Youth First Aids

Valentine's Banquet

9:38 PM Posted by Kat

Another Valentine's Fundraiser - Valentine's Banquet. A lot of the following ideas I got from attending a similar banquet (although not for Valentines, but they change the theme every year) thrown by the youth group at Richmond Alliance Church in Richmond, BC. As this can get quite complicated, it is best to divide the planning into different elements. Depending on the size of your group, you could even create committees or teams for each element.

Promotions, Registration

This team can create posters, flyers/bulletin announcements, skits/videos to promote this event. It is good to know ahead of time how many your venue can seat so you can create tickets and sell them on a first come first serve basis perhaps after the weekend services.

Decorations

Decorations don't have to be expensive, in fact the simpler the better. People will also understand that it is a youth event, so make sure to be creative and get everyone to help. You can create an inexpensive centerpiece with tea lights and confetti. You could also set up a corner for pictures with a valentine's themed background. People can either take their own pictures or if you have a polaroid camera you can charge and have a volunteer photographer for the night. Or you can print the pictures if you have a laptop and printer (and printer paper) at your disposal. Have your hosts/emcees announce this during beginning of your evening.

Food/Catering

The most ideal way to take care of this is to ask for parent volunteers. Sit with them and ask them what menu would be doable for the amount of people you are planning for. Ask them how many volunteers they will be needing - to shop, prep and cook. Ask them about budget. I would suggest having a four course meal - soup, salad, entree and dessert - as this would be more cost effective than buffet style. Another way to raise money during the evening is to charge for drinks - you could even create a drinks menu with different pop or juices, coffee, tea... be creative with the different drinks you would like to serve.

Servers/Hosts

I would also suggest that you get all of your youth to be servers for the evening. It would be nice for everyone to be uniform in their attire - maybe all black or white tops and bl

ack bottoms or red tops and black bottoms to keep in the theme of Valentines.

Entertainment

Make sure to plan some entertainment for the evening. You can do this by showcasing some of your youths talents. If you know any of them who could choreograph a dance number or perhaps a musical number, this would be a great time for them to show off their talent. You could also prepare some games for the night... probably would be best if they were games they could do while remaining in their seats. You could offer prizes for the games if you like. It is important to have hosts/emcees for the evening to help with the flow of the program.

Make sure that at the end of the night you tell the guests how much you appreciate them for trusting the Valentines evening with you and your group - and thank all the volunteers, especially those who made the food for the night! If this fundraiser is for something in particular that the youth is planning (a summer camp or conference or maybe even for a cause), it is always good to let them know that and maybe even offer another way for them to give should they feel led to. You can have offering envelopes on hand (as they would be getting tax receipted for it) and box or basket for them to place it in - either in the middle of their tables or at a table by the door.

This fundraiser does require a lot of work and so it is best to have some time to plan ahead. Be organized and create a program for the evening. You can print this program for all the volunteers or even have it printed on nice cardstock and given to the guests. Make sure you have a good set of volunteers that you can work with and youth that are willing to work hard with you to make the night a success.

Image from ehow.com.