We all know Rag week is one of the best weird traditions out there, it’s an invitation for people to do crazy fun things for a good cause and raise money for charity. You basically get a whole week to do all the crazy stuff you don’t normally get to do, and there are a lot of things that can be considered “Crazy”. We here at Moolta decided to perform an important public service and collected some of the most out-Rag-eous, funny, creative Rag stories to inspire you to make sure your Rag week is as epic as it can possibly be.
Here are some guidelines:
1. Silence is not only golden, it can be Epic.
This is Alfred, a stuffed ape and a long lasting Bristol symbol. Alfred was kidnapped (or shall we say – ape-napped) from the Bristol Museum in 1956, and though a major police investigation took place, no genuine leads were ever found.
Fast forward 54 years later, Fred Hooper breaks his silence and solves the mystery – Hooper told the world how he, along with Ron Morgan and a third friend who to this day remains anonymous, decided to steal the giant Silverback during the city’s university Rag week. They kept him for 24 hours and brought him safely back to his cage, but of course no ape-napping would be complete without playing dressup, thus the photo.
2. Don’t be afraid to get messy
Rag week is all about raising money for charity, but, like Moolta, you’ve got to have fun in the process. Dirty, slimy and messy is just how Rag week should be, and it makes for some great photo-up moments.
UCC’s RAG Week charity fundraisers include “Lube Wrestling”, which is sort of a cross between sumo wrestling and doing the dishes.
During the University of Bristol Rag week’s jailbreak, two chicks named Emma Blott and Mary Spender managed to get all the way to Australia in 36 hours without using a single pound. They made the call 4 minutes before the deadline and won first place in that year’s jailbreak challenge. Check out how they did it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKSiRhpEXtg
4. As always – think creatively!
In the Rag week of 74′ students from Bangor University wanted to get some air time on Radio Liverpool, and decided to make an entrance to make sure they get it. They rode to the Radio Liverpool building on an old hospital bed that had been converted into a lean mean road machine by an Engineering student- with lights, wheels and brakes. They got the bed inside the elevator and went up 12 floors with little to no room or air, and sure enough – the radio station just couldn’t say no and granted them a guest spot on a local hit radio show.
(Remember – we’re talking about 1974, radio was a big thing. It’s like you would ride today into the building where SNL is filmed and ask in)
5. If you fail – Make it epic
The University of West England decided that for Valentine’s Day 2007 they would attach tickets to pink balloons and hand out music vouchers to the person whose balloon traveled the furthest after being released. You can see in the link below why it didn’t go quite as planned, but the funny video of The Epic-Fail supplied that year’s Rag with a lot of publicity and became a symbol. Watch it here: http://youtu.be/3wZW7_4p98k
6. Break boundaries, break records.Rag week is all about knowing your boundaries, and then breaking them, preferably with a bang. One traditional way of doing so is by attempting to break a world record, and there are some world records that can be good fun breaking. SUSU attempted to break world record for the most people downing shots at once, UCD SUA Society managed to break the world record for the biggest game of Twister, played on a ground area of approx. 15478 square feet. NUI Gallaway students broke the Guinness World Record for “rocking the boat”: 907 students sat on the floor of a gym in lines singing “Rock the boat” and danced a special rock the boat dance, which should have also broken the Record for the silliest Guiness World Record. See it here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHfd4crYAdk
Oh, another tip from us – if you’re going for the world record, don’t forget to invite the Guiness World Record inspection guy.
7. Challenge. Yourself, your community and everyone around you.
Take on the challenge, think outside the box, be original, include as much people as possible, and MAKE IT COUNT!
For more creative ideas and fun ways to fundraise, check us out at Moolta.com or mail us at info@moolta.com and we would happily help.