The shape of a great night
Teams of 8–10 at tables, four question rounds, games between rounds, food people bring or buy, a silent auction running all night, and one big raffle or draw at the end. Tickets $15–$25 a head. The trivia is the excuse; the games and auction are where the money is.
The eight-week countdown
- 8 weeks out — pick the date (Saturday, term-time, no long weekend), book the hall, rope in an MC with a big voice and a scoring desk of two.
- 6 weeks — tickets on sale (numbered, so you know exactly who paid — that is what the Studio prints). Start asking local businesses for auction donations: cafés, hairdressers, the butcher, tradies, the golf club. A voucher costs them little and buys goodwill all year.
- 4 weeks — newsletter piece + school Facebook post + a poster at the gate. The line that sells: “Book a table with your friends” — people come for their table, not for trivia.
- 2 weeks — chase table captains to fill seats, publish the food plan (BYO platter, or a sausage sizzle, or the local pizza shop delivering at 8pm — pre-orders, not a kitchen).
- The week of — print the pack: paddles, table numbers, answer sheets, bid sheets, the scoring grid, the run sheet, the question cards. One afternoon at the photocopier.
Pricing the night
Ticket price covers the hall and prizes; profit comes from everything else. $20 a head with a free tea/coffee lands well. Licensed venue or BYO changes by state and school policy — check yours. Keep prizes donated: winning-table chocolates and bragging rights beat cash prizes that eat margin.
The money games (this is where nights go from good to great)
- Heads & tails — everyone stands, hands on head or tail, MC flips a coin, wrong half sits. $5 to play, winner takes a donated prize. Two minutes, whole room, often $400+ on its own.
- The key draw — sell numbered keys/tickets all night; one opens the treasure box at the end. (Numbered tickets again — the Studio’s event tickets do this perfectly.)
- Coin line — teams line coins heel-to-toe from their table toward a bottle at the front; longest line wins it, all coins to the P&C.
- Paper plane derby — $2 a plane, everyone throws at once, closest to the target wins. Chaos, photos, money.
- A 100-board on the prize table — squares sell during the break; draw it before the last round.
The silent auction
Ten to twenty donated items on a side table, each with a bid sheet: item, donated by, retail value, minimum raise, and lines for paddle number + bid. Paddle numbers instead of names keeps sheets legible and adds theatre. Announce “auction closes at the end of round three” — then remind the room twice. Best items: experiences and vouchers (a weekend away, a restaurant, a haircut, a load of firewood). Display retail value — bids anchor to it.
Questions that work in a school hall
Four rounds of ten is plenty — two hours of trivia is an hour too many. Mix easy wins with two or three arguments-starters per round. Read the question twice, never accept shouted answers, and collect sheets before reading answers. (The pack’s four rounds are pitched exactly here, with the answers on the MC’s card.)
The night, minute by minute
Doors 6:30. Welcome and housekeeping 7:00. Round one 7:10. Heads & tails 7:30. Round two 7:45. Break — food, auction browsing, 100-board — 8:05. Round three 8:35. Auction closes, coin line 8:55. Round four 9:10. Scoring desk finalises while the key draw happens 9:30. Winners, thank-yous, stack the chairs 9:45. It is all on the run sheet with room to make it yours.
Afterwards
Bank it Monday. Thank every donor by name in the newsletter and on Facebook — that is next year’s auction table secured. Note what ran long and what ran short while it is fresh. Then book the same Saturday next year: annual nights sell themselves.
The fine print: general information for school fundraisers, not legal advice. Raffles, 100-boards and key draws on the night are small lotteries — the same easy rules as your school raffle apply; see our state guides.