I am looking to find a new way to have an exciting Relay for Life kick-off for 2007. We ususally have an open house type kickoff where team captains can come in and sign up there teams and we have tables set up with the different areas and committees to show off what they will be doing next year, however, we never seem to get a big turn out. I was wanting to do something to really spice it up and get a lot of people excited and involved. I would love to hear what other Relays do for their kickoffs.
Trackback URL for this post:
http://www.relayforlife.org/relay/trackback/147
September 18, 2006 - 2:17pm
- Login or register to post comments
Printer-friendly version
PDF version
Another Kickoff idea - Relay In 30 Minutes Skit
<!--[endif]-->Mini-Relay In A Box – Hold a full Relay in 30 minutes… Have the following materials:
<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->An MC/DJ (not a real one :) just a volunteer to help out)
<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Several Luminaria (enough to make a small circle that represents your track)
<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->A boombox/radio to play a few songs
<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->10 Eggs and Spoons (for an egg walk)
<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->A closing door prize and a few other prizes
<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->About 10 volunteers who have done Relay to “participate”
<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->A Cardboard clock that someone moves “very fast” and cutouts of the sun and moon that you show “setting and rising”… Announce the “Relay Time” every so often.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Several “donation jars” where people at the kickoff can donate to your “mini-relay”
Do the following:
<!--[if !supportLists]-->§ <!--[endif]-->Have your volunteers setup “minicampsites” (a sleeping bag, a small freestanding tent, etc.)
<!--[if !supportLists]-->§ <!--[endif]-->Have your MC/DJ open the event by “welcoming” everyone to relay (your 10 volunteers)
<!--[if !supportLists]-->§ <!--[endif]-->Go directly into setting up the Luminaria as your track
<!--[if !supportLists]-->§ <!--[endif]-->Do a survivor’s lap, where a few survivors walk the lap and you read their names and years since diagnosis/years as a survivor.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->§ <!--[endif]-->Do a quick Luminaria lighting (or put small lights/tap lights/flashlights in each bag) with a luminaria song where you read a mini script for the ceremony
<!--[if !supportLists]-->§ <!--[endif]-->Start everyone walking as if they are walking thru the night
<!--[if !supportLists]-->§ <!--[endif]-->Have a Egg Walk, where your participants walk eggs on spoons around the track, and give the winner a prize J
<!--[if !supportLists]-->§ <!--[endif]-->Play another song or two
<!--[if !supportLists]-->§ <!--[endif]-->Hold a closing ceremony and give out “mock prizes” to the highest fundraising team, best, campsite, etc.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->§ <!--[endif]-->MOST OF ALL – MAKE IT FUN… It can be anything you want, but a kickoff can be a great time to try to represent what Relay is to those who haven’t seen it.
Hope this helps!
Ramesh Moorthy Webmaster, acsrelay.org, Ideas for Volunteers Blogging about Relay at acsrelay blog Volunteer Content Advisor, SA Division Relay Web rflvolunteer@gmail.com
Kickoff Ideas
Hey there,
Here are some ideas for themes for kickoffs:
- “Keeping New Year’s Resolutions” – Thanks to MagieDCat and Relayamerica.com – “…Have flyers/ads saying ‘We can help you keep one New Year's resolution this year...’ and then have a "list" of typical resolutions, with "Help Others" circled... something like that.”
- Make your Kickoff Theme and Event Theme the same – Jump start your event by picking a theme for your event and building your kickoff around it: for example:
· “Carnival For A Cure” – Have all your teams have a carnival/circus theme!!! You can give away stuffed animals to for a donation (if that fits with your local rules! Please check with your committee/staff!)… In this case, have your Kickoff be a Carnival with carnival games, activities, a clown, and so on!
· Cartooning For A Cure –One relay event had Cartoons as the THEME FOR THE WHOLE EVENT, and every campsite had a cartoon theme!!!! Talk about neat! One site had a Dora Theme, another had Scooby Doo, another had Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck… You could have a Scooby Doo Theme for your campsite, or a Bugs Bunny Road Runner show theme…
· Celebrate the Diversity of Relay – Theme your Relay Kickoff around Martin Luther King Day – celebrate the diversity of your event by highlighting the different walks of life, cultures, and other diversities at your event. Extend the theme to your event too, and have each team celebrate a different country.
· The Countries Of the World – Have your kickoff and event both have this theme - have the kickoff have lots of flags from around the world. food from around the world, and activities from different countries (dancing, music, etc.). Have your teams pick different countries as their team theme - and decorate their campsite in honor of that country. Thanks to many, including IRelay4Mom for this idea.
· Cruisin’ For A Cure – Have a “car” theme for your event… Teams could use any of the car related themes below under the ideas for team themes, such as “Little Red Corvette”, “Car Wash For A Cure”, “Car Bashers For A Cure”. Have a car show/fundraiser as your event kickoff.
