Church Hall And Village Fete Games: 20 Stalls And Games That Work

A fete lives or dies on its stalls. The good ones take a pound, last thirty seconds and give everyone a fair sense that they nearly won.

Here are the classics, what they cost to run, and the practical bits nobody tells you on your first year on the committee.

Classic fete stalls

• Splat the rat: a drainpipe, a toy rat and a rolled newspaper. Costs nothing, earns all day.
• Hook a duck, tombola and the bottle stall - the three reliable earners.
• Coconut shy, or a soft-ball version if insurance is being difficult.
• Guess the weight of the cake and the name of the teddy - both take a pound a go and need one volunteer.
• Welly wanging with a tape measure and a leaderboard.
• Skittles or a bowling alley made from plastic bottles.

Games for children that need no supervision

• Beat the goalie, with a teenager in goal and a queue that never ends.
• Beanbag toss into holes in a painted board.
• Lucky dip in a barrel of shredded paper.
• Guess how many sweets in the jar.
• The treasure map - a grid of squares, a pound a cross, the prize at the hidden coordinate.
• Face painting, which isn't a game but earns more than most of them.

Arena and hall events

• Tug of war between teams, villages or the pub and the church.
• Sack races, egg and spoon, three-legged and the parents' race, which is always the most competitive event of the day.
• A dog show with made-up categories: waggiest tail, best rescue, dog most like its owner.
• Bake-off and the vegetable show, judged with great seriousness.
• A raffle drawn at a fixed advertised time so people stay.

Running it properly

• Price everything at £1, or three goes for £2. Change is the enemy - get a float of pound coins.
• Every stall needs a prize table visible from the queue.
• Prizes should cost less than a third of the takings. Donated prizes are the whole business model.
• Two volunteers per stall so nobody is trapped for four hours.
• A wet plan for the hall, decided at the committee meeting rather than on the morning.
• Signs with prices on. Half the people who walk past do so because they don't know what it costs.

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How to write it so it lands

• Get a float of pound coins the day before.
• Prices on a sign, big enough to read from the path.
• Two volunteers per stall, in shifts.

Where to shop next

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• Irish, Scottish and Welsh party games
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• Clapping games and skipping rhymes
• Card games your nan taught you
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• Pen and paper games
• Playground games we all played
• Board games hub
• Kids' party games by age
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• Shop cards
• Planning the party? Birthday party ideas
• How to make a balloon arch
• Photo booth prop ideas
• Birthday cards for kids
• Pin badges
• All guides

Frequently asked questions

What games work at a village fete?

Splat the rat, hook a duck, the tombola and bottle stall, a coconut shy, welly wanging, guess the weight of the cake and name the teddy. All are cheap to run and take a pound a go.

What is splat the rat?

A length of drainpipe fixed to a board at an angle. A toy rat is dropped down it and the player tries to hit it with a rolled-up newspaper as it comes out of the bottom. It costs almost nothing and earns all afternoon.

How much should you charge at a fete stall?

A pound a go, or three for two pounds. Keep the price on a visible sign and get a float of pound coins - counting change is what slows a stall down.

How do you run a fete stall that makes money?

Donated prizes, a visible prize table, a queue that moves in under thirty seconds a player, and two volunteers so the stall never closes. Keep prize costs under a third of takings.

Do you sell games?

No - we make greeting cards, art prints and pin badges in the UK. Every game here needs a pack of cards, some dice, a pencil or nothing at all, and the only products on this page are our own cards.