If you’re looking for end of the year school party ideas to celebrate elementary school graduation, fundraise for your PTO, or just bring your community together, we’d love to inspire you!
As New England’s most popular event entertainment company (and the highest-rated in the US, despite only servicing our 6 little states!), here are our favorite end of year school party ideas for elementary schools!
8 Amazing End of Year School Party Ideas for Elementary Schools
Face Painting & Balloon Twisting
Number of Students Entertained Per Artist:
- Full face paint designs or multi-balloon designs: 10-12 guests
- Speedy face designs or simple balloons: 15-20 guests
Number of Artists Available: Up to 20 per event
At a Glance: Our artists set up at a booth or tent and move quickly through a line of kids!
Why We Love it for End of Year School Parties: These are *the* classic entertainment that kids will want to line up for. Plus, with our special speedy menus, we can get through a huge amount of them very quickly! Great for impatient younger siblings and tight budgets.
Logistical Considerations: Face painters need 1 table and 2 chairs per painter. Balloon twisters just need some table space and 1 chair per twister. Besides that, we’re pretty self-contained!
LEARN MORE ABOUT FACE PAINTING INGREDIENTS & SAFETY AND OUR SPEEDY MENUS HERE!
Cartoon Character Meet & Greets
Number of Guests Entertained Per Mascot: Up to 30 per hour
Number of Mascots Available: We typically have about a dozen characters in our roster and up to 6 mascot actors available on any given day. Check out our current line up here.
At a Glance: Cartoon mascots come for a theme-park style meet-and-greet!
Why We Love it for End of Year School Parties: Younger siblings will love to meet their favorite characters while, especially ones who are too young for other activities like face painting or foam parties.
Logistical Considerations: Mascots require an adult handler from your team (or we can provide one); one 15min break per every contracted hour (so a 2hr contract from 2:00-4:00p would include two 15min breaks during that time); and a space to change/break. We are love our professional actors and it’s extremely important to us that they stay safe at events. Please read more about mascot safety here.
LEARN MORE ABOUT MASCOTS HERE!
Hair Art
Number of Students Entertained Per Artist: Up to 20 per artist.
Number of Artists Available: Up to 10 artists available.
At a Glance: Kids choose between hair tinsel, hair chalk, and hair glitter to get a custom ‘do!
Special Notes: Hair chalk is popular for all hair lengths and genders! Often parents worry that this activity won’t be for boys, but we promise they love the hair chalk as much as anyone else.
Why We Love it for End of Year School Parties: Hair art is a fast alternative to face painting, and great for kids who aren’t interested in face painting. (Especially the ones who think they’re “too old” for little kid stuff!)
Logistical Considerations: If your event is indoors, please make sure it’s ok with the school or venue to use glitter.
LEARN MORE ABOUT HAIR ART HERE!
Foam Parties
Number of Students Entertained:
- 1 cannon at a time: Up to 25 kids per “wave” of dancing
- 2 cannons at a time: Up to 50 kids per “wave” of dancing
- Kids typically want to spend 15-30min in the foam before moving onto the next activity
Number of Artists Available: While we have up to 3 cannons available, we recommend only hiring a maximum of 2 cannons at a time to keep groups of kids smaller (and safer) at any one time.
At a Glance: Our trained foam techs will blast music and bunches of bubbles to create a soapy, over-the-top dance party!
Special Notes: Safety is the #1 priority for foam! Parent volunteers or staff must be present at all times. Children will be instructed on how to act safetly in the foam, but our techs are not baby sitters or life guards.
Why We Love it for End of Year School Parties:
Logistical Considerations: Foam should be sprayed in a 50 ‘ x 50′ flat area (black top or lawn) with adequate drainage and not hidden tripping hazards (sprinklers, rocks, stumps, toys, playground materials, curbs, drains). Foam techs must be placed within 100′ of water spigots and 100’ of grounded electricity. The electrical must be 3-pronged, grounded, and on a unique breaker (breaker cannot be combined with other rentals or utilities). Read more about foam requirements on our foam site.
LEARN MORE ABOUT FOAM ON OUR FOAM SITE HERE!
