Event Registration Archives - Member Solutions

Easy 12-Step Event Checklist for Planning Success

Posted on September 10, 2019September 12, 2019 by Miranda Pruitt

Whether you’re new to event planning or you’re a seasoned professional, an event checklist can help you reduce stress and delight attendees with an exceptional experience. We’ve identified twelve simple steps to the event-planning process that you can follow to execute a successful event of any size for any industry.

1. Set a Purpose & Goal

Why are you hosting this event? How many people do you want to sign up and attend? How much revenue do you want to make? Make sure to define specific, attainable objectives and the time frame in which you want to achieve them.

2. Define Your Target Audience

Who do you want to attend your event? Be as specific as possible, including their demographics, behaviors, and interests.

3. Set Your Budget

Based on your goals, how much are you willing or able to spend on your event? Setting a budget early in the process will help you make important decisions regarding the location, schedule, and pricing.

4. Choose an Event Theme

What type of theme will help you attract attendees? Consider how your theme will impact the marketing, decor, and entertainment for your event.

5. Set the Time, Date, & Location

Consider your audience and theme carefully as you choose a time and location for your event. Be sure to check local event listings and sports schedules to make sure your event does not conflict with another activity your target audience will be attending. When selecting a venue, think about travel times to the location, availability of public transportation, parking, and the fit with your theme.

6. Define Your Event Schedule

Tell attendees what to expect at your event. Will there be entertainment or scheduled activities? Will they have free time to network or chat with fellow attendees? Create a schedule outline that you can share with attendees before and after they sign up.

7. Set Up Online Registration & Pricing

With your budget and revenue goals in mind, set an appropriate price for your event. Create an online registration form that clearly communicates event details and pricing options. Collect contact information, permissions, and any information required to personalize the experience, such as age ranges for kids, t-shirt size, dietary preferences, premium options, and more.

Use your event registration website to advertise key details, collect participant information, and process payments securely online.

8. Provide Additional Offers

What else can you offer your target audience? Consider including information about how to sign up for other upcoming events, subscribe to your email newsletter, and connect with you on social media.

9. Coordinate Staff & Logistics

Based on your schedule for the event, how many staff members will you need to on site? Decide who will arrange transportation, deliveries, and other logistics. Create a day-of-event schedule to assist with coordination. Think of backup plans for in the case of delays or last-minute cancellations.

10. Execute Your Event Marketing Plan

When will you start promoting your event? What materials will you need to market via email, social media, online advertising, and through print media? Create an outline of the ways you will market your event and when each will take place.

11. Schedule Your Follow Up Plan

After the event, communicate with attendees and those who missed it, share photos and video on social media, and follow up with new business partners and customers.

12. Review Results & Debrief with Staff

Always conclude your event planning process with a debriefing to review results and gather feedback from staff and attendees. Use these insights to make your next event even more successful than the last.

How to Plan Martial Arts Birthday Parties for Kids

Posted on April 18, 2019September 4, 2019 by Jennifer Miller

Birthday parties are a super versatile tool that can directly impact the bottom line and immediate cash flow of your martial arts school. Four major benefits include:

Getting leads and new members
Creating business partnerships
Increasing retention and your school’s sense of community
Improving your recurring income

With a targeted plan, like the one we’ve outlined here, you can start using birthday parties tomorrow as a part of your business strategy. It’s important to know that you, the owner, do not have to be solely responsible for running the parties that you host.

Having a staff member who is good with people is good enough. Creating positive, memorable experiences will do more for your retention and lead generation in this instance that touting your expertise.

Follow these five steps, in addition to everything we talk about in our video above, and you’ll become the community favorite spot for birthday parties.

1) Know your industry

Knowing your industry may seem like obvious advice, but industry heavily influences aspects like activities, themes, marketing, and business partnerships. What will work to make a sports center unique and attractive for parents will most likely not work for a martial arts school. It’s important to understand your target or ideal participants: how to engage them and how your business can create the best experience for the birthday kid, family, and friends.

