Ideas for stage events and attractions that will liven up a school festival
At the school festival’s stage event, many of you are probably wondering what your class should perform.
The ideas are endless—bingo tournaments, rakugo storytelling, TikTok dances, a cappella, and more.
Let’s fill the venue with smiles through productions that showcase everyone’s individuality and surprise the audience.
Here, we introduce a variety of stage plans that everyone can enjoy from preparation to the big day, while captivating the crowd.
You’re sure to find the perfect act for your class!
- Stage performance ideas to excite a cultural or school festival
- Cultural Festival: Ranking of Popular Booth Ideas
- [Middle School] Cultural Festival Attractions: A roundup of popular exhibits, games, and stage performances
- [For High School Students] A roundup of recommended attractions for the school festival
- Recommended ideas for student council projects at a school festival, such as recreational activities and stage events.
- [By Genre] Cultural Festival / School Festival Booth Catalog [2026]
- Recommended plays for a high school cultural festival: popular, crowd-pleasing ideas
- Games that rival street festivals and variety shows!? Crowd-pleasers for school cultural festivals
- A roundup of recreational activities to liven up cultural and school festivals
- Recommended Plays and Musicals for Cultural Festivals, School Festivals, and School Performances
- Ideas for class projects at the school festival: A roundup of popular attractions
- [Non-food] Cultural festival attractions: from classroom exhibits to stage events
- [Short Movie] A collection of video project ideas you can use for cultural and school festivals
Performance/Live Series (21–30)
Handmade billiards table
How about livening up your school festival with a handmade billiards table? It’s said that the world’s first billiards table was made for Louis XI in 1469.
I had no idea it was such a historic sport—how surprising! For the table, use materials like plywood and 2×4 lumber.
If you connect the sections with hinges, you can fold it in half for easy storage.
For the balls, buy round wooden pieces, paint them, and write the numbers on them.
Set a tea strainer or mesh under the pocket openings to catch the balls.
Once you cover the entire surface with felt, it’s complete.
Handmade roulette
Some classes might set up booths offering a casino experience at school festivals.
Here’s how to make a roulette wheel that could come in handy for that.
The materials are cardboard and bamboo skewers.
After cutting out the parts with a circle cutter and a utility knife, glue them together with wood glue.
Once you’ve made the rotating inner part and the fixed outer part, insert a bamboo skewer through the inner part.
Finally, make a marble slide.
Drop a marble onto the rotating inner section, and the number is determined by the slot where it lands.
Once you make it, you can keep playing with it, so give it a try!
Performance/Live (31–40)
Origami poker chip
We’ll show you how to make poker chips used in casino poker games out of origami.
Fold while making crisp creases as you go.
Fold it into a pinwheel shape, then inflate the pocket section to form the round disk shape of a poker chip.
By using origami paper in your favorite colors or with patterns, you can create original poker chips.
Once you tidy up the shape at the end, it’s done! The steps are simple and easy to follow, so give it a try.
Darkness in Shangri-La
Based on the well-known folktale Momotaro, Togen Anki is a work that depicts the battle between the descendants of ogres and the descendants of Momotaro.
Since the story unfolds while incorporating elements of the original folktale, it gives the impression that a wide range of people can get into it.
The distinctive characters are also a major draw, so let’s carefully consider how to portray them in a way that makes them appealing.
As the narrative shifts into battles, it’s crucial to emphasize the action scenes and draw viewers into the world above all else.
Comedy, Entertainment, and Variety (1–10)
Parody of a TV show
It could be fun to parody TV shows that often come up as conversation topics in class.
For example, you could test a “Theory” in the style of ‘Wednesday’s Downtown,’ or create a video segment that poses quiz questions like ‘Discovery of the World’s Mysteries.’ It might be interesting to plan it so as many students as possible can appear.
After filming and editing the footage, project it onto a screen in the gymnasium or a similar space.
If you don’t have a projector, get one—you can buy them starting from a few thousand yen.
Minor’s Claim
Speaking of students, they’re right in the thick of youth—and when it comes to school festivals, it’s all about the big stage, isn’t it? Even if it’s not on the rooftop, a confession or a big reveal in front of a crowd of students is sure to get everyone excited.
It’s the kind of challenge you can really only take on while you’re young and unafraid of loss, so I’d love to see people go for it.
Even if your feelings don’t get through, comforting each other with friends might deepen your bonds.
Comedy live show
Chasing quality is tough, but stand-up and sketch comedy shows seem to have strong demand.
You can go all-in on original material, or create bits as homages to popular real comedy duos—both are easier to write and likely to appeal to many people.
And of course, inviting real comedians as guest performers is also an option!