How a school night actually runs
We arrive about two hours before your start time so everything is inflated, staked and inspected before the first car pulls into the lot. Your volunteers work the wristband table and the concession stand. Our crew works the attractions, which means no parent is standing at a blower for three hours.
Most schools run their night from 5:30 to 8:30 on a Friday. That is long enough for two waves of families, and it lets younger kids come early and leave before the middle schoolers take over the course.
Gym floor or ball field
Both work, and the answer changes what we bring.
- Grass or a ball field: everything is on the table, including the foam zone and the full obstacle course. We stake into turf and sweep the setup area first.
- Gym floor: we switch to sandbag anchoring and lay protective tarp. Foam does not go on a finished gym floor, but it is great just outside the doors on grass.
- Asphalt lot: sandbags again, and we walk the lot for gravel and glass before anything is unrolled. Bumper cars usually want a flat lot like this.
- Cafeteria or multipurpose room: good for the toddler units and games when the forecast turns.
The money side, in plain numbers
Say your PTA books the Carolina Family Fun Night at $1,295 and sells unlimited play wristbands at $20 with a $15 presale. You break even at 65 wristbands. A school with 400 students almost always clears that in presales alone.
Sell 175 wristbands and you are looking at roughly $3,500 in admissions against a $1,295 package. Add concessions, a raffle table and three attraction sponsors and the night usually outperforms a whole season of catalog sales.
What we hand you before the night
You get a flyer template, a sponsor sheet you can email to local businesses, a suggested wristband price for your crowd size, and a layout drawn to your actual field or gym so you know where the wristband table, the food and the attractions go.