Punahou Carnival

Punahou Carnival is an Annual Event usually held the first weekend in February! It usually rains but this past Carnival was sunny blue skies! The Junior class is responsible for choosing the theme, song and booth names and manning the food, drinks, games, plants, and white elephant booths. Of course there are a lot of volunteers helping them including parents, staff and alumni. This is Punahou's largest fundraiser! And people come to this 2 day event: Friday and Saturday 11am to 11pm.There are so many booths! Food includes Punahou's famous 1 script malasadas; gyros, corn, noodles, hamburger, smoothies, acai bowl, Portuguese Bean soup, and Hawaiian Plate. There are kiddie games that always is fun for kids because they can win tickets to redeem for prizes! There is the popular white elephant tent that usually has a line! Also, there is a Silent Auction, Art Gallery and plant booth.You need to check it out next year! You'll be sure to have lots of fun!Bring lots.of monies and patience for the long lines!

The iconic Punahou Carnival is like any other popular place so expect crowds, looking for parking, lines, but it's a priceless experience with the right mindset. It's always held the FIRST WEEKEND in February. First, the parking. Only volunteers receive on-campus parking. The public can find free parking on adjacent streets like Dole, Clark, Whitney, Wilder or opt for paying flat rate at Maryknoll School which is a short walk across the street, St. Clements Church about a block west, Shriners Hospital is 2 blocks makai, Central Union Church 2 blocks makai, and St Peter's is 3 blocks makai. Traffic can be crazy around these areas with a lot of pedestrians so extra caution. If I didn't live within walking distance I'd probably Uber over to save time.I give the carnival 4 stars - until the scrips can be purchased online or a QR code. Waiting in line to purchase scrips can be difficult when you're bringing young children.That being said, we purchase more scrip for both days so we don't have to wait in line again. It's fifty cents per scrip or $10 for entire sheet. Credit cards only- no cash accepted. When you enter through main gate there's a scrip booth to the right but also more on the diamond head side which usually isn't as busy. This year there was also one near Bishop Hall (mauka) where more of the keiki games were.I highly recommend the carnival website which gives great info to plan your day. A map shows food, games, bathrooms, scrip booths, art gallery, logo shop, white elephant, plants, fruits/vegs was awesome for us to plan our attack.A list of Punahou games (EK Fernandez is separate) and food booths with amount of scrip needed helped us figure out how much scrip to purchase for both days. It also says which places take scrip or credit cards. The food is basic carnival - which to me always tastes good because of the great memories growing up. Teri burgers, saimin, wok-prepared char siu noodles, malasadas, Portuguese bean soup, Hawaiian plate with kalua pig, rice, poi, lomi salmon, sweet potato, pineapple, hot dogs, spam musubi, corn on cob, taco salad, nachos, mini Haagen Daz ice cream cups, gyros, smoothies, soda, bottled water are all reasonably priced. This is a FUNDRAISER to give financial aid to more students- which are about 30% of the classes. Bathrooms are scattered throughout the carnival and pretty clean. Also have accessible portapotties placed far enough away from activities with portable sinks and soap. Police officers posted at each scrip booth and also entrances/exits, as well as security. The first day on Friday is busy because Punahou and Maryknoll allow students early access. Evenings after-work/school crowd gets busy so if you have small kids it could be a little overwhelming plus walking to your car in dark perhaps bring flashlight as sidewalks are narrow with cracked asphalt, and alerts cars who may be distracted or in a rush to get outta there. Saturday is the busiest since most people have the day off. Not sure why but this year didn't seem as busy- lots of room to walk around and the weather was perfect. It ended earlier at 10:00 PM instead of 11:00.EK Fernandez has their own area for games and rides. You can either purchase at their booth or download QR code and pay for games and rides with your phone. The prizes are nice- really huge stuffed animals and inflatables. Punahou games do not give out prizes at their booths. If you win or as a consolation prize they give out coupons which can be redeemed at the Prize Tent located up top by Bishop Hall (Diamond Head / mauka of White Elephant tent). This was nice because we didn't have to carry it around with us and could redeemupon leaving.The Haku Booth had a sign saying pre-ordered only so check Carnival website for details. They are beautifully made by the students.The Portuguese bean soup and Hawaiian plates are located mauka in the cafeteria. Be prepared to wait in line but it goes quickly as there's a limit of 2. You may sit in the cafeteria to eat or there are groups of tables just outside. They sell small cooler bags if you plan on taking home or we brought our own. There is also a schedule of live music to enjoy.There was NO CHICKEN PLATE this year so we missed that rotisserie chicken cooked at the carnival on campus. The art gallery had moved to Bishop Learning Center because the library was being renovated so we enjoyed checking out the beautiful artwork and paintings for sale which were mostly local artists. In our experience it's always been a very safe and clean carnival- we took our 2 year old granddaughter this year and she loved all the games and a couple of rides like the "hot air balloon" and carousel. Lots of sunscreen, water, and people-watching made it all the more enjoyable.

Worse experience at this year 2025 carnival even after attending regularly since 20 years+. The shorter lines for food, games, rides & other offerings speaks for itself. Prices increased & quality decreased. For example, one Teri cheese burger went from $3.50 to $5 & malasadas 50 cents to $1, etc. The smoothies was a great option in the past but luckily I checked out what was being used to determine which flavor was best to meet my preference. They changed the recipe to some liquid fruit juice base and ice while in the past they used sherbert as an add-in. They offered 2 flavors in the past but this year, 3. But I opted out as it's misleading sounds more like a slushie rather than a "smoothie!" This year, no EK Fernandez food booths- cotton candy, candy apple, lemonade, pizza, etc that most carnival goers are familiar and expect. There was more open unutilized space on the field where they could have added more rides. The rides were majority geared toward younger aged kids- elementary "maybe" intermediate kids. In the past they seem to offer a better balanced variety for all ages to enjoy. