Events

Step-by-step: disco

Discos are simple to organise, offer guaranteed fun and are a firm favourite on the PTA fundraising calendar!

Whether you’re planning an event purely for children or as some family fun, discos are a firm favourite with PTAs. Keep things simple or throw in a theme, some party games and a dance competition.

Step-by-step

  1. Six weeks before: Agree on a date and book a venue or request use of the school hall. Decide if you will hold more than one disco for different age groups, such as Key Stage 1 and 2. If you are hiring a professional DJ, book early, especially at busy times such as the run up to Christmas or the summer wedding season. If not, check that any equipment you need is available and in full working order. Giving your event a theme can help create a buzz of excitement: popular ideas include crazy hair, shorts and shades, Valentine’s disco or a monsters bash for Halloween. Find suppliers in our online directory. Start signing up volunteers to help set up the venue, supervise children, cover entrances and exits, staff refreshment stalls, monitor toilet areas and clean up after the event. Announce the date and time(s) to parents. Order items such as glow accessories or snacks.
  2. One month before: Set up your ticketing page and start publicising your event with posters and on social media. If your online sales method doesn’t include an option to collect further information, create letters for parents to collect or download that includes the name, age and class of pupils plus permissions, dietary requirements and a contact number. It’s good practice to only sell tickets in advance and adopt a ticket-only policy on the door. This helps control numbers and is a good security safeguard.
  3. One to two weeks before: Compile a list of the children who are attending. Sort it by class group as this makes it easier to register them when they arrive and leave. Once you know the ratio of adults required, contact everyone who has offered to help and confirm where and when you want them. Place a box in the school reception and invite children to submit song requests to be played at the event. Check that these are appropriate (especially for Key Stage 1 children) before passing them on to your DJ.
  4. On the day: Set up your venue with decorations, refreshments and entertainment – face painting is always popular, and party games are a great way to keep younger dancers entertained. You might also be able to offer a karaoke element, with a list of available songs – check with your DJ. Younger children can sometimes find a loud, dark room a little overwhelming, so it might be worth starting off gently and having volunteers on hand for support and to encourage shy dancers to get started.

Tips and advice

  • Music licence: If you are featuring any form of live or recorded music, you will need a music licence. Many venues, including the school, often already hold these licences, so it’s worth checking.
  • Boost profits: Increase income on the day by selling glow products or running a tuck shop. If your audience is too young to be trusted with cash, include a glow bracelet or finger torch in with the ticket price and charge slightly more for entry.
  • Safeguarding: If parents aren’t accompanying their children, check your adult to child ratio and start securing volunteers early. Ask the school if supervising adults need DBS certificates.
  • What to charge: This may vary depending on your costs and what you’re including in the ticket price. Based on a poll we conducted, most PTAs charge between £1–£4. To help those experiencing financial difficulties, create a ticket for family groups of three children or more. 
  • Regulated entertainment: You will not need a TEN for a school disco unless you are selling alcohol.

Disco success stories

‘Our discos are very popular, and make around £1,000 each time. The profit rose from £150 to £1,000 in about two years. The discos used to be held on a Saturday morning, without a proper DJ kit and we were only charging £1 per child. However, we have found that the more professional the disco, the more children want to come and the more parents are willing to pay. Our discos are for pupils in Years 3–6 and we usually run them in the last week of every term. We charge £2.50 per ticket in advance or £3 on the night. During the evening, we sell drinks, glowsticks and hot food (pizza and hotdogs) but no sweets. We also run a raffle at 10p a ticket with about 15 donated prizes, or we use leftover prizes from fairs. The disco never runs for more than 90 minutes as the children get over-tired. Music plays from 5–6pm, and we draw the raffle at the end. We finish off the last 20 minutes with some ‘big’ music numbers! The school is lucky enough to have a dad who is a DJ in his spare time and has all the kit. He visits the school in the week of the disco and announces a brief ‘Don’t forget the disco this Friday!’ in assembly. The children get a letter in their book bags with a slip to fill in for advance tickets. On the night, we check the names off against the class lists to save time and hassle.’

Clive Cini, former PTA chair, Courthouse Junior School, Berkshire (390 pupils)

‘We have been running a disco twice a year for a while. With each event we have adjusted the timings and refreshments until we are happy that we have a winning formula! Recently, we saw a giveaway for UV face and body paint in PTA+ magazine and were inspired!

We ordered 36 tubes of neon face and body paint, and 200 glow bracelets, giving one to each child as they were signed in. If you leave them out for the children to collect, they just grab a handful! We advised parents in advance that the bracelets were not suitable for children under three years old. Our DJ supplied UV lights free of charge.

We offered patch testing at school pick-up for the three days prior to the disco (a patch on hand and one behind the ear) and put a sign up at the event explaining that we were not liable for any adverse reaction or staining of clothes! Nobody experienced any adverse reactions.

To keep things simple we offered basic tribal designs, smiley faces, lightning flashes and flowers. The thicker the paint was applied, the better it glowed. We used brushes and cotton wool buds to apply the paint and had several parent volunteers manning the face painting station. The children often started with designs on their hands and then came back for face paints later.

The paint and glow bracelets were included in the ticket price of £3 per child,. We also sold sweets in pre-prepared cones, crisps, home-made cakes and squash. We made a profit of £350 – a 40% increase on our typical disco income. It wasn’t at all messy either! The event was enormously popular; we had much better ticket sales than previous discos and many parents who don’t usually comment on Friends’ events were very positive. Most importantly, the children thoroughly enjoyed themselves!’

Judy Emanuel, PTA Chair, Newport Primary School, Essex (150 pupils)

 

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The above is intended as guidance only. We recommend that you contact the relevant organisations with specific reference to insurance, legal, health and safety and child protection requirements. Community Inspired Ltd cannot be held responsible for any decisions or actions taken by a PTA, based on the guidance provided.