Pta Firework night and festival events----Anyone organised?

[Vajazzler]

I am a member of the pta at my dc's school and we want to organise a bonfire night event and a summer festival event with bands and a beer tent type event.

Has anyone organised anything like that before?

Yep! We have one every year, one of our most popular events, must have 600+ attendees. We always have a professional do the display. We sell glow stuff, beer, mulled wine, donuts, and a local butcher does a BBQ; we raise about 2.5k, and it's always very well received.

That sounds fab PatriciaHolm. Can i ask how much you charge for the event?

I think we charge £15 for a family ticket of 2 adults+2 kids with individual tickets at £5.00 adults, £3.50 children.

Thanks thats given me a lot to think about!

Ours is done on a per family basis. We get in outside people to do the fireworks, far safer and a much better display, but then we are guaranteed to get the money as the parent association just have it put on everyone's bill and the school pass the money over. We have burgers/hotdogs, with wine/beer and soft drinks, sell glow sticks etc, plus sweets. There is a huge bonfire too where the guys that the kids have made (on a theme usually) are burnt after the prize giving. The guys sit in the school hall for a week or so before the event so it has a good build up. The bonfire is usually in one of the golf bunkers, you do need a decent space for this where it doesn't matter if the ground gets scorched, although I believe you can get mats you can put on grass that are fireproof.

You need to sort all the safety, fencing off of spectators, damping down of fire afterwards and inform the fire brigade, fireworks must not be let off too close to a road to avoid smoke drift.

Thanks trinity x

This works really well as long as all the school houses do not surround the site you are using. Ours does, so if we organised this everyone would just stand in their garden with their friends having a free display!

You must fully insure for such an event. They have largely died out around here as insurance is expensive when fireworks snd bonfires are involved. Safety snd the need for first aid is a big issue. You also
must inform the fire brigade. If an outside company can insure for about £8-10 million, then that’s ok. It’s what our LA recommends. We also had a head teacher fatality at such an event in our LA. So no one’s keen to have another go.

Most schools can raise £2000 from a fete or Christmas Fair without risk of death or burns. That’s what most do now.

This thread is nearly 10 years old.

omg!

First check with your council about their licensing requirements as they vary.

They will advise you about the legal requirements and any restrictions in your area. What risk assessments are needed and who may need to be notified etc

Check for a TENS licence ( Temporary Events Licence) again with your local council and the cost. Check your LA allows bonfires on school grounds etc