School Parent Bonding Event Ideas????

Adult trivia night at a local bar or something that is almost a date night. A evening at a trampoline place or someplace where the kids are fully engaged in supervised activities and the parents can just stand around and chat. An afterschool or weekend playdate at the park gives you the same kind of thing at no cost.

Did the ice cream social work? Sometimes you just can't force people into friendships.

We did family game nights, spring potluck/BBQat the park, pj party in the library with stories and snacks, beer and pool (that one was parents only obviously!)

I wouldn't publicize it as a bonding event - just a social night or a family fun day. Do more smaller events and maybe one or two big events for the year. That way there are choices, something for people to attend if they can't make one particular date, and not a ton of work for each one.

Our schools do an adult spelling bee or a trivia bee once a year (district-wide) to raise funds for the educational foundation (teachers can apply for mini-grants $250-500 to fund something special in their classrooms). Each elementary school does one big ice cream social with either a silent auction or a Scholastic Book Fair at the same event. There's a family fun day in good weather on a Saturday (face painting, games, sometimes a little petting zoo from one of the local farms or alpaca places, some simple competition with 3-legged races and so on), and a pizza fundraiser at one of the local restaurants that gives a percentage of sales that night to the parent organization.

A family movie night might be fun - consider doing it in pajamas to make it unique, and then the kids are ready for bed when it's over. You could sell popcorn/snacks. You could even have 2 rooms with 2 different movies to cut down the noise/chaos.

A family pot luck sounds fun - but add an activity (maybe a raffle or some games), same with a doughnut event (you can't just have unhealthy foods especially for the kids with issues like diabetes).

It takes planning, but you could consider a school garden - kids learn where food comes from, they use math skills to calculate seed/seedling purchases, they do graphing to plan out rows, they learn the science of seed germination and photosynthesis...and they get out into the dirt and fresh air. This would be for next year because you'd need the teachers to buy into it, plan curriculum tie-ins, and line up donations/advice from a garden center. But the planning committee is a great bonding experience!

Our school rents out our local rink for a couple hours of open skating. That's quite popular :)

My PTO does book bingo (regular bingo, and the prizes are books that are donated).

On a smaller scale, I'm part of a parent-child book club. Parent and child read a book together, then all the parent-child groups meet one evening to talk about the book - the teacher could recommend a book, and maybe help discussion materials.

My kids' school does a beanie baby bingo night once a year. The PTSA provides free popcorn and bottles of water and juice boxes. Bingo cards are a quarter each. The kids play bingo and the parents socialize. They also do Daybreak with Dad/Morning with Mom in conjunction with school book fairs. They have hosted family nights at our local nature center and planetarium. School carnivals are a ton of work, but there is always a good turnout.

The school I teach at did a family fitness night. They had Zumba, a free throw contest, and some other games similar to what they play in PE. My school also has a 5th grade vs teacher basketball game. It is a HUGE event! Last year they had almost 200 people show up. My school has done movie nights, playground socials, and they have a big talent show.

I used to teach at a school that had a family picnic night. Families brought their own picnic lunches/dinners and the school provided something for dessert--cake or ice cream treats. Kids played on the playground and parents got to socialize.

ew.
why is it the school's job to get parents to 'bond'?
i think they should stick to educating children.
if you just want a social, then an ice cream or roller skating or movie night is just fine.
khairete
S.

All of those ideas below are great. I might even suggest a few for my school!

We do a huge cultural night, where people have booths from their native countries and serve food typical of that culture. We also have a few game booths and a small raffle/silent auction. It's been a great event for the last several years.

Another school in our neighborhood has a father-child overnight campout. They also do a separate pancake breakfast, which is run by their sixth graders as a fundraiser for their week at outdoor ed (they sell tickets).

organize a moms' night out. once a month.

We did a casino night fundraiser that was a blast! Adult only, obviously. Lots of work, but we made quite a bit of money and had so much fun! On a more casual note, I really enjoyed a "moms' night out" at a wine bar the first week my son was in kindergarten. It was so nice to meet other moms, especially ones with older kids at the school who had insider tips! With the kids, we have a movie night with a giant inflatable screen outside, everyone brings blankets and different classes/groups sell glow sticks, pizza, drinks, popcorn. Tons of fun!