Activities Database
Copy and paste the activity text into a document of your own to use as a guide while you facilitate the activity within your community or organization.
Door Decorating Contest
Summary
Get your entire school involved by challenging all the classrooms to decorate their doors with a tobacco/e-cigarette use prevention or cessation theme.
Goals and outcomes
Our goal is for students to become educated on the dangers of tobacco, e-cigarettes, and nicotine products while competing to win a challenge.
Estimated cost
$10–$50 or more depending on the prizes awarded and supplies.
Materials
- Posters
- Colored paper
- Markers
- Other craft supplies
Description
Get your entire school involved by challenging all the classrooms to decorate their doors with a tobacco/e-cigarette use prevention or cessation theme. At the end of the contest, select students or staff members to judge the doors. Award prizes to different categories, such as the most creative or the strongest message. The prizes can be anything you’d like to incentivize involvement (as long as it is approved by the school), such as a pizza party for the winning classroom. Don’t have funds for a pizza party? Create a fun trophy that classrooms can compete to have in their room. Maybe whoever wins gets first dismissal for lunch!
Timeline
This activity could be done at any time of year but would be especially good tied to Take Down Tobacco Day (March or April) or the Great American Smokeout (November).
Two weeks before the event
- Publicize contest. Develop flyers to let the classes know about it (theme, rules, prizes).
- Make frequent announcements about the contest on the school’s PA system.
- Recruit judges.
Day of the event
- Make sure all participants have their doors decorated.
- Have judges review classroom doors and determine winners.
- Announce winners over PA system as well as at any related event (school assembly, etc.).
How to modify
Modifications can be made by using any type of tobacco or nicotine product. It can also be modified by decorating windows, posters, bulletin boards, or any other type of thing you can display. You can focus on prevention or cessation for the message of your contest. If you want to target post-secondary students, you could have a dorm floor or door decorating contest.
Funding notes
If you are using grant funds for this activity, the prizes or incentives will need to be funded with ancillary dollars.
Keep exploring the tobacco toolkit
- Health effects of tobacco
- E-cigarette & Vape risks
- Danger of second & thirdhand smoke
- Tobacco industry targeting
- Implementing tobacco-free policies
- Tobacco prevention activities
- Tribal Tobacco Advocacy Toolkit
- Cessation strategies & services
Help stop nicotine addiction in its tracks.
The SD QuitLine helps users age 13 and older quit using tobacco or e-cigarettes.
Encourage teens and young adults to enroll in our coaching program or request a Kickstart Kit. No matter which option they choose, they’ll be provided with confidential, consistent, and nonjudgmental support to kick the habit. The QuitLine’s Quit Coaches are supportive advocates trained to help people plan and stick to a quit path.