5 Things to Keep in Mind when Planning an Event for Your School

If you are in a PTA/PTO/Booster Club and are planning a fun event for the students and families of the school, there are things that you need to keep in mind before getting started. I have been involved with my school's Booster Club for years, first as just as a parent who helped out once in a while to now being the groups president. There are things that I wished I had known then that I've found out during the process of planning events. Our school isn't that big and a lot of the information has not carried over from previous years so when I took over the presidential spot, it was like everything was brand new again because I had no resources at my fingertips.

Planning an event can be a lot of fun but it is also a lot of work. This article will detail a few things that you need to keep in mind before and during the planning of your event.

#1: Permission

When your group gets an idea of what kind of event they'd like to put on at the school the first thing you need to do is get principal approval. Believe me, I know how exciting it can be to share ideas with other likeminded people and get started immediately on planning an event. But before you start your planning, get permission. If your event is approved, great! You're free to start planning but if the principal doesn't give permission to go through with it, you haven't wasted much time planning something that you didn't get to do.

#2: Location

Location is key when you're planning because it is where you'll be having your event. Make absolutely certain that the location you have in mind will work. Go to the location, visualize in your mind the number of people, where you want certain items set up, etc. Then take paper and draw in the tables, sections of your event and so forth. At one of our last events, some of us went into the cafeteria and wall by wall, wrote down what area was going to be what. It helped us decide if our event would work in the cafeteria or if we needed to move it.

#3: Send in Paperwork

Unless you've helped plan events for a school before, you may not know that most schools require paperwork sent in for additional permission from the district. I had no idea that you were supposed to do this. When I was a parent volunteer with only moderate interaction with the Booster Club, I thought that you got permission from the school and that was that. But no... it goes beyond that. We had to fill out a paper about our event. The district required it to be sent in at least two weeks before our event date and to include a self addressed envelope to receive a reply. Your district may have different rules but you'll want to check what you need to fill out before the event date.

#4: Get Volunteers Well in Advance

Volunteers are the most important part of throwing a school event. If you don't have volunteers to help you to set up, run areas at the event and to clean up, your event just won't be that successful because you can't do it all yourself. When you know what kind of event that you'll be doing and how many volunteers you'll be needed, start reaching out to parents and teachers like. Some teachers don't mind helping at a school function, just don't overwork them as they've been with their students all day long. Contact parents and offer them a choice in how long they help at the event. Parents may still want to enjoy the function but will be willing to help out for a certain amount of time. At our last school function, we offered three different times to help. Parents seemed to be happier with a choice instead of one set time.

#5: Leave Everything as you Began It

It is extremely important to leave everything the same as how you began it when you're having an event. Clean everything up, place items in their proper slots. If you get a reputation for being a group that leaves trash lying around, food stuck in pots that you borrowed from a parent, then no one will want to let you have an event or loan you anything because they'll know that your group will not take care of what it uses.

There are other aspects of planning an event but by keeping the five tips in mind when planning, you'll have a more successful event and build a good reputation with the school and the parents who attend.