An informational booth at a carnival or fair is an easy and inexpensive way to get prolife information out to the public, identify supporters, and encourage volunteer involvement. Here are some ideas for attracting visitors to your booth: Choose life bags Give away bags to people to who take items from your booth. People will be walking around all day with your bags, giving you free publicity. These are available from RLM. Fetal models Fetal models are always popular and educational. Large fetal models are available for loan from RLM resource centers, or you can order small fetal models which you can give away. Quiz board Quiz boards are a great way to educate visitors on important prolife facts. RLM has them available for loan. Offer candy or prizes for answering questions correctly. Mascot Have a member or volunteer bring their child or pet as a mascot for your booth (make sure you are allowed to bring pets first). Have your mascot wear prolife apparel if possible. Giveaways People love free stuff! For food, Lifesavers are a classic choice for prolife booths. Use prepackaged food and candy instead of homemade items like cookies. Prizes can range from candy to prolife books to baby supplies. Have a drawing to encourage people to sign up for your affiliate. Precious baby contest Have a contest for the cutest baby. Have jars at your table with pictures of babies on them, and people “vote” for the cutest baby by donating money in the jars. The baby with the most donations wins. Be sure to publicize the winner. See the RLM Fund Raising Directory for more information. PROLIFE STICKERS Have prolife stickers to hand out to everyone. Similar to the choose life bags, people will be walking around all day with your stickers, giving you free publicity. These are available from RLM. Face painting Offer face painting with a prolife message. Pick up face paint from a craft store and organize your artistic volunteer(s). Games Games with prizes are a great way to attract children and give parents time to look at your table or have a conversation with your fair booth volunteers. Here are some ideas for exciting games: Baby bottle ring toss Have a ring toss game with a baby theme. Instead of posts, purchase a few large baby bottle banks, and use some inexpensive glow necklaces as the rings. Have a special prize for those who can throw all three rings around the bottle, and consolation prizes like candy for children who can’t. Feed the baby This game is just like pin the tail on the donkey. Enlarge a picture of a baby, and put it on a poster. Use either magnets (with a sheet of metal behind the poster) or velcro strips so that blindfolded contestants can try to pin the baby bottle next to the baby’s mouth. Draw a line or circle on the poster to determine if the bottle was placed close enough. Lollipop tree Purchase a card board lollipop display tree. Let children who come by the booth pick a lollipop from the display, mark some for special prizes. Use a marker to color the end of the stick of a certain number of lollipops for the prizes. Some general tips Consider the culture of the event and work it into your booth. Is it a flower-themed festival? An art fair? The National Asparagus Festival? Make your booth visually entertaining. Create your own table skirt or have large poster boards with prolife information, pictures from your events or fetal development facts. Right to Life of Michigan Educational Resource Centers Each Right to Life of Michigan location includes an educational resource center offering a wide range of prolife information for all ages. Each resource center includes a lending library where prolife books and videos may be borrowed, free brochures and pamphlets, quiz boards, fetal models, and other prolife materials. Wayne County Resource Center 2010 Eureka Road Wyandotte, MI 48192 (734) 282-6100 State Central Resource Center 2340 Porter St., SW Grand Rapids, MI 49509 (616) 532-2300 Ann Arbor Resource Center 24 Frank Lloyd Wright Drive Ann Arbor, MI 48106 (734) 930-7474 Mid-Michigan Resource Center 233 N. Walnut St. Lansing, MI 48933 (517) 487-3376 Macomb County Resource Center 27417 Harper St. Clair Shores, MI 48081 (586) 774-6050 The EDUCATIONAL FUND 2340 Porter St. SW • P.O. Box 901 • Grand Rapids, MI 49509-0901 • www.RTL.org • [email protected] • 616-532-2300