Relay For Life Campsite Decorating and On Site Fundraiser Ideas

Hello Relay friends!  Relay For Life of Custer County has another GREAT year in the books ($132,000 event total!), and I am excited to share all of the awesome ideas from this years event!  Over the next few weeks I will be sharing them with you- but I want to start with everyone's favorite (according to my stats!) DECORATING and onsite fundraisers! To check out last years decorating, go here.

First things first- this years theme was Lights, Camera, CURE!  Life on the purple carpet.  Each team picked a movie, and we made sure there were no duplicates.  The teams were all really excited about this theme, because it could be so diverse.  Everyone really went all out!  If you are doing a movie theme, you can look here for theme ideas.

My team, The Mighty Misfits, went with a super hero theme- Super Heroes Unite to Finish The Fight! It fit us perfect since Cancer Man is on our team, and we have a lot of kiddos who Relay with us.  We all had a great time putting costumes together for the event.

 For our area, we used a plastic Starry Night Scene Setters roll to create stars behind our city scene.  This stuff couldn't be easier to work with- we just used magnets to attach it to our canopy!  We even had enough left over to cover the top of our pop up by taping it in place.  For the buildings, we used boxes covered with silver wrapping paper, and black vinyl to create the windows. 

On the other side I used a king sized sheet that I cut holes in and zip tied to the canopy (If I would have realized how easy the scene setter was, I would have used it for this side to!) Cancer Man brought his car (with working lights and steering wheel!) and we also put Cancer Man's purple phone booth to the side.  We made the phone booth by cutting a water heater box, and painting it purple. 

 

 One thing I didn't realize ahead of time is how much the adults would like the kids props!  If I could do it over again, I would have def. gone with a refrigerator box for the phone booth, so that the adults could fit to! 

 

 Next up we have the Etc. Shop's team- these ladies always do something really fun with decor, and the whole team gets involved!  This year they went with Willy Wonka- Wishing and Working at a cure factory!  It was complete with a candy bar for their onsite fundraiser!  These girls do something really neat with their canopy- they cover it with plastic table cloths!

  For directions on how to do that, go here! 

 

 Next up we have the girls from IBC Bank!  This team is headed up by a set of sisters who REALLY know how to bring a movie theme to life!  Check out this Land Before Time decor!

 How cool is this!?  They used a projector to get the image on cardboard, and then traced and cut them out.  Then they painted them!  I can only imagine the amount of time that went into this.  Cathy told me they had been working on them since Christmas!

 

Then there is this little bit of brilliant.  To stand them up, they taped the cardboard to PVC pipe that was attached to weighted boxes! 

 

 They had a fun onsite fundraiser of S'mores!  They used little burners like caterers use to roast the marshmallows!

Last but not least is an idea for all of you salon owners out there.  Kadillac Barbies went all out by bringing the salon to Relay!  For a donation of $10 or more you could get an updo, or a massage!  They also offered Pantene Beautiful Lengths cuts- where girls with 7" or more to donate could get a cut and donate their hair on the spot!  For those of you that aren't familiar with this, Pantene makes high quality human hair wigs that they give to ACS for free for cancer patients!  

You can read more about this amazing service here.

 

 Like what you see?  Be sure to subscribe for more awesome Relay ideas from a 20K plus TC! 

Relay For Life campsite ideas!

We just finished Relaying BIG at RFL Custer County this weekend, and I wanted to take some time to share some of the awesome campsite ideas I saw, including my own, and a few others that I have seen online!

 This year our theme was Colors For The Cause, and each campsite represented a different type of cancer.  Our color was pink, for breast cancer, because Wesley's principal is a cancer survivor! I wanted to do something that had never been seen before- so rolled up my sleeves and put my artist thinking cap on :)  I wanted to show support for breast cancer without using some of the puns that are usually associated with it like "save the hooters".  I wanted this for two reasons- the first was because our team is an elementary school, and I don't think it is a good idea to teach kids to call breasts hooters.  And second, I read a blog that a survivor wrote saying how offensive those things felt to her, and how she thought it minimized the seriousness of the disease.  Here is what I came up with!

 I started by hand painting the top of our canopy with acrylic paints.  I am not sure how well this would translate into an outdoor event (if it rained) but our event is inside, so it worked great!  The canopy was set up in the middle of our living room for about two weeks while I did this (working on it for about an hour every evening when I had free time) so I have to give major props to my son and hubby for putting up with that!  Under each word I out a quote that pertained to the word that was painted above it. 

 We decorated the top and the supporting poles with deco mesh.  It was really easy to put on, and we just attached it with pipe cleaners!  The best part about this part of the project is we now have tons of deco mesh to turn into wreaths to sell for next years fundraising!  We also tied big ribbons onto the poles, and added pink monarch butterfly wings (which are a symbol for breast cancer).  I bought the wings on Ebay for about $6 each, and they actually started as the kind little girls wear for a costume.  I just cut off the elastic!

 

I love making balloon sculptures, because it is an inexpensive project that makes a HUGE impact.  When I saw this idea on Pinterest, I knew we had to do it at our campsite!  You can find great instructions for a basic balloon arch here .  The only difference is I use clusters of three instead of four.  To create the ribbon effect, simply bend your arch into a ribbon shape!  People were stopping here to take pictures all night!  

 

I also wanted to do something besides just fund raise at our site.  So, I decided it would be a great way to "fight back" by signing people up for a free mammogram reminder.  I found a free reminder service on the American Cancer Society's website, and created a form for people to fill out based on that.  Then we simply entered the information they filled out into the site! Feel free to use my form!

 Here is another amazing idea we saw that night from my friends over at The Etc Shop!  This is a great idea for those of you who have tents that are already decorated, or a different color than you want them to be (I am totally stealing this idea next year!)

They took those cheap $1 table cloths, and attached them to a piece of round cardboard (just a box they cut with a box knife into a donut shape!)with clear packing tape, and used it to cover their canopy- the result was an awesome big top look that amazing!

 

The thing I love most about this, is it could be changed to virtually any color based on your theme!  It will definitely make your site stand out of the crowd!  Way to go Team Etc! 

Here are a few more awesome site ideas!

This Naples RFL team's tent depicts 32 actors and actresses who had cancer during the 15th annual Relay for Life of Naples.  What a great idea for a Hollywood theme!  You could even include a walk of stars with survivors names!

Relaying outside at night?  Glow sticks make great decorations with a big impact!  Check out amazon- they are a great place to buy in bulk!

Lidy went wild with the Fishing For A Cure theme, and I love it!  You can check out her blog post on how she did it here.

Last, but not least- Put Cancer on Ice!  How cool (hehe no pun intended) is this one?  They used recycled milk gallon bottles to make the ice cubes! 

What does your site look like?  Do you have any fun ideas for next year?  Share below, and subscribe!

For the cause!
Cassi

PS- Like what you see?  Follow my Relay board on Pinterest!