What I learned planning the May 4th Comic Book/Graphic Novel day:
First thing's first: make sure you know the cost of your project!
Primarily the food!
When I started planning this day, it was just a fun idea I had and I figured a chance to flex my event planning muscle. I was counting on my friends in the art department for a big chunk of the decoration, and I blew off food as something cheap I could pick up at little cost to me.
Wronggggg.
My first mistake was going to a major party store to buy decorations. I didn't do a whole lot of planning at this point, and had just assumed I would go to Party City and load up on cups, napkins, plates, etc. How about I got slammed with a bill of 61 big ones for almost no product? I work at Arby's so that's like a week's worth of pay for me. I was not a happy Maggie.
Eventually it dawned on me to actually try researching decor and food ideas. I already knew what activities I wanted to have, so at least that was out of the way. With a little help from the internet I found cheaper (and wayyy more adorable) ways to decorate the LMC in a super-hero fashion. The dollar store and Walmart were my heroes in terms of low cost products. (But still don't understimate the cost of food- at $2.40 for a bag of popcorn that lasts about half a block, the costs add up.)
I was actually surprised by myself. I'm usually quite the procrastinator, but I guess my determination to put on something great edged that quality out, and I had everything ready in advance.
Quick tips: 1. Do fun lighting. I did red plastic over some fo the lights and turned the rest out. This gave the LMC a spooky glow that was really cool. I also had a siren light that was fun to have shining around.
2. Keep in coordination with Ms. Schmidt or whoever's your number one go-to for the event. Make sure she/he knows what you're going to need and that they know what to expect. I mentioned my lighting and movie and powerpoint requirements. This was Ms. Schmidt wasn't questioning me standing six feet off the ground taping plastic to the lights. Also I was able to use projectors as I needed them.
3. Make your day interactive! While most students primarily enjoyed the food and movie portion of the day, many came and participated in the super-hero naming station and scavenger hunt. Maybe make the food available behind the activites so students have to 'exit through the gift shop'. If they want the popcorn and punch they have to walk by the other stations.
4. Over plan with food amounts. We ran out of our food and drinks after one block. We had to get more food in and still almost ran out by the end of the day. While it may seem pricey at the time, you'll be thankful for the extra snacks when you have hungry freshmen giving you angry looks.
5. Don't be afraid to be direct. If you have students misbehaving or wasting your resources, yell at them. I had to yell at a few students that would leave their trash from punch at a station, then go to grab a fresh cup of punch from the table. a.) one cup of punch per person b.) I'm not your mom, clean up your own crap and c.) if you are going to get more to drink, refill your old cup. We also had people taking more snacks then they were supposed to because our snack person wasn't being assertive enough. Make sure you put the bossy one on snacks if you have to ration out food.
Mostly just make it fun. If you keep in mind that kids are getting out of class to come visit, the bare minimum should seem enough. But if you put in that little extra work to have awesome decorations or unconventional lighting, people will appreciate it even more.
For ideas, here's the general jist of my event.
Comic Book / Graphic Novel Day:
Stations: 1. Hero/Villian Creation Station Students could take a picture behind a cardboard cut out of a super hero, then pick out their name, power, and side (hero/villain), write these down on a notecard, and we would enter their info and photo onto a powerpoint and upload it.
2. Scavenger Hunt Around the library I hid paper bursts that said things like 'bam!' and 'pow!'. If students found all of these, they would get a glow bracelet (which look awesome in the dark lighting).
3. Naming Contest. The real nerds went crazy for this. People would write down as many hero or villain or general comic book character names as possible, and I tallied up the results as to who named the most. The winner named 140.
4. Food I had popcorn in paper cones that were rolled up comics. Also twizzlers, bubblegum, fruit, and veggies. We mixed punch and ginger ale for drinks.
5. Movie We showed the Incredibles during the day, as the movie had be be PG rated.
There was also music playing such as 'Iron Man' by Ozzy, and 'Flash' by Queen. This added to the whole scene nicely.
Just have fun, plan, don't procrastinate, and look for people willing to help you out. Mrs. Alexander had her students do comic paintings, which turned out great. And I think you'll be surprised how many people will be willing to give you a hand.
