Fall Festival Ideas

Instructions for each Carnival Game and Carnival Booth
http://www.carnivalsavers.com/page/page.cfm/freeboothideas

face painting

water ballon pumpkin yo-yos

candy necklaces

throw wet sponges at teachers

story telling

moon bounce machine

what about a cake walk
asking farmers (if in your area) about bring tractors up for the kids to look at or some sort of petting zoo
some sort of game/contest throwing footballs through things, basketball shooting, soccer
I remember my mom's co picnic used to have penny digs...maybe you could get like dollar store toys burying them in sand or better yet leaves
Pumpkin painting or carving contest

The PTO at our school had one this summer with crafters, the HS had a pig roast to earn $$$, a local gymnastics team came peformed & let the kids walk W/shoes off the beam (very big w/olympics)

Rent cotton candy and popcorn machines. Have a baked goods contest. Pie-eating contest. Throw balls at milk bottles. Land ping pong balls in fish balls, win the goldfish. Velcro dart game.

We use Crazy Candy at our festivals. It is edible sand art. The kids love it. You can find it at crazycandyart.com. Good Luck!

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Ideas we used when I was the chair for our Summerfest...

A baking contest (pies and/or cakes)...blue ribbon prizes.

A game where a guy hammers a nail (#16) into a piece of wood in one hit and wins a prize for his girlfriend...stuffed animals or food tickets, etc.

Bossie Bingo...a large grid is made on the ground and fenced in and you sell squares and a farmer brings a couple of cows and puts them in the fenced off area and the first square that gets pooped on wins some money.

Have a craft fair.

Dunking for apples.

Pumpkin carving contest...get a farmer in the area to donate the pumpkins in exchange for the free advertising the contest will bring...ribbon prizes would be enough.

Hay rides.

Craft demonstrations...basket weavers, quilters, blacksmith, etc.

We had a square dance group come and dance for everyone....they were dressed in square dance costumes...it was nice.

Pony rides.

Cutest dog contest...mutts allowed of course...you can have different categories. Costumes and tricks can be categories.

A halloween costume contest and kiddie parade.

A petting zoo with goats, sheep etc.

Antique cars owned by local citizens can be shown...car owners just love to talk about and show off their cars.

Corn eating competition.

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The 2 answers given already were great. I would just add face painting or kiddie tattoos. Also, at ours one year we rented a rock climbing wall and bungie jump and a giant slide. These went over pretty good. We had someone make up a putt putt game, a bean bag toss through holes in a board decorated with frogs (fully rely on god), and a balloon dart throw. We had prizes for the games. One of the churches in our community had a skeet shoot. One last thing I can think of is to have an old country store - home-canned items, quilts, anything homemade to sell, etc.

At our school we have done pumpkin ring toss, fish pond, pick up ducks, pickle walk, cookie walk, coke ring toss, frog fling (toss a stuffed frog on a lilypad and win), bug splat (throw a sticky bug at a cardboard cutout of a car with windshield), tattoo parlor, face painting, putt-to-win, hockey hit, and torpedo toss. I'm sure there are others but that's all I can come up with for now.

One of our fall events we made our church gym into a barnyard!! We got refrigerator boxes (big giant card board boxes) and with tape and layering them (for added support in the back) we mad a huge barn front that was nearly 11' high! We painted it and cut out the barn doors an stuck it in the corner. It dominated the gym! Then we had a bunch of hay bails all around and a white picket fence circling the gym and a little arch way that you walked through to get into sit. Oh and of course along with the hay there were also Pumpkins and corn stalks stuck up everywhere! We decided not to do leaves since they would have gotten ground into the floor but if you are outside get leaves! Even if you have to get them from somewhere else!

