I need ideas in planning a new philanthropy event!
 

So, we're wanting to start doing something in the spring. What we had in mind was a tye dye fest type thing. We can buy the dye in bulk and have buckets, bands, pre-soak, and everything provided except for shirts or other dyeables. I also thought it would be cool to have a tye dying contest. We would make the contestants get there early in the morning to dye their entries so we could have them rinsed and dry to hang at the event. My vision is to have a clothes line with all the shirst hanging up between various tailgating tents (we will probably ask the GLOs to bring their tents, couches, blankets, etc. to give it a woodstock feel).

Question 1: How should we do the dying? Should everyone who wants to dye buy a wristband for say...5 dollars? Or could it be 10? It's going to cost us about 2-3 dollars per tshirt, possibly a tad more, so we need to make a profit. Also, the event would have to last for many hours if we were going to let them rinse their shirts there. So should we just have plastic bags to wrap them and send them home in?

Question 2: What activities can we have going on other than tye dying? We wanted to have a band come play 60s and 70s cover songs. I thought about an open mic session. And maybe hair braiding/beading and face painting? I was also given the idea of having a singing bee type competition where 2 or 3 lines of a famous hippie song are played and the contestants (one from each GLO I guess) have to sing the next line. How do those ideas sound, and are there anymore tye dye/hippie themed activities that would be good that you can think of?

Question 3: How long could this event last? We don't want people to get bored and leave before awards. But we don't want to cut the dying short or anything like that.

Question 4: How do you think the event should flow? Like if we did an open mic where should we do it at? How long should we give to dye?

Come on guys, somebody help me! :)

As far as the poll goes, it really depends on what I'm tie-dying.
If it's 3 tshirts, I think I'm more likely to pay $10 or less, if it's a tshirt & a sweatshirt? More MAYBE.
Also only willing to pay $15 if the items are provided for me.
If they are not $5 max

The time between dying the shirts and rinsing depends on the dye you get but I've never had it be shorter than a few hours. Are people going to really stick around for that? I would just let them take them home to rinse them.

Singing bee could be a fun idea but I don't know how well the turnout would be

Isn't the philanthropy itself pertaining to literacy? Why not make it a children's event during the day that parents can bring their kids to & do a small reading circle, chinese auction (for the children) AND invite other GLOs to attend and tie-dye too?

Key is not to spend a ton of money. Aren't plain white tshirts like $5 for a 3-pack at Walmart? ordering them in bulk somewhere else ought to be cheaper. I'm sure you could get plastic bags donated from a local supermarket. If you were to do a chinese auction, a lot of times things like that (especially toys, gift cards, free happy meals, etc) will get donated if you just ask. If you did a kids event, things like facepainting, & maybe little games like throwing a ring around a cone or something can be used for time.
The key for this would be getting the word out. Often elementary schools, and radio stations will broadcast this stuff for you. You can hang fliers in grocery markets & maybe get them handed out at school as long as this is a clean kid-friendly event.

just my idea...