How you can differentiate your business to start, according to industry, is most easily done through themes and activities. For example, you can use well-known pop culture references (Ninja Turtles is a classic) or anything else relevant to your birthday celebrant’s interests.

2) What to include in your birthday party package

Your party package should focus on

providing the space,
creating an agenda,
leading the entertainment/activities
and basic food accommodations (pizza is a good option).

This is where you can create your competitive advantage over other businesses in the area that only provide the space but no activities. Keep in mind that parents may want to have more control over the details, like cake and decorations. When you decide on your party package, it’s best that you avoid the hassle of super personal details and be strategic about what you provide.

Timeline & Expectations

Aim to run your parties between 90 and 120 minutes. We recommend using the first 10 minutes for a tour of your school or gym. If everyone is new, take the opportunity to introduce yourself and lead the tour yourself. If the birthday celebrant is a member of your facility, have he or she lead the group.

After the tour, transition the group to your planned lesson, workout, or activity. Establish behavioral expectations by using titles, like sir, ma’am, Mr., and Ms. Setting expectations and following through with them is important because it’s a selling point for parents in two ways:

you’re ensuring that everyone leaves with a great experience (more birthday parties) and
you’re showing that you can foster discipline in their kids (meaning they’re more likely to buy from you).

Include giveaways, like a free uniform or trial membership, to reward your small guests for good behavior. Again, your goal in hosting birthdays is to create more interest in your school.

3) Decide your price

Birthday parties at your school fall in the marketing/lead generation category—meaning that your pricing doesn’t have to follow an exact formula. Depending on your goals, you can choose to charge for or give away parties in a strategic way.

Charging for birthday parties

If you want to gauge price, start by researching other businesses in your area that throw birthday parties. What are they charging? You may see that it’s not uncommon to attach a $200 to $300 price tag for a party.

Next, determine how many kids you want to include in your base price (you can choose 12, 20, or another number that works for your space). We recommend that you charge $20 extra for additional headcount. For transparency, list the group limit included in your base price and the extra charge on your party package advertisements.

Important note: We promise that you won’t be stripping parents of their hard-earned cash. Much like creating a price structure for your classes, your party prices are based on the value that you provide in creating a memorable experience.

Giving away parties

Giving away a party to a current member or as a result as a promotion in your community is a valid and smart choice to make if you’re thinking of it in terms of how many kids and parents you’ll contact as a result. Integrating free parties with your paid parties will help your overall marketing strategy.

Upselling

You can include options like board breaking or another activity as an additional option for purchase outside of your standard party package. Upselling items will add to your revenue and gives parents the ability to customize their child’s party further.

Bonus: As you already know, breaking things in style is pretty cool. A child who has an awesome board breaking experience is more likely to want to come back to your school to do more.

4) Connect with local businesses

Creating local partnerships with businesses who can contribute to your parties is a marketing win-win. In exchange for running promotions or giveaways as an exclusive vendor, said vendor can promote your business through flyers and other marketing items onsite.

Examples include:

discounted cakes from a local bakery,
pizza from a particular restaurant, and
discounted party decorations from a party supply store.

5) Manage party bookings & RSVPs digitally

The advantages of having digital invitations and party packages will outweigh not having them at all or using paper. Forms like the ones that you can create in Event Manager will

collect party information and process payments
help you know who is coming and who is interested in your services

Using Event Manager for invitations

Parents will not have to pay for invitations if you use Event Manager. The bonus is that they can send the link easily and that you can include questions about interest in your services. If families indicate interest before the party, you can call right away to talk with them more about your classes.

Download: 6 Martial Arts Birthday Party Best Practices

8 Fun & Easy Holiday Event Ideas

Posted on October 31, 2018September 4, 2019 by Andrew Vetrano

Here in Philadelphia, the fall weather is finally settling in with cooler temperatures, changing leaves, and Eagles football. What may not come to mind immediately is that it also is the perfect season to plan your holiday events in advance.

Depending on the complexity of your event, it may take weeks to several months to coordinate with sponsors, create marketing collateral, and to secure permission from venues outside of your martial arts school or fitness facility.