firetruck to climb in and check out

pumpkins to decorate

decorate with balloons

FALL FESTIVAL A DAY OF SUN AND FUN
This year’s Fauntleroy Fall Festival, attracted more than 1,000 adults and children with a wide variety of activities. A new addition, the climbing wall, was a big hit, as were the pony rides, birdhouse and scarecrow building, story telling, giant bouncing toys, and stepping-stone making to name just a few of the attractions. Music, entertainment, nature walks, and information tables added to the festivities, and of course there were lots of good things to eat. Heartfelt thanks to all our sponsors, Fauntleroy YMCA, Fauntleroy Church, Westside School, Westside Baby, The Hall at Fauntleroy, Tuxedos ‘n’ Tennis Shoes, and Fauntleroy Community Association, and to our many donors, Clowns Unlimited, Alki Lumber, Stagestruck, Endolyne Joe’s, West Seattle Big Band and others. This day of fun would not have been possible. without a huge cadre of dedicated organizers and volunteers, Thank you, each and every one!

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There is a craft area for children.
Balloon game, Duck Pond game and Cork game - presented by Nicholas Games
Puppet shows, Face Painting, Balloon animals and Storytelling
Hoop Shoot - Southmoreland Boys Basketball
Moonwalk - A.R.M.
Face painting - MEDPlus
Trackless Train - Saturday 2-7 PM and Sunday 12-5PM
Confetti Eggs
Sandbox, Big Wheels, etc.
Character Photo Shoot - Southmoreland HS Marching Band
Pie Throw - Tam O'Shanter (SHS newspaper)
Face Painting - SHS Student Council

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have a scavenger hunt, a costume and dance contest. We want to do a fun house

Harvest Festival Ideas Post By sophie (Guest Post) (08/16/2007) Autumn Obstacle course (run around hay bales, jump over pumpkins, string of apples to crawl underneath, pop a balloon) Milk a cow Stenciling Butter churning Amazing race (after finishing you will receive a paper to tell you where and what to do for the next task to win a prize at the end) Baked Apples (cut out the core and put in brown sugar) Carmel apples, candy apples Make your own candy apple Bobbing for apples (In a big bucket, children try to grab the apples only using their mouths) Dress up in period clothing and have your picture taken as a family (or wood cut-outs) Apple heads- put ears, nose, and eyes on an apple to create a face Apple prints - use the apple to make shapes, then put paint on them and put on paper Sack Races/ Three legged races Autumn fall wreaths Make a Weather Vane Fishing Game Activity to do with Maple syrup (Tapping syrup from a tree) Apple pie or Watermelon eating contest (Police vs. Firemen) Farmer's Market - biggest apple, corn, pumpkin, squash Horseshoe Throwing Contest Corn Roast Log Cabin Milk Carton Craft Hoop and Sticks: You have a hoop and a stick you hit the hop with the stick. The object of the game is to keep the hoop rolling. Gold Panning: Have an area that is filled with small rocks and sand, children go and sift through the sand and rocks to find gold nuggets Rope Cattle Hay Maze for Kids Stick Pull Game (Using a stick two people sit across from each other, grab hold of the stick, put their feet together and try and pull the other one towards them to win the game) Needle in a haystack (not a needle but maybe candy or a large objects) Pancake breakfast Make your own candlesticks Black smith to show how it was done in the olden days Log Bird Houses Guessing Game: How much harvest candy are in a jar Pumpkin Bean Bag Toss Lollipop tree - The kid gets to pick a lollipop from the tree and if there's mark on it, they win a prize Make Jumbo smores

Do a lollypop tree - have the kids pick a lollypop and if it's marked on the bottom of the stick, they get a prize. Everyone gets to keep their lollypop no matter what. If you have time, you can do a pumpkin decorating contest. You can do a three-legged race with teams. Maybe a scavenger hunt within the park to find certain things. Set up stations for them to go trick-or-treating within the park.

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I have had harvest party carnival events at my home for the past 4-5 yrs, and each year I have more kids & of course my kids are getting older, I also need to find away to either make straw bales or buy them for sitting and game events, also we do potato sack races, relay races, like corn husking and eggs on spoon (fake eater egg plastic), gummy worm find pudding contest, bean bag toss games, candy land, twister, a movie and popcorn, a lollipop tree and ducky pond, etc.

