Parents Sports Day at the Summer Fair

We just ran a parents’ sports day at our PTA summer fair. Originally, this was because there are no Mums' or Dads' races at the kids’ sports day (probably for good reason!), and because it’s a great opportunity to raise money for the PTA.

However, it also brought more people along to the summer fair, got them there earlier in the day (and ensured they were thirsty). In a wider context, the event was great for raising awareness of activity through the school, and creating a lot of fun for the kids.

On the day, we had 16 parents who all paid £10 each to take part in 10 events. The winners (fittest Mum and fittest Dad) won a bottle of wine each, and the winning team won a trophy.
Every participant received a token to ‘spend’ at the PTA bar after the event to say thanks for taking part.

Getting the kids involved

Once the ticket website was set-up and live (BookItBee), I presented to the school assembly with the deputy head. After explaining my ‘cool’ job (helping people be more active), I talked about the kids’ sports day and how most parents enjoy watching. When I asked who would like to watch their parents doing sports there were 360 hands reaching for the ceiling. Once they’d calmed down a little, I asked if they would like to design the events, and they went wild.

They went back to their classrooms with their teachers to come up with fun/silly ideas that their parents would have to do, how we would work out winners, and what the events would be called. A week later, I received a list of events, the most popular of which were obstacle courses, soap relays, wheelbarrow, space hopper, piggyback races. Not all were going to be easy to run, but we took a mix of their ideas, some concepts from Taskmaster or It’s a Knockout, and mixed them up to have a little athleticism/skill, but mainly fun:

The events

1. Three-legged race
2. Hula Hooping (who can hula for up to 20 seconds)
3. Target Throw (throw a golf ball or rugby ball into one of two hoops)
4. Soap Relay (wet hands, bar of soap for baton)
5. Standing Long Jump
6. Water Carrier (transfer water from one end to the other, using paper cups)
7. Paper Airplane (make it, throw it furthest)
8. Egg & Spoon race
9. Egg catch (who can throw & catch an egg the furthest)
10. Obstacle/Dressing up relay

On the day

It was the hottest day of 2019, but the parents all enjoyed themselves immensely, made some new friends among their teams (based on their kids’ house colours), and earnt their beer token. Nearly all the dads gambled on throwing the rugby ball for 10 points versus the golf ball for 1 point, there were some amazing hula hooping techniques, and eggs flying for impressive distances, before breaking! The kids loved watching, as did other parents who weren’t brave enough to take part, but hopefully will next year.

After booking fees and prized were deducted, we raised £125 for the PTA. But activity and fun were the real winners, and some parents claim to be in training already for next year!