Here are some ideas to keep them through the night and want to be there in the morning:

ACTIVITIES THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT TO KEEP YOUR TEAMS ALL NIGHT!
• Cheeseball Toss – “I don't think we have a special name for it, but you have teams of two. one person places whipped topping all over their face, and the other person throws cheeseballs at them. the team with the most cheeseballs on them at the end of a time limit wins. this can be done with peanut butter and marshmallows also.” Thanks to scotrfl for this idea!
• 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!)
• Find your sole-mate – “…People are given one shoe and they have to fond 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!
• 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!)
• Fireworks – Make sure you check with your staff on liability and insurance, as well as ensure your site can handle fireworks.
• 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.” – Thanks to Tao!
• Karaoke – Very effective!
• 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!
• Midnight Blackout Bingo - only those walking get a card and a chance to win (thanks to Squire5 for that idea!)
• 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!)
o Some movie suggestions (of course, check these with your committee before showing any of them, and if it is not a children’s movie, make sure the parents know if anyone under 18 is viewing it!
• 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! )
• Palm Readers - Palm readers walk the track and tell people their fortunes (thanks to Squire5 for that 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!

MORNING ACTIVITIES
• Aerobics – To get the blood flowing in the morning (Between 7 and 9 am)
• Best Bed Head Contest – When people wake up, have a contest, where based on clapping, you anoint a Best Bed Head King and Queen of Relay that lead the closing lap of the event! (thanks to emtsmom for part of this idea!)
• Breakfast in Bed - whichever team has the most participants walking throughout the night will receive a pancake breakfast served by the committee in their tent the next morning.
• Breakfast – Get a local bagel shop to donate bagels, donuts, and OJ… A little food goes a long way to get folks going!
• Fancy Pankcake Breakfast - get a local restaurant or civic group to come out and make pancakes in the morning, for a small Relay donation if you are really bold!
• Childrens’ Relay Mini-Event – Hold a mini-Relay for kids at 7am-9am, with lots of cool activities, lap activities, etc. to keep parents with kids around or at least have them return!
• Closing Ceremonies - OBVIOUSLY – Most events do this, but have a good closing ceremony and even get a local celebrity to wrap it up, or a good popular local music group… this will help to motivate the teams to get there. Also announce the highest fundraising team and individual.
• Event Awards: Here are some awards you should have:
o Best Decorated Overall - based on creativity, theme and decorations related to the theme.
o Best Decorated Campsite for Cancer Control Theme: based on interpretation of theme, creativity, and decorations.
o Team Spirit Award - based on attendance at Opening, Luminaria & Closing Ceremonies, demonstrated Team spirit through excitement and team participation of all Relay events.
o Rookie Team of the Relay (First Year Teams Only) - based on decorations, food, theme interpretation and cancer control activities.
o Most Original Campsite - based on originality in theme and campsite decorations.
o Best Food - based on taste, appearance, and smell.
o Healthiest Food (for events with food booths) - based on taste, appearance, smell and the healthy aspects of the food.
o Morning Prizes/Ceremonies/Awards – Have some awards early in the morning that people must be present for – such as an an auction, the Kid's Walk with great Kids’ prizes, a celebrity to do closing ceremonies, etc.
• Morning Prizes/Ceremonies/Awards – Have some awards early in the morning that people must be present for – such as an an auction, the Kid's Walk with great Kids’ prizes, a celebrity to do closing ceremonies, etc. and give them an entry every hour they are there through the night – such as a raffle ticket to enter a drawing. One event gave away a used car in the morning!
• Morning Relay For Life Live or Silent Auction – Hold a live auction with some great donated items at 7am, or hold a silent auction that wraps up at 6am (with a list for each item, where people write in a bid that exceeds the previous bid by at least $x dollars, and so on)
• Relay Olympics – have a series of “Olympic Events” at your Relay, 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? Some event examples are (thanks ddrelay and relaygirl001):
o 3-legged race
o egg toss.
o whip cream pie eating contest
o dizzy bat race in which they had to run down to the other end after spinning around 8 times on a bat and at the other end they had to put clothes on and run back down.
o bobbing for pig feet.
o water balloon toss
o sack race
o rubber chicken relay
o miniature game relay (i.e. golf set for 3 and under and adults play with those);
o toilet paper fashion
o water balloon pickup
o frozen t-shirt contest
o hula-hoop relay
o cheese puff toss
• Rooster Crow Contest - Hold a "rooster crow" contest right around 7 a.m. We might not have that many participants but it will be fun for those who are awake and there.
• Volleyball tournament – to give folks something to do in the morning!
• Yoga – Several events have Yoga at 6 or 7am, and people can use it to ease back awake!
• And finally… LAST BUT NOT LEAST – A Really Big Door Prize! – Save your biggest door prize of the event for the morning, and require that you must be present to win! This might keep some folks there who might otherwise leave, or at least ensure they come back if they were sneaky enough to leave… - a weekend trip for 2, a donated television, one event even had a Used Car donated and given away in the morning!!!!!!!

Hope this helps...