Holiday and winter events are great for bringing your local community together and as an easy go-to for padding your bottom line. We’ve created a list of both classic and novel ideas to help you start thinking about what you can plan in the coming months. Have fun with it!

1) Make Your Own Ugly Sweater Fundraiser, Party, & Contest

Have contestants enter a make-your-own ugly sweater contest for a charitable cause in your community. Set ticket prices to raise money for your non-profit or charity. Make sure that you put aside funds for a fun prize. Have snacks and drinks available and space for people to socialize.

2) Winter Chili Cook-off & Festival

chili bowl

Cold temperatures bring out cravings for comfort food. While National Chili Day is on February 23, give chili another day of recognition for being one of the most popular winter dishes.

Decide how many cookoff entries you’ll allow for the day. Have attendees pay an entrance fee and encourage them to vote on their favorite chilis. Include hot beverages like cocoa, cider, coffee, and tea for purchase. Tally your votes and declare your winner with a prize. A chili cook-off is an event your community will enjoy year after year.

3) Dress Your Dog Up Like a Reindeer Contest & Party

dog in reindeer costume

The marketability of dogs is undeniable. If you need a reminder, check the internet. Pet lovers and owners get the chance to unite in this pet-friendly event. Create a fundraiser to support your local animal welfare organizations and shelters with a holiday celebration that includes pets. Attendees can either dress up their dogs for fun or enter the contest with volunteer judges to select the winner.

4) Gingerbread House Contest & Craft Fair

gingerbread house

A holiday crafts festival is great for a whole family activity—plus, gingerbread houses are a classic tradition. Depending on your available space, it’s an event that you can plan to have in-house or at a local community center.

Ask local artists to participate as judges and vendors. Charge an entry fee per person or per family to cover the cost of supplies. Better yet, partner with a community sponsor—like an art store or local grocer—for the items that you need.

5) New Year’s Eve or Day Party

new year party

Celebrate the New Year with a themed party for families or adults only. Using a theme with decorations—or a featured activity—will help your event stand out among other community events happening at the same time. If you’re aiming to cater to the 21+ crowd, collaborate with a bar that has event space and sell tickets for a New Year’s Eve party.

Make sure you have projection screens that will show the New Year’s countdown live from NYC or show one of your own. If you want something more family-friendly, plan your event for the morning or afternoon of January 1st with games, snacks, drinks, and music.

6) Valentine’s Day Prom for Adults

prom night

If you have an adult martial arts class or have group fitness classes, a Valentine’s Day-themed prom night for adults is the perfect cheesy throwback. It can also result in a great turnout for any charitable cause. Pick a dress code (themed or standard formal dress), a DJ, and a venue space with drinks.

7) Breakfast with Santa

santa pankcakes

Get kids excited for Christmas with a Santa breakfast, and use Member Solution’s online registration to have parents reserve seats for their families. Serve holiday-inspired pancakes, fruit, veggies, bacon, eggs, and other breakfast favorites.

8) Holiday Fun Runs

A staple classic! Have runners dress like Santa, reindeer, Christmas trees, and other silly costumes. It’s a great family-friendly event for all ages.

Why Community Service Matters for Martial Arts Schools

Posted on June 25, 2018June 19, 2019 by Jennifer Miller

community service volunteers in circle, black & white

Through contributing and giving back, we are able to continue to grow our martial arts business. As a byproduct of serving our community, we also have the ability to maximize the exposure of our school.

Since opening our school in 1994, we have been actively involved in our community and remain heavily connected to several local organizations. By doing so, we have developed a reputation of being a reliable business and one that many organizations call on often for support.

Here are 3 ways we are involved in our community:

1. Chamber of Commerce

Through business to business networking, we are able to build relationships that help create opportunities to market our school. This is also a great way to maximize brand recognition within your community. Other local businesses will begin to refer you to their customers and friends.

2. Donate to Schools

We are always looking for opportunities to donate to school auctions, raffles and award ceremonies. These donations can be used for school fundraisers or as incentives for various school programs. By donating and giving first, you may also create the opportunity to speak in the classrooms.

