Carecare open house or Carnival??
I was posting on another forum that I visit a lot for over 3 years now and saying how I might be losing my one child and how hard it is to get children right now and someone posted this:
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No one does this either. Kind of a neat idea, but I really don't want people I don't know roaming around inside my home while I am outside putting on a carnival. Maybe tone it down and just have an "open house" and a drawing, and maybe an incentive if they sign on with you with in so many days. I have thought about the open house, but have never done it.
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I have heard of centers doing this and it does draw a lot of people. My question would be how do you get people to know you are having the open house carnival? Put signs out? Fliers?
I do have a carnival for my current families once per year. I have a few games, rent a bounce house, and have treats and hotdogs. I also invite extended family (mine and theirs). I had it in the Fall last year but there is just too much going on that I think I am going to move it to the summer. In two years I will have 3 of my preschoolers leaving for KG so that may be a way to fill those enrollments. |
I agree with just having people walk around in your house while your busy. What kind of incentive would you give people? Would you advertise that your giving an incentive?
I would think that you could post fliers where ever you are able too in town and in the paper. I know around here the child care ads are just plain font ads that don't stand out. So I'm going to see if I can pay a little more to make it stand out more. Maybe even just a box around the ad. (It's less then $20 for a week) |
True. I would not have the open house at that time. I would just do the carnival (although people may have to use the bathroom). That is why it is a little awkward from a home with people you dont know.
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I've done the open house ...
I've never done a carnival but I have done an open house and had my baby gate at the stairs to keep everyone downstairs. My downstairs is an opened floor plan and completely child-proofed so theres no valuables or breakables and I had my sister, mom and fincee help out in the front yard and backyard. I also do this on Halloween. I send out flyers to the homes near mine and offer a "safe" alternative to trick-or-treating. People come by and are able to enjoy an evening with their kids where they're allowed to play with our toys and equipment and we have a costume contest. I pass out sugar-free lolypops and small boxes of four crayons taped to the back of my business cards to the kids that come and other trick-or-treaters. I also use the open house thing to raffle off little baskets of not-to-expensive things like coloring books, home-made playdough (with recipe), small toys etc and have even added a certificate for a free day of care with me so that parent's can test it out at no charge. I've had three sign ups from using this method after 5 open-houses where the certificate is in the grand prize.:D
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Originally Posted by MarinaVanessa: |
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