Running and hosting a quiz night.

This has been a hugely popular event in the years that I have been running it. It is very hard work but the following morning, doing the final money count and deciding whether or not to run away with it, is the best part. Now that I’ve done 6 of these I have ironed out most of the hiccoughs and stumbling blocks and feel able to pass on a sort of ‘blue print’. I may have left bits out but most of the important stuff is here.

Firstly….
Decide on a date. Friday or Saturday nights are best. I use the end of November as it’s near Christmas and people are looking for presents so raffle tickets are easy to sell. May is a good alternative as most people are around and there’s optimism in the air!

Then………Find a venue and book it. You’ll need to find out the cost; if there’s a deposit as you’ll need to be prepared to pay it; the parking (essential); if the hall is available on that date; it’s layout; number of tables and chairs it has; catering facilities (crockery, cutlery, trolleys etc; cooking facility isn’t needed).

How many tickets do you expect to sell? We aim for 108, which makes 18 tables of 6 – 6 being the number in a team. It all depends on the size of the hall and what the facilities are. Starting with a small venture will be a lot easier. The second year is much slicker; partly, because many of the people who came the first time, came the second time. Get each of your friends/family to make up their own teams. That way you won’t be left with all the work. Getting bums on seats is by far the hardest bit. A ticket template appears at the end of this document.

Designing and printing the tickets can be done at home with someone who has a coloured printer. I do it each year and once you have the first template, the subsequent ones are easy to alter. The tickets MUST be numbered with 6 numbers allocated to each table (or how ever many you have in your team) and each table having a number. It’s the only way to keep track of what’s happening and who’s been sent what.

Draw up a table plan otherwise it’ll become chaotic. I have enclosed an example of what I do. I update it each day as cheques arrive and people finally have their teams together and have thought of a name for them.

With the tickets I also enclose an information sheet (which you’ll find at the end) outlining all the details and asking for any raffle prizes that people might like to donate. I also send a table plan, so that they know where they are sitting. I try to get people to pay before I send the tickets, but people usually find it easier to get money from their friends if they have a ticket to give them. Do this all as early as possible to save a massive panic at the end!

If there is a particularly generous sponsor, I will acknowledge this on the tickets. We have a local independent department store, Gardiner Haskins, who always give us fabulous raffle prizes. The merchandising director is a neighbour (and friend) of ours.

I put the team’s name label on the table before they arrive. That way 108 people get seated quicker. I don’t mind a bit if people want to swap around once they arrive so long as I don’t have to organise it. I print the labels using a massive font on A4 card on landscape, at the bottom of the page so that it can be top folded to stand on the table. There is one at the end to demonstrate. I find people let me know very late on what their team name is, but it takes very little time to print out a label.

If you know a quizmaster, all well and good. We had a professional person to begin with who did it for nothing. The following year he charged £100. This then went up to £120 (which someone kindly paid for), £130 (which we paid) and finally £150. We stopped short of paying £150, partly because it was a huge chunk of our profit and partly because he did less and less each year for his money. Instead one of my sons did it. He was excellent (I thought) but he found it very difficult. At the end an ex-neighbour said he regularly does them in Spain and offered to do it for us this year!

We now have two tables of Raffle prizes, since people are so generous. Nearly everyone I know brings something along. It’s a great money spinner. I always go round myself near the end and manage to sell a load more tickets just before the draw. Timing is everything! I get 3 books of tickets different colours because so many people seem to like to have some of each. I usually ice a Christmas cake as a centre piece because it looks nice.

We usually have one or two items for auction, but last year we had masses. The more we do this the more generous people seem to be. The star ‘prize’ last year was a sea fishing trip from Dartmouth which my next door neighbour kindly offered. It was so popular that two bidders were all out to get it. When it reached £200 Chris (the fisherman) stopped the auction and offered to take them both out for £175 each. Both trips were a massive success and Chris, Whom I can’t thank enough, took them out to dinner afterwards as well. Some pictures will be appearing on the FOA UK website. Last year’s auction brought in hundreds of pounds. With special thanks to Philippa Forrester, our auctioneer.