· Dancing For A Cure – Build your event theme around dancing for a cure! Hold a Dance as your kickoff and fundraiser –Have some sort of dance a thon or dance contest as part of it… For your event, your event theme could be Dancing For A Cure, and each team could have a dance theme for their team/campsite (see below):
o Disco For A Cure – Dress up in bell bottom and plaid shirts, big hair wigs, and play and good Disco music (Raid your parent’s record collection, go to a thrift shop and buy a record player – yes, one of those old things that plays those big black round things!) J
o Groovin’ For A Cure – Dress up in crazy 60’s clothes from a thrift shop, decorate your campsite with tie-die t-shirts, and play some good 60’s music.
o Hula For A Cure – dress in Hawaiian costume, bring lei’s and give them out for a donation, Hula dance for a cure around the track! You can also hold a Hula Hoop contest at midnight, and have a prize for the winner!
o Marga-Relay-Ville – Jimmy Buffet fans can dress up in a Marga-Relay theme – leis, Hawaiian shirts, etc. etc.! This is also good for a "beach theme"!
o Masquerading for A Cure! – Dress up in costumes and masks, and participate in Relay!
o Salsa for A Cure - Dress up, bring some latin music and salsa & merengue around the track for a cure with your partner! Go and get other people off their campsites to join you and dance around the track with them. Offer for your team to hold a dance competition (and find a teacher to come give lessons) after the opening ceremony.
o Sockhop For A Cure, or Rockin’ All Night Long For A Cure, or ???? - Use a 50's theme, setup a pink bar and stools, and sell root beer floats! (5/18/04 - Thanks to jaime lavigne for this great idea!)
o “Staying Alive!” – You all dress up like John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, and Stay Alive! (you can use the ideas from the disco theme right above, too.
o “Swinging For A Cure” – Dress up in Zoot Suits and dresses and swing down the track for a cure with your partner! Go and get other people off their campsites to join you and swing around the track with them. Offer for your team to hold a dance competition after the opening ceremony to give people swing lessons.
· Happily Ever After – Use Fairytale themes, and make your kickoff and event slogan “Making the Fairytale of a Cure Come True!”
· Holidays/ There is No Holiday From Cancer – Have an overall “holiday” theme to your kickoff and event… Have each team build their team around a holiday and decorate as such! Play holiday music/songs at your event J
· Movies/ Night At the Movies (thanks to Cove Relay For Life & IRelay4Mom) – Use the list of movie themes below, as well as the following movies:
o King Kong
o Star Wars
o Lord Of The Rings
o Harry Potter
· Nursery Rhymes (Once upon a cure) – An event theme that can use the “Fantasy”and “Fairytale” themes below!
· Patriotic/ USA For A Cure ./Stars and Stripes for A Cure - (thanks to IRelay4Mom) - use the Patriotic Themes below
· Sitcoms / Comedy For A Cure – Have an event themed around Comedy… get standup comedians (or even one that has had cancer), have improv all night and vote for the best improv standup comedian at your event… Have Funny Themed Laps… Show Comedy movies all night on a TV. Have another for Children’s movies, showing Disney movies (Funny ones). Have every campsite have a comedy theme (thanks to IRelay4Mom, and R. Moorthy Baltimore, MD)
· Sports Theme (overall for event) – Have a “Sports For A Cure” Overall theme and let each team have a sports theme
o Baseball
§ All Stars – DO it like the Football one that is right below – declare your survivors to be “All-Stars”… Have your caregivers be “All Star Relief Pitchers” for providing relief and support to patients… and give “All Star Designated Hitter” Awards to family and friends who have helped care for cancer survivors and those we have lost… Have fun with it! (R. Moorthy Baltimore MD)
o Football
§ Most Valuable Player – Have your event be football themed (you can look at decoration ideas under “Sports” below)… Hand out awards for Most Valuable Players – give one to every survivor you meet on the track, give “caregiver awards” to caregivers, and so on… Make it fun and entertaining! (R. Moorthy Baltimore MD)
· States – see 50 States
· Take Me Out To the Ballgame – Each team could dress up as a Major League Baseball team or use one of the Sports themes below.
· Under the Sea – Have Ocean/Boating/Sea related themes for your campsites in your event.
· Valentine’s Kickoff Theme – “A Cure For Cancer Would Be Sweet” - Thanks to MagieDCat and Relayamerica.com – “We are having our kickoff in February the week before Valentine's Day. Kind of going with Valentine inspiration, we are thinking about having a dessert reception, with something like "A cure for cancer would be sweet" or something like that. Hopefully I can come up with a slogan more creative before then, but you get the idea.”
· Western Theme
You could use this as your kickoff and event theme... Just a thought. Email me for more ideas for kickoffs, flyer examples, etc.
Ramesh Moorthy
Webmaster, acsrelay.org, Ideas for Volunteers
Blogging about Relay at acsrelay blog
Volunteer Content Advisor, SA Division Relay Web
rflvolunteer@gmail.com
kick off
Do you get the kids involved from the local schools? We save our theme announcement for kick off! Our committee dresses in character for whatever the theme is. Last year was the Fabulous 50's, and we were the pink ladies, and got pink lady jackets, and pony tails, white sneaks, the boys were the t-birds, wore jeans, white tee rolled up, greased hair, and work tbird jackets.
We served food of the era white castle cheesebugers, and floats we had a relay store, registration table, and then we had speakers and introduced our committee. We did it for the first time on a friday night, and we got a great turn out! We advertised a soc hop type theme, and played 50's music. It was alot of fun!!! The kids were great, they got up and sang, and we even had elvis perform too!! ELVIS was in the building!! :)
If i can help u any further just ask! :)
I love the Marga-Relay-Ville
I love the Marga-Relay-Ville theme! That is awesome! This year we are going with "Where in the World is A Cure for Cancer"? I love the theme, and hope to have a great turnout with teams! I like the flag idea a lot...and was thinking we could require our teams to provide a flag of their country. We're also going to use passports for the team capt. at meetings. They have to attend meetings to get a stamp, and do different activities (provide facts from their country, make a snack or bring a food item from their country, etc).
Any other suggestions? I am looking for fun ideas! :)
Joined: 2006-08-12