Introducing a fundraising element to your summer event helps to get your guests actively participating and engaged with your party whilst helping you to do your bit for charity. What’s not to love?!
When raising money for charity, think creatively about how to engage visitors and what will make them want to get involved with your games or attractions – and remember the more people that get involved, the more money you’ll raise for your charity. We’ve compiled a list of fundraising games which are perfect for summer parties:
1. The Banned Word Jar
This is a fun and light-hearted way to gather extra funds for your charity, and it’s sure to bring in plenty of cash if everybody gets involved! This fundraising idea works by accumulating lots of small quantities of money over the course of the event, and offers plenty of opportunities to raise even more should you wish to.
How to play
This fundraising game involves a commonly used word or phrase being ‘banned’ throughout the duration of your party. If anybody says this word – and you should make it so sometimes it simply can’t be helped – they’ll have to put a pound or more into a special jar placed on the centre of their table! This works particularly well for sit-down meals or dinners because it’s easier to catch people out for using the word(s) you’ve banned, whereas if you’re hosting a large-scale summer event, this one can be more difficult to do.
What you need
This fundraising party game requires little more than a few decorated jars, and maybe a sign or two with a list of the banned words written on them. Really simple to do but a great way of raising money for charity at your summer event.
2. The Great Charity Bake-Off
Everyone loves a sweet treat or two, and everyone knows that cakes and bakes are even more delicious if they’re homemade! With this in mind, why not hold a bake-off as a game to raise money for charity?
If you’re hosting your summer party at an outdoor venue like City Central at the HAC or the Pavilion at the Tower of London, you can announce the winner in a scene similar to the iconic Bake-Off final, or if you’re worried about whether, use a marquee as a classic Bake-Off tent.
How to play
Encourage as many of your attendees as possible to get busy in their kitchens prior to the event, and bake up some cakes for sale at the event itself. Tell them to be as creative as possible, because each bake will not only be sold to raise money, they’ll also be judged by expert tasters! You can motivate your guests with a trophy for best cake, best decoration, best concept etc.
What you’ll need
You will have to have plenty of tables as well as one or two impartial judges who can decide on the winning creations.
3. Painting Exhibitions
If your attendees are a creative bunch, they’ll love getting involved with this fundraising game. Allow them to get their creative juices flowing, and hold a painting competition or art exhibition at your event in order to raise money for charity. This is another good one if you’re going for an outdoor venue or event space.
How to play
There are a couple of options when it comes to this charity fundraising idea. If you want to keep things fun and light-hearted, you can arrange for the painting and drawing to take place during your event – maybe allocate 30 minutes of your event in which your attendees have to create an artistic masterpiece (or not), which can be sold or auctioned at the end of the evening. Or you could have people pay a few pounds to take part in ‘shifts’ if you’re holding a large-scale event.
Alternatively, you could arrange for genuine artworks – paintings, sculptures or drawings etc – to be donated to your fundraiser, and use them initially to decorate your events space, and then as items for sale in order to hit those charity target figures.
What you’ll need
If you plan on holding a live painting game, then some easels, paints, paintbrushes and other art equipment will be necessary.
4. Get Quizzical
Everybody enjoys a good quiz. Whether it’s a serious brainteaser or a light-hearted and slightly silly affair, quizzes are the perfect way to get everyone involved and unleashing their competitive streaks! Plus, this will work both inside and outside if the English weather is a worry – try a venue like Old Billingsgate so that you have the option for both!
You could ask guests to pay to join the quiz or include it within the price if you’re hosting a ticketed event, but you can add features such as paid lifelines or tokens, which might allow a team to skip a question or use their smartphones to provide more opportunities to raise money for your charity.
How to play
Make sure your quiz has several distinct rounds (e.g. pop music, sport, history, geography, etc) so that everyone can get involved and be able to answer some questions.
What you’ll need
You will need some kind of scoring system and printed answer sheets are always useful, as are printed tokens or vouchers if you want to include them. Ensure a comfortable seating area or a large cabaret style layout, and audio-visual facilities which will ensure that questions can be heard.
5. Raffle
As games to raise money for charity go, this classic fundraising game is a timeless favourite for all the right reasons: it’s fun, exciting, and people love to be in with a chance of winning a prize! Include days out or vouchers as prizes for guests who are parents to gain plans for the summer holidays, but try to avoid things that may melt or ruin if the weather is hot like ice cream or chocolates.
How to play
Attendees have the chance to win donated prizes or experiences (restaurant dinners or days off work are always popular!) by buying a ticket or a number of tickets. Every ticket has a number printed on it, and at the end of the night, a series of numbers are pulled out of a hat. If your number corresponds with the selected ticket, you’re a winner. Simple and effective.
What you need
You only need two key elements for a raffle – the tickets and the prizes. Most charity raffles source their prizes from local businesses or providers, and tickets can be easily found in gift shops or online. This is also a great way of helping local businesses if you source prizes from them.
6. A Night at the Fair
This is a novel and fun way to raise money for your chosen charity that will take your attendees back to happy childhood memories. This fundraising party games idea is also brilliant for social media engagement, too, and can really get the money flowing into the charity fund.
How to play
This is all about recreating a carnival or fun fair atmosphere in your events venue, and providing your attendees with the opportunity to buy tickets in order to play simple yet enjoyable games. Perfect for summer and simple to do at a specialist outdoor venue like City Central at the HAC:
7. Fun Fashion Show
Fashion shows are great ways to raise funds for charity at your next event. They can be as fun and silly or as serious as you like, and there are loads of ways to get everyone involved. You could include a photo booth and encourage guests to share images on their social media channels to create additional coverage around the event, and it works for both people who are confident and those who are not by giving people the option to be a designer or a model.
How to play
This fundraising game involves a few different groups of people. Firstly, you need a group of ‘designers’, who are going to design the outfits from either old clothes, junk (tin foil and bin bags are always popular!) or fancy-dress costumes. Secondly, you need some catwalk models to parade their creations. Thirdly – and most importantly – you need people to play the part of the rapt audience members.
The designers must ‘buy’ their place in the show, and the models should also pay a fee to walk on the catwalk and have their photos taken. The audience need to pay for admission, and everyone is able to make further donations as the event continues.
What you’ll need
All good fashion shows need a space with great lighting, and a catwalk on which the models can strut their stuff. As well as this, you’ll need the materials with which the clothes will be made… but your imagination is the only limit in that regard!
If you’re looking for a suitable summer party venue for your next event, get in touch with the Ultimate Experience team and we’ll help you shortlist venues that meet your criteria.