a pond and a rented pump, or other good source of water,
steep grassy slope,
slide made out of heavy plastic sheet down the slope,
wrap edges of sheet around plastic tubing, to make sides to contain the water,
pump water down slide from the top,
squirt liquid dish soap on it to make it slippery.
kids love it.

on halloween, a local fire dept offers kids rides around their village in their fire engines, complete with flashing lights and short bursts of the siren. could also do police car, vintage car or truck, tractor, hay wagon.

pony rides?

the strong man competition sounds good, could also do "lumberjack" contests or other skills demonstrations, wood carving, don't forget women, too

crafts - tie dye shirts,  homemade wind chimes (lots of how-to's on the internet and youtube), origami paper folding, simple basket making, weaving..

Depending on where you are, there may be prohibitive costs to sell food. In my area, there are very strict health codes and licenses around food prep and serving. The cost of the license, wash stations, equipment, etc. is usually too high for it to be worth my while to sell any food product.

I say pick a theme first--look at pinterest for ideas--and just work off of that one.

I've got a theme and it's generally pretty easy to serve up food around here, but I'll let the vendors handle that on their own.

The theme is WV Birthday Party

wv? West Virginia?

Yes!

How many kids are expected? With your booth be a a 10X10 space?

so I know about ZERO about West Virginia, so I did a little research...

You could do a mock Civil War battle with balloon swords--a specific color for each side. Just let the kids have fun, and if your balloon pops, you are out.

You could do Boat races--make aluminum foil rivers and have the kids make paper boats and blow their boat down the river?--have two set up so two kids can race at the same time.

Do a traditional Birthday party--with balloons, music (think limbo, bunny hop, hocky pocky, and activity songs) Have cupcakes for the kids (maybe a cake walk?), every half hour sing Happy Birthday and blow out candles on a cupcake?

All awesome idea's. What kind of staff do you have? I'd be worried about planning too much if you don't have the A. Budget, and B. Help.

Limit it to a few things both classic (ie: face painting, cake walks, petting zoo) and more unique (ie: Power Wheels Drag Race). Then what you do have MAKE AWESOME and don't half-a$$ it. It's better to have a few things that are  REALLY awesome, rather then many things that are poorly planned and put together.

Don't neglect old fashioned entertainment like childrens shows, sing-a-long, stories, puppet show, dances, etc. Set aside some money to hire a big name childrens entertainer in your area (some one like Fred Penner style) and they are sure to be a BIG draw to the event.

Other ideas:
Childrens craft table
Fishing Pond game
BINGO
Street Hockey (ok my Canada is showing  )
Hay Ride

Oh my gosh you guys are so great! I love the idea of a civil war balloon re-enactment.

Here's what I've been able to come up with so far...

Hot Wheels Drag Racing (There's a guy in the area who handles it)

A Strongman Demonstration ( I have a friend who will handle that)

Cupcake Contest

Pageant (I'm handling that)

Dance workshops (Courtesy of our local dance studio)

Music (No details yet but we're definitely having music)

I'm contemplating renting a money machine and bounce house. I also need to find out about a petting zoo/pony rides. Aside from that I was gonna get some jump ropes, and sidewalk chalk for the kids. They can draw all they want and play old fashioned hop-scotch. That way I don't have to worry about prizes, they can just play.

I'm also trying to get a car show going which can be handled by a car club.

sounds fun! have a great time with it!

this isn't happening until things thaw out is it?

lol It's in June. But our weather for that weekend is notorious for behaving badly so I'm trying to plan things that will happen rain or shine.

Hopefully it doesn't rain though, my strongmen are gonna do a firetruck pull!

I need everybody to help me hope for awesome weather!

Amylady... I want to talk about that balloon re-enactment more. Exactly how were you thinking that thing should run? Do I need refs? Are you sure some crazy sh** won't go down by allowing kids in the community to whack each other with balloons. I like the idea, but the more I imagine it in my head the more tears I see.

I get the feeling that the suggestion to get Elsa and Anna was in jest, but I would SERIOUSLY recommend it.

My company is constantly hired for appearances at fundraisers, fairs, store and restaurant appearances etc.

We once has hundreds of people show up to a Canadian tire, for a one hour appearance. Like the actresses needed bodyguards.

I know we're all sick of Frozen, but parents are still paying for it!

honestly I know nothing about re-enactments! I have only seen stuff in movies--but in my mind you would go in waves--little kids first--medium kids--then big kids.
If their balloon pops they have 'died' or are "out"-
you would have to get cheap balloons so they pop easier.

I saw it happening in a marked off area, not just a free for all--maybe a ref (especially for older kids)

Maybe along with the balloon sword-they have a balloon tied to their ankle and if that one gets popped they are out, even if sword isn't popped- But stomped on feet might be an issue? teams are determined by balloon color?

Mellygee911 wrote:I get the feeling that the suggestion to get Elsa and Anna was in jest, but I would SERIOUSLY recommend it.

My company is constantly hired for appearances at fundraisers, fairs, store and restaurant appearances etc.

We once has hundreds of people show up to a Canadian tire, for a one hour appearance.  Like the actresses needed bodyguards.

I know we're all sick of Frozen, but parents are still paying for it!

I'm hoping they will inquire about setting up a booth to promote themselves Then I can charge them to be there. *evilish snicker*

If they don't, I don't care because I have some of the World's Strongest Men and a Magician coming. There's going to be tons of entertainment without Princess Elsa. I think I'd rather hire Olaf

Amylady we have a History Bee as part of this amazing week. I'm going to see if I can get the winners and organizers to referee. I have a friend who is a historian and also has a kid so maybe she will have some ideas.