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How to hold your own Color Run
How to hold your own Color Run

How-to guide to pulling off your own Color Run

Vinay Anne avatar
Written by Vinay Anne
Updated over a week ago

How to hold your own Color Run


Is your PTA looking to spice up your Jog-a-Thon this year without breaking the bank? How about a do-it-yourself Color Run? 

How do Color Runs work?
A typical Color Run course has 5-6 stations set-up with color powder that will be thrown on runners as they race by. 

Here’s what you’ll need at each station:

  • 2-3 volunteers

  • A small table

  • Buckets of color powder. Most schools use one color per station

  • Throwing mechanism: most schools use dixie cups or condiment bottle

  • Water 

How much color do we need?
The idea of your Color Run is to shower your participants with color. The amount of color depends on a number of factors but we recommend the following:3 Color Stations - 1/2 pound of color per student4 Color Stations - 3/4 pound of color per student5 Color Stations - 1 pound of color per student

You may want to order a bit more color if you want to really cover your participants. 

Where do we get color?

You can buy color powder on Amazon in bulk. You can buy 25 pound bags here but there are many more if you search “color run powder”.

Celebrate with a Color Toss
A color toss is a great way to start and end your race. This is when all runners gather together and throw color in the air! 

A great way to increase participation in your fundraising is to let anyone with one donation into the Color Toss.

How do we raise money?
Color Runs are a great way to raise money for your PTA. Just like a jog-a-thon, students obtain sponsors for each lap around the track. 

99Pledges can help by giving each runner an online pledge page. Click here to see how La Vorgna raised $32,172 via their Color Run on 99Pledges.
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Schools love us because we'll help you...

  • Raise much more - you’ll reach more donors online with zero parent set-up.

  • Eliminate the work - you won’t have to chase checks or pledge forms.

  • Do all the set-up for you and be there every step of the way. 

Other Tips

The Starting Line - To help with congestion at your color stations, break runners up into “waves” of 25/50/100 participants at a time. Wait about 90 seconds and then release the next wave and so forth. 

The Finish Line - This is where the most photos will be taken. Create your a hashtag for your PTA to share photos back to your event. 

Blowoff Station - Use a leave blower, large fan or floor dryers.

Music - tunes are a must!

Cleaning Up
Clean up is no problem! Simply sweep up as much color as you can.  The remaining color will leave no more than a sidewalk chalk like residue that can be easily washed away with a hose. 

Parents might want to bring towels to place in their cars. Dust the excess powder off clothing and place it in the washing machine. A simple shower will remove the color from skin and hair. 

Do you want to see how simple it is?

Send us a chat with your email and org name, and we'll send you a sample campaign.

Color Runs are super fun and simple, and we'll be here every step of the way.
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