3. Local Sports Organizations

Sponsoring youth athletic leagues, teams or clubs can be a great way to show your community support and introduce you to a brand new audience. Many youth organizations host opening and or closing ceremonies and tournaments, which may provide an opportunity to set up a booth, distribute marketing materials, and more.

“From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.”

-Winston Churchill

By getting more involved with your community, you will not only create a positive impact on those you serve, you will also build a solid reputation with local residents and fellow business owners.

About the author: Jason Flame is a 7th Degree Black Belt in American Tang Soo Do and owner of Tang Soo Do University in Moorpark, CA. He has also served as a MAIA Elite consultant since 2010. Jason is an active member of his community and serves on the Board of Directors for several local organizations. As an active community member, he attributes the success of his business to understanding the importance of giving back to those in his community.

11 Martial Arts Marketing Tips for Community Events

Posted on June 15, 2018August 21, 2019 by Miranda Pruitt

Looking for a great way to market your martial arts school to a new audience? Break free of your marketing routine by setting up booths at local community events. Festivals, fairs, picnics, and other celebrations are opportunities to share the values you teach on the mat with people who’ve never heard of your services. Sitting in your martial arts school, hoping new members will walk in is a recipe for disappointment. Instead, explore these 11 tips to market your business and attract new members at community events in your area.

1. Create an Event Calendar

Create a calendar that includes every community event in your area. Research events to secure invitations or reserve booths at each of them. Don’t be afraid to try new events. When you share what you love about martial arts with a new audience, who knows who you might inspire.

2. Network with the Host

Anytime I’m a guest at an event, I aim to delight my host and be invited back next year. To do this, I make sure my message fits the goals of the event. I promote literacy and reading when at a library sponsored event. I promote health and wellness when manning a booth at a health fair. Before you leave, ask the host if they received any feedback on your booth. If that feedback is positive, ask to come back next year.

3. Dress Appropriately for the Event

Plan to dress similarly to the other vendors and attendees at the event. If you’re attending a business expo, a dry cleaned pair of slacks and a dress shirt might be perfect. If you have a booth at a local summer festival, appearing in uniform might help attract attention. If you’re not sure, ask the event host how most people dressed last year.

4. Bring a Team

Having the right team at community events can help make attendees feel more comfortable visiting your booth. Try to include team members that your audience can identify with. If you are attending a festival aimed at children, consider having a junior team of 3-6 do a 1-minute demo once an hour to draw families and kids to your booth.

5. Stand & Be Seen

Booths are not for sitting! As often as possible, you should be out in front of your booth ready to engage those who walk by. Bring comfortable shoes and prepare for long days by assigning shifts to team members to make the most of your investment.

6. Teach at Your Booth

What do you really want to be known for in your community? The guy who can split a watermelon with a Kitana? Not me! I want everyone to know I’m the best teacher in town. I find every opportunity to teach the same techniques, skills, and values we practice on the mat. Sometimes we teach how to kick or punch. Other times, when interacting with kids, we demonstrate the importance of making eye contact when speaking with an adult or how to scan their environment when in a place for the first time.

7. Bring Fun Martial Arts Gear

I always bring bag gloves and a water-filled punching bag to community events. If things get slow at my booth, I recruit a passersby to put on the gloves and give the bag a piece of their mind. I’ve met very few people in my life that don’t smile after hitting a bag. Similarly, blocker bats are great for little ones. I let them hit me first and only reverse roles with parental approval and careful observation of the child’s demeanor. Take care not to make a timid child uncomfortable. If done properly, the experience opens the child’s eyes to a new experience and gets them excited about martial arts classes.

8. Draw a Prize Winner

Pick a prize everyone likes and can use. (I use VISA gift cards.) A $50 gift card or prize is a small investment to ensure that you get maximum participation. In addition to the first prize, choose winners who will receive free services from your martial arts school, which as: free week or free month programs, self-defense class for an entire office, or martial arts birthday party. Be sure to follow up with prize winners right away if you won’t be handing out prizes at your booth during the event.