What I learned planning the May 4th Comic Book/Graphic Novel day:
ReplyDeleteFirst thing's first: make sure you know the cost of your project!
Primarily the food!
When I started planning this day, it was just a fun idea I had and I figured a chance to flex my event planning muscle. I was counting on my friends in the art department for a big chunk of the decoration, and I blew off food as something cheap I could pick up at little cost to me.
Wronggggg.
My first mistake was going to a major party store to buy decorations. I didn't do a whole lot of planning at this point, and had just assumed I would go to Party City and load up on cups, napkins, plates, etc. How about I got slammed with a bill of 61 big ones for almost no product? I work at Arby's so that's like a week's worth of pay for me. I was not a happy Maggie.
Eventually it dawned on me to actually try researching decor and food ideas. I already knew what activities I wanted to have, so at least that was out of the way. With a little help from the internet I found cheaper (and wayyy more adorable) ways to decorate the LMC in a super-hero fashion. The dollar store and Walmart were my heroes in terms of low cost products. (But still don't understimate the cost of food- at $2.40 for a bag of popcorn that lasts about half a block, the costs add up.)
I was actually surprised by myself. I'm usually quite the procrastinator, but I guess my determination to put on something great edged that quality out, and I had everything ready in advance.
Quick tips:
1. Do fun lighting. I did red plastic over some fo the lights and turned the rest out. This gave the LMC a spooky glow that was really cool. I also had a siren light that was fun to have shining around.
2. Keep in coordination with Ms. Schmidt or whoever's your number one go-to for the event. Make sure she/he knows what you're going to need and that they know what to expect. I mentioned my lighting and movie and powerpoint requirements. This was Ms. Schmidt wasn't questioning me standing six feet off the ground taping plastic to the lights. Also I was able to use projectors as I needed them.
3. Make your day interactive! While most students primarily enjoyed the food and movie portion of the day, many came and participated in the super-hero naming station and scavenger hunt. Maybe make the food available behind the activites so students have to 'exit through the gift shop'. If they want the popcorn and punch they have to walk by the other stations.
Delete4. Over plan with food amounts. We ran out of our food and drinks after one block. We had to get more food in and still almost ran out by the end of the day. While it may seem pricey at the time, you'll be thankful for the extra snacks when you have hungry freshmen giving you angry looks.
5. Don't be afraid to be direct. If you have students misbehaving or wasting your resources, yell at them. I had to yell at a few students that would leave their trash from punch at a station, then go to grab a fresh cup of punch from the table. a.) one cup of punch per person b.) I'm not your mom, clean up your own crap and c.) if you are going to get more to drink, refill your old cup. We also had people taking more snacks then they were supposed to because our snack person wasn't being assertive enough. Make sure you put the bossy one on snacks if you have to ration out food.
Mostly just make it fun. If you keep in mind that kids are getting out of class to come visit, the bare minimum should seem enough. But if you put in that little extra work to have awesome decorations or unconventional lighting, people will appreciate it even more.
For ideas, here's the general jist of my event.
Comic Book / Graphic Novel Day:
Stations:
1. Hero/Villian Creation Station
Students could take a picture behind a cardboard cut out of a super hero, then pick out their name, power, and side (hero/villain), write these down on a notecard, and we would enter their info and photo onto a powerpoint and upload it.
2. Scavenger Hunt
Around the library I hid paper bursts that said things like 'bam!' and 'pow!'. If students found all of these, they would get a glow bracelet (which look awesome in the dark lighting).
3. Naming Contest.
The real nerds went crazy for this. People would write down as many hero or villain or general comic book character names as possible, and I tallied up the results as to who named the most. The winner named 140.
4. Food
I had popcorn in paper cones that were rolled up comics. Also twizzlers, bubblegum, fruit, and veggies. We mixed punch and ginger ale for drinks.
5. Movie
We showed the Incredibles during the day, as the movie had be be PG rated.
There was also music playing such as 'Iron Man' by Ozzy, and 'Flash' by Queen. This added to the whole scene nicely.
Just have fun, plan, don't procrastinate, and look for people willing to help you out. Mrs. Alexander had her students do comic paintings, which turned out great. And I think you'll be surprised how many people will be willing to give you a hand.