I have labeled my post title as How to Host a Bingo Night because when I did the search - I came across great info - but it was overdone. So, in sharing my experience I hope to help other parent groups out there have a SIMPLE, successful bingo night - without going broke. :)
Ours was officially called a Holiday Family Bingo Night since it was held in December - as we've had a poor turnout in the past several years with our previous holiday event in December we decided - we didn't want to do 'nothing' but - let's do 'something' and keep it simple.
First of all, as PTO president I helped with the event but I did have a very capable and dependable committee coordinator to put this all together, but I am writing from my experience.
We only met once to plan bingo. Let's face it - it's just a number and letter - how hard can it be? I won't detail what we did but the info we gathered and how it was implemented. Then, we met once again to assemble 'bingo packs' using zip lock bags - with two bingo cards and chips/markers.
Things to consider: Attention span/time frame. Bingo could go on for hours if you wanted it to but with elementary kids - we decided our time frame would be 6:45 to 8pm with an actual starting time of around 6:55/7pm. This gives folks the opportunity to get their bingo packets, have a seat and grab a treat and hot cocoa. Consider each game will be about 8 minutes - give or take. If you end early - great! If you go over - no problem (so long as it's not 20 minutes or more). So, if your plan is for 8 games and you are down to the wire before starting game 7 - call it at game 7, just make an announcement.
Game play: You do not need a fancy machine. For us we discovered Amazon.com. :) I love Amazon! We simply bought a 'family' bingo game for $35 to use for the night. You also need chips/markers, and bingo cards. Instructions - are simple enough but I'll give a quick run-down: "As I spin the cage a single ball will pop out. Each ball is labeled with a number and a letter. I will call out both. If you have the number associated with the letter place a marker on that number. For straight line bingo the bingo can have a straight line going up and down, left to right, or diagonally, from corner to corner. Be sure to cover your free space!"
For us we had two specials. Being that it was a holiday bingo we chose games 4 and 8 to be a candy cane and a wreath, respectively. I took a few cards and marked them up with the pattern and left them on the tables so they could be referenced, but a helper did walk down the aisle with them as well - just to make certain everyone could see.
Prizes: No need to spend a lot of money. Our coordinator went and picked out ornaments as prizes. We didn't wrap them but you could wrap just the body of the ornament leaving the stem if you wanted. We went with 2 prizes for games 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7. That doesn't mean we had two winners for each game. I had a startling moment (late into planning) when it occured to me - what if we do have multiple winners???
* The more people who play, the quicker the games go and there is an increased chance of mulitiple winners. For us - we were really counting on about 30-50 people. That is about what we had - and it worked out perfectly.
Now for games 4 and 8: Game 4 we offered a family bingo game - one cheaper than the one we were using that evening. For game 8 - a longer game to complete (the wreath) than game 4 (candy cane) we offered up the very game we were using. A sweet little 4k-er won and she was eager for an ornament - we had extras so she got that, too.
We had decided that if we have multiple winners on that game we'd do a tie-breaker - and that is something I did announce up front when introducing myself and going over game play. We just figured I'd write a number and whoever guessed closest wins. You could do a drawing of some sort, too. But, the winner of the tie-breaker would get the game and the other winner(s) would get an ornamant. This did not happen for us so we did not need to use a tie-breaker.
I'm adding this in - one of our members would call out the numbers covered on the winning players' card to verify with the caller that the player had a good bingo. So, I do recommend when searching for a bingo game to find one that will neatly hold the numbers called - a wooden board is much better than a cardboard ball holder. You can't very well verify the numbers covered are accurate if you weren't able to keep track yourself.
Snacks: the committee made snacks and we also stated on our flyer guests would be welcome to contribute. We had cookies, brownies, chocolate dipped pretzel rods rolled in sprinkles - simple. And, we had hot water for packs of cocoa. Other needs include paper plates and napkins (honestly - you could get away with no plates), & cups for cocoa.
Advertisement: One of our members drafted a flyer. It went home via the school's blog on two occasions, it was sent as a reminder via our schools twitter page, and it was announced every day as a reminder to the kids. Also, it was in our PTO Newsletter that came out the day of. Hard copies came home the day before and for a week or more we had several hard copies posted throughout the building. We had about 15-20 adults and about 15-30 kids.
Also - I forgot to mention, one of our members brought in a cd player and several Christmas cd's for some background music to keep it festive.
Our event was very successful. It was simple - simple to plan for, simple to set up and simple to break down. It was very nice being able to offer the kids and families a free event just for fun. This is the first time as president of the PTO I feel like I've accomplished something for the people. Up until now it's been newsletters, agendas, and fundraisers. I enjoyed being a caller more than I thought I would. I feel certain that we will have another bingo night in our future.
Best of luck to anyone planning their own bingo night: Good for parent groups of schools, churches, outreach centers, neighborhood get-together's, and birthday parties - and more!
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