Planning a School Carnival: A Complete Rental Checklist
What Should Be on a School Carnival Rental Checklist?
A comprehensive school carnival rental checklist should include five categories: inflatables, carnival games, food and concessions, tents, tables, and chairs, entertainment. While missing out on a particular category of attraction isn’t the problem that will ruin a school carnival, underestimating one of the above categories and not having enough of something is.
- Inflatables — bounce houses, combo units, obstacle courses, dry slides, wet slides, interactive inflatables
- Carnival games – stalls for such games as ring toss, hoop shoot, dunk tank, giant connect 4, tic tac toe, kiddie striker
- Food and snack bar facilities – popcorn machine, cotton candy, snow cone machine, ice cream stand, slushy machine
- Tents, tables, and chairs – seating under shade, tables for check in, food service tables
- Amusement and entertainment – DJ, outdoor photo booth, mechanical rides, or something unusual, such as a rock wall, sumo suits
How Many Attractions Do You Need for Your School Carnival?
An effective guideline for the number of attractions would be about one attraction per 75 to 100 people, depending on duration of the carnival and how widely spaced out arrival of the families would be. For example, for a 2-hour carnival with all the families showing up in the first 30 minutes of the time, it would require more attractions simultaneously.
| Carnival Size | Expected Attendance | Suggested Attraction Mix |
|---|---|---|
| Small carnival | Under 150 attendees | 2–3 inflatables, 4–6 carnival games, 1 food cart |
| Mid-size carnival | 150–400 attendees | 4–6 inflatables, 8–10 carnival games, 2–3 food carts, tents/tables |
| Large carnival | 400+ attendees | 6+ inflatables across multiple zones, 10+ games, multiple food stations, DJ, staggered schedule |
Planning instructions in relation to throughput capacity of attractions – find out the exact numbers from your rental company depending on your particular venue, time frame, and budget.
| Not sure how many attractions your expected crowd actually needs? Fun Time Entertainment can help size the right mix based on your carnival’s attendance and schedule. |
What Insurance and Paperwork Does a School Carnival Need?
Most school districts demand that rental companies have liability insurance and provide a certificate of insurance, with the school district or PTA listed as an additional insured prior to delivering equipment on school premises. This is a reasonable requirement – not every rental company is able to provide this document fast, so it’s better to check in advance than to find an obstacle a week before the event.
If the carnival is held at the public property, like a city park, you need to find out whether a town has a special permit needed for temporary structures, generators, amplifiers and so on, as the school district approval and town permit are two different procedures.
What Power and Space Requirements Should You Plan For?
Most inflatables need a special power supply – usually it’s a regular outlet for small inflatable items or a generator for large combo inflatables and several inflatable attractions, as well as enough room to accommodate them – the floor free from obstacles and flat according to the size of the inflatable. Find out from your rental company which inflatables need a regular outlet and which need a generator and plan generator location separately from walkways and the places, where kids form queues.
Also, the surface plays role here – grass allows staking, but asphalt/blacktop needs sand bags or weights.
How Far in Advance Should You Book School Carnival Rentals?
Secure bookings of rentals for your school carnival at least three to four weeks prior, and more depending on your event dates, which may be during spring time or weekend carnivals. Availability becomes harder to find during the spring fundraising season because there are many other schools who would be planning the same kind of event around the same weekend.
What Rental Categories Should Be in Your Budget?
A typical budget line up for a school carnival includes the following, roughly in order of how much is spent by committees on each:
- Inflatables — the biggest cost line item and is charged by rental time and unit
- Carnival games — packaged costs for several game booths
- Food and concessions — machine rental and consumable food and drinks (cotton candy sugar, popcorn kernels, cups)
- Tents, tables, and chairs — charged on per unit and time basis, usually combined
- These additional entertainment options come at a cost apart from the main package that consists of an inflatable and games.
- Delivery, assembly, and pick-up – check if this is covered or charged extra
Expert Tips for Planning a School Carnival
- Visit the venue before making any booking decision – because what works on paper may not work when you visit the site and check the sight lines, the shade, and the power access.
- Space high demand attractions such as the dunk tank or bounce house themed attractions closer to the front end of the area to avoid crowding at a single point.
- Have someone designated to make sure the equipment is installed on time on the event day – there is always some setup time needed, and having someone to make sure that everything happens on time helps greatly.
- Check whether combination offers exist before booking anything separately – especially for carnival games, booking a combo of several items is usually cheaper than separate bookings.
- Have at least 15-20 minutes between the start time you planned and the opening of the carnival.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Mistake: Renting equipment without checking the insurance information first.
Why it’s important: There are schools that will not let anything happen without a certificate of insurance, which will name the school as additional insured, and finding out about it at the last minute is stressful.
Do this: Make sure that you ask for the certificate of insurance before getting a quote.
Mistake: Failure to calculate proper energy requirements for multiple inflatable rides.
Why it is important: Operating several inflatable rides using one electrical outlet might cause a power outage at the middle of your event.
Do this: Check the requirements of a generator based on the type of attractions you have rented.
