Are you organizing your first School-A-Thon color run and wondering about the best way to throw color run powder on your participants? Fear not! We’re here to help. When you organize a Color-A-Thon fundraiser through School-A-Thon, you have total control over your event (but we’re always here to help guide you if you need a little assistance). The following are some of the most popular ideas for spreading a little color at your event, along with a few tips to keep everyone safe while having fun.

How to Throw Color Run Powder at Your Color Blast Stations

During your color run, you will typically have three to five Color Blast Stations set up along your color run route. Keep it to one dust color per station, so as participants make their way through the race, they’ll collect all the colors on their T-shirts. The more your school orders (or qualifies for), the more color packets you’ll get — and the more color blast stations you can have!

At each station, have a few volunteers set up their designated color dust shades. While the color dust powder will come in bags, we recommend placing them in several 5-gallon buckets to make life easier for your volunteers. Depending on the size of your color run, you will most likely need two to six volunteers per station. This allows the color powder to be thrown at runners from either side of the station, ensuring participants get thoroughly covered in color.

For the best way to throw color run powder, there are three methods we typically recommend when manning the Color Blast Stations. Feel free to use one or all of them!

1. Dixie Cups. Using small bathroom-size Dixie cups, just scoop some dust out of the buckets and throw the color powder on all race participants as they run by. You should have extra cups on hand for each Color Blast Station team.
2. Squeeze Bottles. This is by far the most popular way to throw powder at Color Blast Stations. Simply stock up each station with a bunch of easily refillable squeeze bottles. Then, volunteers can just point and squeeze. This method allows for better aim and less wasted color dust. We suggest that each volunteer holds two squeeze bottles. There will be natural breaks in runners, allowing for ample time to refill the squeeze bottles.
3. Leaf Blowers. Yep, you read that right! Many who’ve hosted their own color run events over the years have found that leaf blowers are a fun and efficient way to create a large color cloud to spread the powder over each and every participant.

How to Throw Powder During the Color Blast Party

Whether you have a kick-off color celebration, an end-of-race color blast party or both, there are a few tossing tips participants should keep in mind. These methods will keep everybody safe while making for some incredible color powder photography.

• Encourage every participant to wear their white race T-shirts (this allows the colors to pop)!
• Pass out individual color powder packets to each participant just before the toss. Do not use electrical devices to distribute the powder packets.
• If you’re setting up for some cool color powder photography or video, make sure to ask everyone to open their packets first so they will be ready for the countdown. This is also the time to organize your group to best fit in the shot. Sometimes a kick-off color blast is the best time to get your photos as it can be difficult to round up people after the race.
• We suggest that all participants wear some type of protective eye covering, like glasses or goggles. We also recommend that kids wear a mask, kerchief or some type of covering over their mouth and nose to minimize excess inhalation of the color dust.
• Instruct participants to toss the contents of their color powder packets up into the air and not into the faces of other participants.
• Volunteers can grab some leaf blowers to help create an even bigger and better cloud of color.

School-A-Thon’s cornstarch color powder is safe, non-toxic, completely washable and biodegradable. And while we’ve never had any issues in the past, we suggest that those with allergies and/or asthma take extra precautions. Keep in mind that our color dust is not meant for consumption, so participants should attempt to keep it out of their eyes and lungs. Ultimately, the best way to throw color run powder is the safest way.

Liven Up Your Fundraising with the Help of School-A-Thon

Looking to shake up your school’s fundraising event? School-A-Thon can help! Our refreshing and exciting Color-A-Thon color runs allow your entire school to get involved and have an incredible time together. Our donation-based color run gives students the opportunity to raise money through an awesome prize and incentive program. The fee-based color run is a perfect choice for schools wanting to host a fun community-building event for their students and simply requires a flat $30 entry fee.

Let School-A-Thon help you create an unforgettable event. Whether you want to know how to get color run powder out of hair or need a few color run clean up tips, we’re here to help every step of the way. Have a question or need information about planning your Color-A-Thon? Reach out to our help desk today.