I need to find away to make straw bales because can't seem to buy them already made, or if can find someone that knows where to get some already made, thanks. Also most prizes I give out are in grab bags. Prizes they don't know till after and opened, I categorize them by age etc, and I also have fake or real pile of leaves with candy and prizes they have to find towards the end of the night to take home with them and I make a dinner like beef stew, pumpkin soup, MAC & CHEESE and veggies etc.

We try obstacle courses and basketball games as well, we have a glow in the dark basketball, also for the adults I do a bingo game and raffle or door prizes as well, to keep adults entertained as well, hope this helps and hope I can get more ideas and help too

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We give bags w/tickets & church info- the maze (boxes taped together); pumpkin beanbag toss (wood pumpkin with cutout on eyes,nose & mouth); Goliath toss,6' tall wood cutout man in armor w/velcro strips (put velcro on ping pong balls & toss at Goliath; cake walk; tresure chest (filled w/easter eggs & foam peanuts w/# of prize in egg); fishpond (large piece of wood w/drwing of underwater) throw fishng rod line over the top & someone clips prize;lollipop tree (all sizes small to huge on wooded tree w # on racks) kids pick ping pong ball w/# & thats the candy they get. skate boarding contect; video wall (car game on projector thrown on big size wall).Plan to add game for adults - General Store, asking church members to make cookies put 3/4 in bag w/recipe & bible verse,also have some small items at the store; kids get 20 tickts/adults 5; we also give out door prizes from community (burger places, bowling, christian store, etc...)

lawn bowling is also fun when you use a pumpkin in place of a ball be sure to have extras in case they break.

scavenger hunt, gummi worm eating contest, and our famous balloon dare. Thats when you play a quick game (like rock, paper, sissors or duck duck goose) and the loser has to pick and pop a ballon from the bag and perfrom the dare.

Bobbing for apples, ping pong toss, hay maze, pet barn, jumpy house, bean bag toss, fishing for gummi worms, chicken toss, tons of fun

another idea is to get paper sacks and have the kids make leaf cutouts to decorate them with. So they can put their candy or prizes in.

They collected lrg cardboard boxes, attached them end to end, and created a tunnel that spread out over the gym floor in twists and turns and straight-aways. The boxes weren't decorated on the outside, but that would be a nice touch - you could even create a theme of various Biblical locations for each section of the tunnel. There was always a line of little ones to crawl thru this activity. I wasn't involved, just sat back and watched, so I'm not sure what they used to attach the various boxes, if they had them afixed to the floor, or if they were decorated on the inside.

best decorated straw hat. games where you have to make animal noises. Pass-the-parcel with forfeits in each layer, again animal related. bobbing for apples.

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you can have a scare crow relay were kids have to run to a marker (cone or stake or whatever you can find)put on extra large cloths like Big boots, straw hats and ovralls then run back to were they started and take them off letting the next kid in line have a try.

You can decorate with garlends of fake fall leaves from craft stores and boques of real ones. You can put out jack o' laterns lite with christmas lights (when carving make sure to includ a hole in the back for the cord to slip through). indian corn is wonderful and very decorative. Make foam owls with closepins glued to the backs so you can clip them around.

you can make your fun house by closing of one part or room of your church with fabric or boxes then inside hanging ribbon from the roof with balloons tapped to the ends so they bob along the bottom.

a fun thing for younger kids is to have a card board box with a elphants head painted on and a hole where the trunk is supposed to be then a adult with a grey sock on their hand puts their arm through it like a trunk and then kids hand the elpahnt a peanut. Then the adult can give the kids candies in return.

You can make a fun house mirror from tin foil and add some light bulbs painted in lime greens and sholking purples for fun effects. bubble machines would be even more fun.

a mystery box would also fit in well here. For this take a box and add a big enough hole for someone to fit there hand in and feel the contents. You can put in things like a candy cane, squirt gun, cotten ball, ect. Anything with a distinct shape or feel to it is good.

a diffrent idea for favors is an apple, carmel sheet and pocicle stick so kids can make there own carmel apples. You also might want to include glowsticks, candy whistles, stickers, and mini bubble packs. (09/27/2005)

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