Droopy drawers and fairy lights. Ducks, snails and paper darts in flight. These were some of the artistic, competitive endeavours in Papamoa on Friday night.

School teachers Dianne Pellow, Bek Whyte, Vicki Swann and I were asked to be judges for the Tahatai Coast School Quiz Night.

The goal of the event is to raise funds to build a new junior playground for the school, which has a roll of over 700 students.

PTA committee member Belinda Cairns and her team of organisers set about to add a huge dose of fun to the fundraising. The quiz night they organised, held in the school hall, featured trivia, bingo, games, auctions, raffles, entertainment and supper.

Fabulous prizes were donated by businesses, including fuel and food vouchers, cinema passes, Skyline and Polynesian Spa passes and electrical items.

"We're really thrilled," says Tahatai Coast School principal Matt Skilton. "Local businesses have got right behind us with sponsorship, which is awesome. It's reciprocal, we'll also support them."

Participants were asked to bring their own decorated glass and also make a team table mascot from colourful play dough provided.

Most teams did fairly well on guessing songs from the '80s and recognising an oreo from a closeup photo. There were some questions I didn't know the answers to. An avocado is a fruit not a vegetable, and brown is the predominant colour in a bag of M&M's.

A paper dart competition saw the winning dart nearly fly the length of the hall.

Dianne and I set off during the evening to judge the glasses and were impressed to see the 'One Little Duck' team had not only decorated their glasses with a Hawaiian theme but had added a tablecloth and costumes to the ensemble.

We awarded third place to Donna Te Wheoro with her scholar glass. Beks and Shae Borman had black and pink glasses decorated by their children with "Dad sucks" and "I love Mum" inscribed, winning them second place.

First prize for 'Pimp your Glass' went to the whole Droopy Drawers table who had glasses covered in rulers, erasers, pencils and pencil sharpeners. These school-themed glasses with clearly lots of effort won them vouchers for passes to local attractions.

MC Greg Semmens was a brilliant choice for running the auctions and keeping the quiz on track. The hall alarm accidentally went off at one point towards the end of the evening which just added to the fun of an enjoyable night out.

Kirsty Martin, Claire Wills and Sally Cooney-Acker.

Deputy Principal Darren Scott had a hilarious moment with the sound system. School team leader Andre Jay checks it over after it sent a loud blast at the start of the evening.

Kate McKellar White from Prontos and Fish Face, one of the night's sponsors, with teacher and MC Greg Semmens.