9. Bring Memorable Giveaways

Flyers, business cards, and other marketing materials are required, but these don’t often leave a lasting impression. With your other promotional giveaways, aim to create a moment or experience that people will remember. What do I mean? When I attend a women’s empowerment summit, everyone visits my booth is invited to learn a beginner escape. While they perform the escape, my staff takes a picture with a Polaroid instant camera (I found this camera on Amazon). The photo is placed in a cardboard picture frame with my logo and contact info printed on it. Our visitor now has a keepsake to show others or hang on a bulletin board. These photos have a way longer shelf life than our flyers and they only cost about $1 each with film and frame.

10. Be Who You Say You Are

Earlier, I encouraged you to try new events to find new potential members for your martial arts school. This recommendation comes with one condition: you should attend events that are a good fit for the services you offer, the values you hold, and the culture of your school. While you shouldn’t be afraid to break the mold, you have to stay true to yourself. Make sure your values align with those of the community events you plan to attend. For instance, if your main priority is maintaining a healthy lifestyle, then health and fitness events are perfect for you. If, on the other hand, you focus on teaching life skills to children and young adults, family-oriented events may be best for you.

11. The Fortune is in the Follow Up

If you invest in promoting your martial arts school at community events, you should have a plan that provides return on your investment. Before you step foot in your booth, decide who will make follow-up calls, write phone scripts, and prepare emails to send. To ensure you follow this process, try setting up an automated lead follow-up process in your martial arts software. What’s helped you market your martial arts school successfully at community events? Which community events work best for your business? Share your experience in the comments below. Rick Ellis has 25+ years of experience in martial arts school ownership and consulting. His passion is helping school owners grow and increase retention through targeted staff training and systems integration.

Boost Your Event Revenue with 5 Online Registration Tricks

Posted on December 21, 2017August 21, 2019 by Jennifer Miller

We’re excited to say that we just launched the new Event Manager Dashboard! For anyone who is unfamiliar with Event Manager, it is a simple, powerful online event registration tool that is well loved by summer camp organizers, martial arts school owners, and more. Among the praise we’ve received about Event Manager, we heard many voices in our strong client community asking for a more modern approach to their favorite event registration software.

Hence the Event Manager Dashboard was born.

We’re fortunate to be a part of a community who values growth and communication. The Event Manager Dashboard release is our way of responding to the data-driven advancements in online registration; but more importantly, being the best we can for our clients.

So what can an event organizer, camp director, or martial arts school owner do with Event Manager—and the new Dashboard—to get more event revenue?

1) Email past participants about upcoming events.

Maximize your output by using resources you already have to build the relationships you want. Email is a simple, direct way use the information stored in Event Manager to connect past participants with upcoming events. Keeping in contact creates brand awareness and loyalty among your target audience. Don’t feel pressured to design fancy emails; writing text in line with your brand voice is effective and personal. Include events that are both similar and different to what they’ve done before. Offer a mix of consistency and variety to increase the likelihood of continued participation.

2) Use the click-through event revenue reports and review event performance quickly with interactive graphs.

Revenue isn’t just great to have; it’s another data point to measure the popularity of what you offer scaled to the size of your events. If you have a non-profit business or camp, your budget is influenced by how much you raise through fundraising, and fundraising affects how you allocate your resources throughout the year. For for-profit businesses, revenue is likely your primary metric for success. In either case, revenue results can determine whether you continue, discontinue, or change an event.

In Event Manager, choose a period within the date dropdown to see quickly what key metrics look like over time. The Registrations by Form pie chart is a great way to review the past year to identify your most successful events.

3) Replicate forms from popular events.

Make event planning easy by re-introducing successful events. It’s a great way to cultivate brand loyalty in your participants. Don’t put unnecessary pressure on yourself to create something new every time; if you’ve built a following for an event, keep it going.

To take the next step, make great events even better. Adjust events based on feedback from loyal participants. You can also use feedback to bring on new events that are targeted to your audience’s preferences. Find your participants’ favorite events in Event Manager’s Recent Forms list, or make a new form.

4) Create simple event registration forms. Use follow-up emails to include additional information.

