Here’s what worked and what didn’t work at our Black Light Basketball game.
Lights
My biggest concern was whether or not we would have enough lights to fill a gym. We had just enough; We could see everyone well enough that no one got hurt. I wouldn’t recommend doing this with any less light than we had.
After taking a look at the two $30 UV cannons we originally planned on renting, we decided to upgrade to two $40 UV cannons. We also had eight more 2-foot black lights loaned or given to the youth ministry.
I asked several parents how many 2-foot lights they though equaled the light produced by one UV cannon. The consensus was that between six and eight 2-foot black lights equaled one UV cannon. But, the cannons had mirrors behind the lights that helped focus the lights, while our 2-foot lights weren’t as efficient because half the light went the wrong way. I think we could duct tape four of our 2-foot lights together and slide a mirror between the light and the case to help make them more efficient. They wouldn’t be as good as the professionally made mirrors, but they wouldn’t cost as much either.
The Glow
When I found out that white t-shirts don’t glow under black lights unless they’ve been washed, I got nervous about what else would and wouldn’t glow.
We used a glow-in-the-dark basketball, and it did okay. I considered buying some neon tape to stick to the ball.
I washed the basket ball nets and that was a success. I really don’t think we could have played the game if the nets didn’t glow. I’m sure we would have come up with a workaround of some kind, but washing the nets was definitely a good decision.
We also bought glow-stick necklaces to tell which players were on which teams. They worked beautifully, but they were the other big expense for the event. I bought them at a local party shop, but if you’re better at planning ahead than I am, you can get them cheaper online.
Parents
I love the parents at my church. We had one coach show up to help, which was great because he knew how to handle large groups of energetic teenagers. Another couple parents organized all the food, drinks, and snacks without me even asking them to. And a couple more just came to hang out. This morning, one mom stopped by my office and gave me my yearly compliment 
Money
This event ended up costing about twice what I had expected. Fortunately, this is the only expensive event we planned this year (summers trips not included).
Teens
My other big concern was that I didn’t know how many teens might show up, and only so many people can fit on a basketball court. I didn’t do a headcount but I would guess we had between 30-40 teens at the event. We had about half the teens playing at a time, which worked because they got tired and needed a breather (Thanks to the coach for organizing that). As our ministry grows, I think we could still do this event by splitting up the students by grades. So we might have Friday night just for the 9th and 10th graders and Saturday night for the 11th and 12th graders.
Side Note
I just spoke with one of the teens who was at the basketball game and found out that after the game she went to a school dance. The reason I bring this up is that we occasionally hear the excuse that a teen would come to our events if we did a better job of scheduling them on nights that didn’t already have another school function planned. But, the truth is that if our ministry is a priority in the teen’s life, they will somehow make the rest of their schedule work; if our ministry isn’t important to them, they won’t come even if they don’t have anything else to do. It’s important for us to be sensitive to the teens’ other activities, but double-scheduling is inevitable.
