Where the Fun Starts!! - The BobbyK BLOG

Carnival Games and Inflatables for Elementary Schools

Many times, parent organizations try to create activities and raise money at the same time for their elementary or middle schools.  Usually, accomplishing both goals is very difficult. The most painful fundraisers seem to be those selling wrapping paper or greeting cards or those boxes of candy bars.

Planning a family activity that will generate interest and have large attendance is also a challenge. For years, school carnivals have been a fun way for parents and children to interact, but the work involved is immense and the financial rewards minimal.

A school carnival that is held in partnership with an entertainment company can take a lot of the work out of the event while creating something that will be heavily attended and reap financial rewards for all involved!

Some entertainment companies are willing to create special packages with schools during their off season and partner to create a successful event. Three to four inflatables and a few carnival games can be the base needed to get children and their families to attend a school carnival. Add food, music and some other activities and you have a successful event.

Instead of paying lots of money for inflatables, get a company that will train your volunteers to operate the inflatables while they provide trained supervision. You'll cut the company’s expense considerably. Then work out a split after a fair guarantee so everyone makes money.

By charging an admission fee for unlimited rides, you create an easily tracked income stream that can be used to pay for the main attraction, the inflatables. All other money made from sponsorships, food sales, crafts, or flea markets can be kept by the organization.

With a partnership in place, it is in everyone’s interest to get lots of people to attend - resulting in a successful event... and a profitable one too!

Planning for Playthrough on Inflatables

One of the most frustrating aspects of planning a party is when you get the most exciting items you can find only to have your guests complain about long wait times. Think of how many times you have gone to a theme park and been frustrated with a 1-2 hour wait for the most popular rides and attractions!

By asking a provider about “playthrough," you can avoid these issues.  While a large climbing wall may be what you dreamed of having at your event, be aware that the time required for safely attaching harnesses and then belaying the participant is a lot more than for other fun attractions.

When dealing with a client, the first question is, “How many people are you going to have at the event and of what age groups?" This helps us determine the correct mix of items.  But while a Climbing Wall only handles about 24 people per hour, a similarly priced Obstacle Course will allow 240 people through in an hour.

Any attraction that requires special equipment will slow down the process of play!  Many items like bungee runs and climbing walls require harnesses. Sticky Walls and Sumo wrestling require getting in and out of special suits and contact sports such as joust and boxing require helmets and special equipment.  Getting in and out of these items adds to the time.  Check with your provider to make sure they have extra equipment so one group can be “gearing up” while the other group is playing.

Another area of consideration is the number of play areas on an inflatable, particularly with smaller children.  If a participant is encouraged to move through an inflatable rather than play in one place, more people can be moved through quickly.  A Moonbounce has 4-6 children bouncing at one time for a set period, usually about 5 minutes.  A Moonbounce with a slide attached has 4-6 children bouncing for a shorter time so they can go down the slide.  This creates greater play-through!

Experienced entertainment companies can guide you through the questions you should be asking and make the appropriate suggestions for a mix of items that should keep your waiting lines small and smiles on the faces of everyone at your event!

Customizing your Game Shows

When choosing a TV Style game show for your next corporate or college event, don’t just take an “off the shelf” version. For a little more money, you can customize your game show to represent your company or the theme you are presenting.  

Writing custom questions for any game show does take some time and will require a bit of programming, but it can make the difference when you are presenting the game show to an involved and dedicated audience. As an example, Bobby K Entertainment has created several versions of our Hot Seat game show to incorporate different themes.

The basic concept of Hot Seat is that contestants compete against 24 other players and try not to get eliminated by selecting an incorrect answer from four possible answers for each question. There are four different rounds with a winner in each round.

In customizing the show, we have created themes for Black History Month, Green (environmental), Latino History, and Pop Culture. The possibilities are endless as you can create questions around a corporate philosophy, sales and product information, or employee information  One could even create a special show for Class or Family Reunions.