Best practice for event registration is to keep forms simple so you don’t overwhelm registrants, causing them to abandon the form. Don’t overuse dropdowns. Limit options using dependent fields. Complex forms lead to fewer decisions and a lower completion rate.

Think about designing your form based on the essential information that you and your registrants need to know. If you have a form that works, replicate the format in Event Manager for all your events. Follow up through email to provide or request additional information based on what they selected.

5) Use Dashboard as a continuous part of event planning.

Remember, data is good for you. Keep an eye on metrics in Dashboard to know what you’ve been doing well and what to adjust for your next event. Use what you learn to improve your overall event-planning strategy.

Not already a user and want to see more? Take a tour with us!

[Webinar] Sell Out Every Time: The Expert Event Guide for Martial Arts Schools

Posted on September 15, 2017June 19, 2019 by Miranda Pruitt

Sell Out Every Time: The Expert Guide for Martial Arts Schools

Thursday, September 28, 2017 | 2:00 p.m. ET (11:00 a.m. PT)

Are you tired of stress-filled planning and disappointing attendance numbers at your martial arts events?

The best martial arts events set themselves apart by combining precise planning, compelling marketing, and unique attendee experiences. In this workshop, three industry experts will provide a start-to-finish guide for event success.

We’ll cover:

How to overcome top challenges martial arts schools face when hosting events
How to sell out every event in under 5 days
Steps to create unique experiences to boost attendance

WORKSHOP AGENDA: MARTIAL ARTS EVENTS MADE EASY

Event Strategy: Jason Morgan, Co-Founder, Hyper Martial Arts

Top challenges martial arts schools face when hosting events
Success tips for filling martial arts camps and events
Create the unfair advantage over other activities in your community

Event Planning: Adam Kifer, President of Level Up Music & Level Up Action Kits

The perfect martial arts event planning system
Turn each event into an experience
How to sell out every event in under 5 days using scarcity and urgency

Event Registration: Sarah McGeehan, Sales Manager, Member Solutions

Create excitement and urgency with your registration page
Optimize forms to increase registrations for martial arts events
Boost attendance by personalizing the experience

MEET OUR PRESENTERS

Jason Morgan, Co-Founder, Hyper Martial Arts

Jason is the co-founder of Hyper Martial Arts, an action-lifestyle brand that supports curriculum and media for the top martial arts schools and athletes worldwide. Starting his first martial arts school at 17 years-old, Jason quickly became recognized as one of the most successful and innovative instructors in the American Taekwondo Association. He is committed to elevating the level of recognition for martial arts athletes and developing high-level marketing and media campaigns to support the industry.

Adam Kifer, President of Level Up Music & Level Up Action Kits

Level Up Music and Level Up Action Kits are leaders in providing essential services to help martial arts school owners save time and to add a new layer of professionalism to their schools. A martial artist since age three, Adam has worked his way through the industry as an instructor, program director, and chief instructor. His experience led to the development of Level Up Action Kits, an innovative service that has helped more than 1000 martial arts schools improve how they run a Parents Night Out. Adam’s expertise in audio production, sound design, and the music business led to the launching of Level Up Music, a service that streams clean music mixes to martial arts schools and fitness centers across the country. Adam continues to innovate to make a positive impact in the martial arts industry.

Sarah McGeehan, Sales Manager, Member Solutions

With extensive experience in customer service, support, and sales, Sarah is a true jack-of-all-trades. She is highly knowledgeable about connecting businesses with their ideal solution. Sarah draws from her own experience planning community fundraisers to help event planners, business owners, and camp directors create optimized online registration forms that drive attendance for their events.

WEBINAR PARTNERS

Hyper Martial Arts

Hyper Martial Arts is an action-lifestyle brand that supports curriculum and media for the top martial arts schools and athletes worldwide.

Level Up Action Kits & Level Up Music

Level Up Action Kits is an innovative service that has helped
over 1000 martial arts schools improve how they run a Parents
Night Out. Level Up Music is a clean music streaming service
for martial arts schools and fitness centers.

Member Solutions

Member Solutions provides the complete software solution for martial arts and fitness businesses. The product suite includes membership software, managed billing services, and event registration.

