We present ALL our awards at the end of the event.  This seems to keep most people around till the end.  Laura

Suzanne, There are quite a few things I have heard as ways to keep people around, but it can be a challenge to be sure. Some events have incentives that last all night (hourly prizes), and the biggest prize in the morning (I have heard of used car giveaways, 2 plane ticket giveaways and the like) that at least encourage people to come back in the morning. At least one event talked of having "stamps" on a Relay Passport each hour of the night for you, and whoever turned in the passport with all the stamps could be eligible in a prize drawing (that time, I think it was a used car). Here are some of the ideas that people have shared: ---------- • Country Line Dancing – The Essex MD event has country dancing from 10PM - 2 AM and the Pasadena MD Relay has dancing all night. Even in the rain, they had dancers on the floor all four hours, including a lot of kids! • Coffee Bar – Provide “designer” coffee for a small donation! (thanks to Squire5 for that idea!) • Have a Midnight raffle - you must be present to win. Sell tickets throughout the day for $1. Double tickets if you buy between 1am-6am. Ask each team to create a gift basket for prizes. Wow - I just thought of that! Michael, let's do that! (thanks to Squire5 for that idea!) • Kids Relay Held in the Morning, to keep people there! • Games Thru the Night - Hold team relay games with prizes throughout the night to motivate people to stay. • Jail and Bail – Here’s a great idea! “A team in our relay does a "Judge Judy" theme. You can relate part of it with the Western Sheriff theme - We get a large outside dog cage and make that our jail. Then the team members run around locking ppl up or others can have a sheriff lock someone up for them. Bail to get out is usually set at $5.00. The jailbirds yell at friends to come out and donate some cash. KIDS love this.” – This can go all night, to keep people on their toes. Thanks to Tao! • Karaoke – Very effective! One suggestion – make people make a $x donation to get certain people to stop singing!!!!!!!! • Lap Poker - We had two (2) volunteers on the track at the start (balloon arch) with decks of cards. The participants started and made five laps around the track for each lap they made they would receive a card. The best hand won. We had pen and pencil sets that had been donated, along with RFL logo items that we would give away. • Lip Sync Contest – Hold a lip sync contest late at night, where contestants can participate for great prizes! Thanks to Stacy C. and the Vienna, VA Relay For Life for this great idea! See the following link for a flyer and registration form: http://www.acsrelay.org/Darn_Good_Ideas/19-On-Site_Activities_Late_Night_Lip_Sync_Contest_Registration_Form.doc http://www.acsrelay.org/Darn_Good_Ideas/19-On-Site_Activities_Late_Night_Lip_Sync_Contest_Flyer.doc • Midnight Pizza Party – Something to motivate people to stay! • Movies – Show movies all night long to keep your volunteers entertained. Have them beginning after your midnight activity and continuing until 6 AM (or when you have your first morning activities) to keep people who are awake entertained… What you need: o Lots of movies o A VCR or DVD Player o a “Light Pro” projector - Get a local business to loan you it and then hook it up the VCR/DVD o Bring a screen to project the movie, or even use the side of the building. Other events hang a white sheet from two poles and project on there, but make sure that you get all four ends taut. o Have cookies and milk to serve with the movie (thanks to Squire5 for that idea!) • Musical Chairs - A play on the old game we would play as kids. We lined up about 25 chairs in opposite directions and everyone would take a seat. The DJ would start playing a song and then stop, each time he would start playing again, we would take away 1 or more chairs to make it interesting. The DJ would speed up the music as we were down to 6 chairs or less. It was fun --- almost worthy of America's Funnies Home Videos. • Not So NewlyWed Game – A variation on the Newlywed Game Theme… (Squire5, Sabrina & Tara - thanks for the idea! ) • Pajama Party • Relay Olympics – have a series of “Olympic Events” at your Relay on the hour thru the night, and crown a child and adult champion. – Make some of the activities happen early in the morning, and give a team award for the most hours participated (every hour on the hour, all night)… Maybe a traveling trophy! • Scavenger Hunt – Hold a scavenger hunt with a new item each hour, and a great prize in the morning! (Thanks to many people for this idea, including Traci and Squire5) • Themed Laps Each Hour with Great Music – Have music that goes all night (not too loud!) and theme each hour to give people who like different kinds of music something to look forward to! – give the team that embodies that theme an award at the end of the hour. You could also have a Live DJ… Make sure it is ok with your teams, your site, and your surrounding community… Consider turning the music down after 11pm till 7am based on your community/event, but at least between the hours of 2am and 5am to ensure that people have a little relaxing time - that will get them thru the morning. IF you have a DJ, you could have a Boombox for music from 1-4AM and let him/her take a break. Some example Theme Lap ideas are: o Musical Hours  Latin Hour  Big Band Hour  Swing Hour  70’s Hour  80’s Hour  Oldies Hour  Rock N Roll Hour  The Love Hour (allow dedications for a donation!) o Crazy Hours (Thanks to Zoomzoom for finding these and sharing!)  Hawaiian Laps  Crazy Hat Laps  Pajama Laps  Red, White & Blue Laps  Cardboard Box Laps – Give each team a cardboard box to decorate, and have a race  Limbo Contest Lap – Have everyone lap, and have limbo sticks at different points of the track that get progressively lower; see who makes it the farthest around the track!  Best Formal Wear Lap (thanks to Damyers65)  Line Dancing Lap (thanks to Damyers65)  Limbo Contest Lap (thanks to Damyers65)  Chicken Dance Lap (thanks to Damyers65)  Bunny Hop Lap (thanks to Damyers65)  Kazoo Lap (thanks to Damyers65)  Best Patriotic Outfit (thanks to Damyers65)  Pajama Party Lap (thanks to Damyers65)  Neck Tie Relay (thanks to Damyers65)  Team Spirit Lap (thanks to Damyers65) o Ways to Mix and Mingle:  Meet a Friend Laps - “At this year's relay we are having meet a friend laps. It's a neat way to get to know some of your fellow relayers. It's fun too! We are doing a reverse lap too.” (thanks to camskaos)  Dance Laps – Have people dance around the track – give them dance cards – when they dance with someone, have that person ‘sign’ their dance card and write down one interesting fact about themselves – who ever has danced with the most people at the end of the hour (and reports to the MC with their dance card filled out) wins a prize – make it a really cool one (thanks to RM!)  Find your sole-mate – “…People are given one shoe and they have to find the person that has the matching one. When they find on another, they run to the microphone. Inside each shoe is part of a cancer fact. (Each shoe of the pair has half the fact on it)The duo reads the fact, and they win” – Thanks to lonezodiac! Hope this helps... Email me for more ideas or a copy in Word. Ramesh Moorthy Webmaster, acsrelay.org, Ideas for Volunteers Blogging about Relay at acsrelay blog rflvolunteer@gmail.com

Do you mind posting the poem "I Walked Around a Track Today"? I would love to see it. Thanks

Tracy Stourac Relay For Life of Elmhurst and Villa Park Event Chair I love this idea of honoring the survivors in attendance during the luminaria ceremony. We also have a luminaria slide show that includes the names that are on the luminaria (prior to event sales) as well as pictures and messages family members have provided- along with a $10 donation. This is one of our most cherished moments of our event.