For more information on customization or the types of game shows available, go to www.bobbykgameshows.com.

 

Game Shows as Fundraisers

Everyone loves a good TV style game show!  There is even a cable TV channel that plays nothing but game shows.  In recent years, among the top rated network shows has been Deal, No Deal, Are you Smarter than A Fifth Grader? And now the resurgence of The Price is Right with Drew Carey.

While everyone loves to watch, they would all love an opportunity to play.  Unfortunately, seldom do we have a chance to play a TV game show much less win exciting prizes.  By combining the excitement of a professional TV Style Game show and the chance to win great prizes, you have just created a wonderful Fundraising Idea!

Sponsorships and Ticket Sales are the key to raising significant money.  You should search out an overall sponsor at a higher dollar figure and then sponsors for individual rounds AND the prizes you hope to give away.  Tickets should be affordable and the admission should include some snacks, background music (which can be provided by the game show hosts), and a cash bar.

There are many games to choose from including versions of popular TV shows as well as customized game shows created especially for the group seeking funds or the corporation sponsoring the event.  Take a game that asks several questions and you can sponsor the entire night, the prizes that are given away, each round of questions, the categories of questions, the game podiums, the ticket printing, the snacks, the emcee and even the location of the party!  Tie in a media sponsor (usually radio) and your advertising can be free as well.

Bobby K Entertainment has experienced event consultants ready to help you create a successful game show fundraising event!

Party Fun - Creative Spin Art Ideas

If you’ve been to any company picnic, fundraiser, or party, odds are you have seen a spin art machine where kids or adults can splatter bright colors of paint or ink on cards or Frisbees and take home their newest creation. 

While Frisbees remain the most popular of all spin art items, there are some new ideas that put a new “spin” on the artwork!

Blank puzzle pieces that can be decorated at high speeds with unique splatters of color are now available.  When dry, just break the puzzle pieces apart and you have both an art piece and a puzzle to play with – and no two are alike!

Unique T-shirt designs are nothing new, many have brought tie-dyed shirts to their events for years.  Now there are T-shirt spin art machines that allow you to bring the splatter design to a format you can wear every day!  Although you can’t use a standard spin art machine, the new machine accommodates different sized shirts in any color.  The only issue with the spin art T-shirts is that they take longer to dry than plastic or cardboard items, so everyone has to wait about an hour for the drying process and must return to get their shirts.

One final item that can be created with the new spin art machines fits right into the hot “Green” Theme.  Eco-bags to replace plastic and paper grocery bags can be custom decorated and then used everyday to cut down on environmental footprint.

All of these items are available through Bobby K Entertainment.

Outdoor Fun with Bobby K

We've had an early Spring in Upstate New York and Summer is not far behind. With all the nice weather, who wants to play indoors anymore? Bobby K offers a variety of inflatables and games that are great for company picnics, graduation parties, and outdoor fundraisers. Check out this list of our Top 5 Outdoor Activities:

1. Water Balloon Wars
   From an inflatable fort, you and your teammate launch water balloons across an open field at your opponents. Built-in slingshots make it fun to spread out across long distances!
2. Human Foosball
   Five people per team are strapped to poles that allow them to move side-to-side but NOT forward or backward. Play ten minute games with a soft soccer ball and see who scores the highest!
3. Tiki Wall Climb
   We have several wall-climbing (or sticky wall) challenges, but none that represent 'fun in the sun' like our Tiki Wall Climb. Check it out!
4. Drive In Movies
   Our giant inflated drive in movie screen comes with rear projection and a great quality sound system. It measures 24 feet wide, 12 feet deep, and 20 feet high - and the actual screen is 18 feet in diameter. Invite your friends to set up blankets and lawn chairs to add enjoyment to a warm summer evening.
5. Tiki Bar and Mocktails
   Our Tiki Bar, complete with umbrella, is the perfect place to walk up and order a non-alcoholic Pina Colada or Strawberry Daiquiri Mocktail garnished with fruit and a tiny umbrella. It's also the perfect addition to your summer-themed party!