Webinar: 10 Add-Ons to Increase Event Revenue

Posted on September 6, 2017June 19, 2019 by Jennifer Miller

If you’re only offering registrants the ability to sign up for your event, you’re selling yourself, quite literally, short. Why? Registrants actually want options to make additional purchases made available through your events. Discover how to incorporate 10 event add-ons from Sarah McGeehan, our Client Success Expert, in this must-see webinar.

About Sarah McGeehan: Having held almost every position at Member Solutions, she knows the entire client experience inside-out. Sarah is a true jack-of-all-trades who is highly knowledgeable about connecting businesses with their ideal solution.

14 Fall Event Ideas for September & October

Posted on August 30, 2017August 21, 2019 by Jennifer Miller

Need event ideas for your martial arts school, gym, community group, or another organization? With autumn approaching, you’ll have lots of opportunities to plan around seasonal delights. These fall event ideas are easy to customize for your participants with online event registration software like Event Manager.

1) Back-to-School/Autumn Pancake Breakfast

Celebrate the turn of the season with a themed breakfast! Use it to commemorate the start of school or the beginning of autumn. Pick your favorite breakfast place in town, or make it special with an apple pancake or pumpkin pancake recipe that you can share with your attendees later. Martial arts schools or gyms: use this fall breakfast as a way to engage prospects.

2) Costume Contest

Dress up at your office, school, team, exercise class, or classroom Halloween party. If you’re a coach or martial arts instructor, have fun with your students by creating a contest that is sport specific. Create a giveaway prize with a Halloween trick or treat bag with items that your group will enjoy.

3) Pumpkin Carving Party with Contest & Prizes

Get in this family-friendly activity by using a twist: pick categories for your pumpkin contest, like the funniest, most creative, and most unexpected. Winner gets a gift card to Amazon or a favorite local restaurant. Make sure you take lots of photos to post to Facebook and Instagram to engage your online community.

4) Fall Bike Tours

Get a group together for a fun time on two wheels as the weather begins to cool. Explore the earthy, changing colors of the trees for a weekend camping trip or day trip. If you want to accommodate all levels of cyclists, try enjoying a rail trail.

5) Astronomy Night

Make this an educational after-school event for a student science club, field trip, or as a way to build community in your young athletes. Visit an observatory, planetarium, or go outside with chairs, blankets, and a campfire.

6) National School Success Month

Host a seminar series for students and/or parents on good academic habits. This is a great opportunity for coaches and martial arts school owners to talk about how students can use the discipline that they learn in their sport to excel in the classroom. Offer study time, tutoring, or a way to connect students with peer study groups.

7) Museum Field Trip

Local or big city museums, in addition to their usual exhibits, usually have seasonal or special exhibits. While art museums are popular, science museums are great for kids who want a more tactile, interactive experience.

8) National Cheese Pizza Day (Sept. 5^th)

Not that there needs to be an excuse for pizza, but we’ll take one when we have it. Host a pizza lunch or dinner at your school, office, or local community organization.

9) Ultimate Frisbee Game

Get everyone outside with an adult office league or a team at your gym. Being outside is not only fun, but it significantly impacts the way you decompress.

10) Themed Paint Nights

Create a fall or Halloween-themed paint night for kids, adults, or both. Make it fun for kids with fingerpainting or adult-friendly with drinks.

11) Bonfires/Seasonal Cookout

Have your group submit their favorite seasonal recipes anonymously and have everyone pick their top five favorites. The majority says what will cook on the fire. S’mores are always great for dessert.

12) National Grandparents Day (Sept. 8)

Celebrate the special roles and relationships of grandparents with a dinner, craft night, or a sport specific demonstration from their grandchildren athletes. Have kids make cards or fundraise for gift cards.

13) Local Farm Adventure

Pumpkin patches and hay rides may feel cliché, but they’re a classic for many reasons. And hot cider always tastes better in season.

14) Haunted House

Get spooky with a haunted house or trail. Expert tip: make group t-shirts so you can keep track of your group.

Author: Jennifer Miller, Member Solutions Marketing Specialist