The Quiz questions obviously have to be prepared in advance. Last year we got them from the internet. It was pretty cheap. My son, Jeremy, downloaded it all and kept it very secret. It took quite a lot of time as there were various picture elements to put together etc, for which a colour printer was needed.

I start the evening with a short speech about Amani which is why we’re all here. I give an outline of the evening, mention the bar and the fact that we don’t have a licence and I thank people and announce any house rules etc.

Half way through the evening we serve food. Having tried various things including sandwiches, snacks etc, we now find that the easiest and most popular is a ploughman’s supper. I go to cash & carry with someone who has membership and get paper napkins, cheese, Branston pickles, pickled onions, butter portions and nice quality coleslaw and I buy organic celery from somewhere else. A good size head of celery will do 3 tables. For the last 2 years the bread is now kindly donated by The Split Tin Bakery, Redland, an independent Bristol baker.

I also get the drinks from the cash & carry, usually finding good offers at Christmas time. For the last couple of years we have had Blossom Hill, red & white and Ernst & Gallo red & white. We put one bottle of each colour on each table, the price of which is included in the ticket, and jug/bottle of water.

Other drinks can be bought at the bar. Someone must be free to manage this. We don’t have a licence and this is made very clear, with several large notices displaying the fact. An example appears at the end. We find that bottles of beer are much more popular than cans and special beers such as badger (and other names I can’t remember) always sell first. Coke is less popular than we thought it might be. Fanta & lemonade are better and litre bottles of water. Whatever’s left I buy back and use at Christmas, and the same goes for the food, so nothing’s ever over-ordered, as it were.

We order lots of glasses from Sainsbury’s well in advance as they soon book up. There is £20 deposit when you collect them which is returned when you give them back. There’s no charge for borrowing them. They charge £1 a glass for breakages but sell them for 80p for 4 on the shelves (at least, they did last year) so it’s worthwhile buying some beforehand!

You will need helpers:

- In the morning two people need to prepare the food. This is always finished by lunch time. For 18 tables, collect 18 jam jars during the year and fill each one with enough Branston for 6 people, in the morning, which saves any messing about later. I cut the bread into individual portions and put into in plastic bags. The same goes for the cheese and the celery. If you have sufficient lidded containers, do the same with the coleslaw and pickled onions, putting enough in for 6 people, so that each person can help themselves. We used to serve all the plates out from the kitchen in the evening but it took far too long.

- Preparing the hall needs strong young men to position all the tables and chairs. It takes longer than you might think! We also put out an Amani display table, a merchandise table 2 raffle prize tables one auction table, and one for the quizmaster.

- Laying the tables requires a glass, a knife and a fork (coleslaw) at each setting, and a cork screw, two bottles of wine for each table Also, a few ‘Helping Hands’ forms, 2 pens and some rough paper on each table. The quiz answers are written on special answer sheets which will be downloaded with the questions.

- Two or three people need to sell raffle tickets. Most people are happy to do this, but just make sure they know who they are beforehand. AND they will also need to fold the stubs and put them in a container for drawing. Folding takes ages!

- You’ll need someone on the door for when people arrive to tick off the boxes on the table plan and answer any questions and collect final cheques etc.

- It’s usually pretty easy to get people to wash up and clean up at the end. I find this is definitely NOT the domain of young people. They hate doing it!

Finally… make sure you have enough of the following:

• Plates
• Knives
• Forks
• Napkins
• Wine & beer glasses
• Cork screws
• Bottle openers
• Bar float
• Carving knives
• Serving spoons
• Serving bowels
• Chipping boards
• Tea towels
• Dish cloths
• Washing up liquid
• Pouches and money boxes
• Merchandise to sell (such as Debbie’s cards, Robin’s books Amani music CDs, Christmas cards?)
• Amani promotion material and contact details
• Helping hands forms

And… a camera and send me a couple of photos to put on the FOA UK website.

Good luck if you undertake this!

Tina Hamilton-James 2009