Photo Booths are for every party

As a kid visiting the five and dime store or any amusement park, you always grabbed your best friend and a couple of quarters and entered the photo booth for a strip of four goofy poses.  We’ve all still got copies of these pictures somewhere in our photo albums.

Photo booths have become the rage of wedding receptions. Not only can participants take their photos with their dates, family and friends, but they can also have a copy to give to the bride and groom as a keepsake. Some brides set out “wedding memory” books with pages for guests to glue their pictures in and write special messages to the wedding couple. The second set of pictures is taken home as a memento of the reception.

But weddings aren’t the only place for photo booths!  Since the pictures can be “branded” with logos and dates and sayings, the list of events goes on and on.  Photo Booths are perfect for Bar & Bat Mitzvahs, company picnics or holiday parties, Grand Openings, Fundraisers, School Proms, College events and more! The combination of the number of pictures, the number of copies and the speed at which pictures are produced makes the Photo Booth a perfect choice for any party!

Get photo booths at www.southerntierphotobooth.com.

Black Light Parties

The late 60's and early 70's brought us a psychedelic era that was exemplified by incense, felt posters, and black lights! While the posters may be out of favor, the black lights have never lost their popularity - and in recent years have gotten even more popular!

By being creative with the use of black lights and with the advent of LED black lights, more entertainment options are now available. However, just throwing up a black light does not make a party.

Bobby K Entertainment has found numerous ways to use this new technology to make black lights even more entertaining by integrating their use into traditional games:

• Cosmic Golf is a nine hole miniature golf course with the putters, balls, and every hole UV reactive. By adding 3-D glasses, the balls seem to float in mid-air when trying to putt due to the special surfaces.
• Midnight Volleyball is a darkened room illuminated only with black lights and with the net, ball, and court lines all UV reactive. Players use special makeup and glow necklaces to be seen.
• Glow Racing is the newest rage where four-wheeled, UV reactive pedal racers head down a similarly-lit race course. This creates a special “night time” event.
• Blacklight Dance Parties pull it all together with great music and a full array of black lights. The party is special because each piece of clothing reacts differently and our makeup and glow items allow partiers to stand out.

For more ideas on how to incorporate black lights into your fundraisers, corporate events, parties, weddings, and more, visit www.bobbyk.com today!

Flip Books are all the rage

Remember those days as a kid when you would doodle for hours on sheets of paper creating cartoons that, when stapled together, showed a stick figure moving or a car racing down a street? We called those flip books, a small advancement from the early crank-em movie reels.

Well, they are back in a truly innovative form! Flip books allow guests at any event to have a truly memorable experience that they then take home as a souvenir.  

The process is simple: Grab your friends and some props and maybe some signs (remember flip books don’t have audio). Then, act out your “skit” in six seconds for the video camera. Those six seconds are converted into 72 business-card-sized pages that are stapled into a customized cover so you can take your flip book video home with you immediately.

Now, when you want an “action” video of your last performance at a party, just take a flip book with you. No need to setup the DVD or Video player. These unique party favors are great for bar & bat mitzvahs, weddings, or corporate events. The speed at which they are produced allows every participant to get their own copy.

Fun with Photos

Everyone loves a personalized gift or party favor, and having fun (or phun) with photos is the place to start. Bobby K offers a photo booth rental for weddings, parties, and corporate events - and once your guests have their pictures taken, the possibilities are endless!

Imagine seeing yourself on the cover of a fantasy magazine, or putting together a puzzle that reveals a picture of you and your friends. You can be in the middle of a blizzard when you shake up a personalized snow globe, or click to your favorite website with your picture on the mouse pad. How about key chains, dry erase boards, clocks, and photo cubes with multiple pictures?

Check out the photo fun products you can add to your next event, and your guests will never forget the great time they had!