3 Types of Temporary Tattoos
Number of Guests Entertained Per Artist:
- Glitter tattoos: up to 30 tattoos per hour
- Airbrush tattoos: up to 30 tattoos per hour
- Flash tattoos: up to 25 guests per hour
Number of Artists Available:
- Glitter tattoos: up to 20 artists
- Airbrush tattoos: up to 15 artists
- Flash tattoos: up to 10 artists
At a Glance: Mix and match any temporary tattoos you want! Guests will line up, pick a tattoo from our built-for-speed menus, and have it quickly applied to them. Tattoos last anywhere from a few days (glitter, flash) up to a week (airbrush, henna) but most can be easily removed with rubbing alcohol (except henna).
Special Notes: We do not recommend henna tattoos for this age group since it can be very messy. So you’ll see it listed on our site, but not on this page 🙂
Why We Love it for End of Year School Parties: Temporary tattoos are value-friendly line-busters for when you need a ton of kids entertained on a tight budget!
Logistical Considerations: Temporary tattoo artists need 1 table and 2 chairs per artist. Airbrush tattoos additionally *require* a 3-prong electrical outlet near their station. (Glitter, flash, and henna are self-contained.)
LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL OUR TEMPORARY TATTOOS HERE!
Strolling Magicians
Number of Students Entertained Per Magician: About 6-7 tricks per hour, up-close with groups of up to 10 people per trick
Number of Magicians Available: Our magicians are one of a kind, but on any given day, we have up to 4 available.
At a Glance: Our magicians walk through your party performing up-close tricks for event-goers. It’s a special, intimate touch on large events!
Special Notes: Some of our magicians are able to dress up in costumed characters for your event. Ask our office while booking!
Why We Love it for End of Year School Parties: In our decade+ of experience, your end of year school event is likey not booking enough entertainment for the amount of kids you have and the lines will be long. (We get it, you had to fundraise and the budget is tight!) Strolling magic is a great way to make your lines more interesting while kids wait in them and double the fun kids have.
Logistical Considerations: Our magicians need a small spot to stash extra items, but if they can park close to where they’re strolling, they can always leave things in their car. This is one of our most flexible types of entertainment!
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR MAGICIANS HERE!
Kids DJ
Number of Students Entertained Per Artist: Our DJ can bring speakers for up to your entire elementary school! Just make sure you speak with us about the number of kids you expect while booking 🙂
Number of Artists Available: You’ll only need one DJ for your event, but if you want things like structured games or a photobooth, we can send assistants.
At a Glance: Our DJ will come with huge speakers and a library of family-friendly music for your event. We can also MC announcements or graduating speeches–just ask!
Special Notes: If you want upgrades like lighting, monitors, photobooths, or games ask us at the time of booking.
Why We Love it for End of Year School Parties: Music is one of those details that MAKES a party!
Logistical Considerations: Our DJ will need access to power very close by to their station. Please give ou office as many details about your party’s size and venue when booking so we can make sure we bring the right equipment. You MUST specify if the event is outdoors at the time of booking so that our DJ can provide a tent rental to keep equipment from overheating.
LEARN MORE ABOUT DJ SERVICES HERE!
Tie-Dye Make-and-Take
Number of Students Entertained Per Artist: For kids, one tie-dye artist can assist up to 6 kids at a time and up to 25 kids per hour. (For teens and adults, this number is higher as they need less assistance.)
Number of Artists Available: Up to 8 tie-dye artists available
At a Glance: Our tie-dye artists help kids band, spray, and bag tie-dye apparel! This low-mess solution is the perfect make-and-take station that, if there’s no line, takes guests about 6 minutes to move through and complete.
Special Notes: Want to turn tie-dye into a great keepsake? Pre-order shirts with your class year, school logo, or mascot on it for students to grab and custom-dye!
Why We Love it for End of Year School Parties: We love any activity that emphasizes hands-on play as an alternative to screens. And this is our favorite make-and-take station!
Logistical Considerations: Tie-Dye needs at least 2-3 long folding tables (we will provide drop cloths). Students should either plan to take their tie-dye with them in a bag, or you should prepare another 1 long folding table per 15 guests as a drying station. (We will provide gallon bags with name tags.)
LEARN MORE ABOUT TIE-DYE HERE!
Categories: Party Ideas (CT MA RI NH)