Mistake: Ignoring the type of ground where inflatables will be placed
Why it is important: Anchors that do well in grass do not hold in asphalt or blacktop; not having proper anchoring equipment leads to late set-up.
Do this instead: Let the rental company know the type of surface that you will be using at every intended location.
Mistake: Arranging for fewer attractions for the number of people expected.
Why it is important: Lines at every booth make the carnival less fun; since most people arrive together during the first hour, there will be long lines everywhere.
Do this instead: Plan on one attraction for every 75-100 people.
Error: Making reservations just a few days before the event
What it means: The units get booked up quickly when it is time for school carnivals, especially during weekends and holidays. Late reservation will give you limited options to choose from.
Instead: Make reservations at least three or four weeks prior to the event, earlier in case it is a spring event or particular thematic unit.
Error: Not having someone responsible for delivery day
What it means: It is essential to have someone in charge of all logistics related to the delivery day.
This should be done instead: Hire one volunteer whose sole job would be to liaise with the delivery team from the rental company.
Why Choose Fun Time Entertainment for a School Carnival?
Fun Time Entertainment rents out inflatables, obstacle courses, interactive games all across New Jersey as well as Rockland County, NY. School events are among the categories of services offered by the company along with fundraisers, community events, and corporate parties. This point is critical for the school carnival planning because the product line of the company includes inflatables, an entire carnival game set up, food carts, tables and tents, and even extra entertainment such as a DJ and an outdoor photo booth.
All the rented products are professional quality commercial equipment that is maintained, sanitized, and safety-checked for every single event. Delivery, set-up, testing, and pick-up services are provided by the company’s own team. Fun Time Entertainment is fully insured and can provide necessary insurance documentation needed by many schools to approve use of equipment.
The company is based in Woodridge, NJ. You can reach the company at (201) 935-1981 or info@funtimeent.com to discuss your rental options depending on the expected size of your event.
What Makes Fun Time Entertainment Different
- School events as a named service category – not just a party rental company that sometimes rents to schools but a company that specializes in Schools Events and Fund Raisers.
- All categories under one supplier: inflatables, carnival games, food stands, tents/tables/chairs, and entertainment additions are supplied by one and the same provider, which lowers the number of vendors to be coordinated by the committee.
- Commercial-quality products that are cleaned and checked for safety prior to each event, taking care of a common problem in the case of school-sponsored events where there are lots of children.
- Fully serviced delivery, set-up, testing, and pick-up, making it unnecessary for volunteer committees to have knowledge about equipment on the day of the event.
- Operates both in New Jersey and Rockland County, NY, which may be helpful for schools located on the border between these regions in case they coordinate events with families or venues from either region.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What rentals do you need for a school carnival?
A: A comprehensive rental package usually includes five categories: inflatables (bounce houses, obstacle courses, slides), carnival games, food and concessions, tents/tables/chairs, and entertainment (DJ, photo booths).
Q: How far in advance should you book school carnival rentals?
A: Schedule at least three to four weeks in advance and even earlier at times – months in advance – for some of the most sought after dates in the spring, weekends or special themed inflatable units.
Q: Does a school carnival need insurance for inflatables?
A: It is required by almost all schools that the company renting out its services is insured and must submit proof of insurance which lists the school or the PTA as an additional insured party prior to delivery of equipment.
Q: How many kids can play in a bounce house at once?
A: The general rule of thumb is that the number of kids that can be accommodated by any of the inflatables is around four to ten, although it varies depending on the size of the particular unit and the age of the children.
Q: What power do inflatables need at an outdoor event?
A: Smaller units use just a regular power outlet, while large combo units or several inflatables operating at the same time require a generator. You need to find out from your inflatable rentals company what type of electrical equipment will be needed for your particular attractions.
Q: How many attractions do we need for our expected crowd?
A: As a general rule of thumb, the approximate number of attractions you need is one for every 75 to 100 people attending the event.
Q: What surface do inflatables need to be set up on?
A: Grass enables the use of stakes to anchor the units; asphalt or blacktop usually requires sandbags or some other form of weights. Let the rental company know what kind of surface you are planning on setting up the inflatables on so that they can bring the appropriate equipment with them.
Q: Can Fun Time Entertainment handle a large school carnival with multiple attraction types?
A: Yes. Fun Time Entertainment provides inflatables, carnival games, food service, tents and tables with chairs, and entertainment elements like DJ services or photo booth, including the whole set of the necessary categories for a school carnival rental.
Conclusion
A good plan for a school carnival includes a plan for rentals that takes care of all categories – from inflatables and games to food and entertainment options; the plan must include a proper number of items for the expected audience, be based on appropriate insurance papers, and provide enough time for booking of all the equipment required. All logistics issues that usually cause problems to novice committees – power supply, surfaces, insurance paperwork – can be handled in advance by any rental company.
When it comes to organizing a school carnival in New Jersey or Rockland County, NY, Fun Time Entertainment can provide with the plan of rentals across all five categories mentioned above, from the very first bounce house to the last carnival game booth.
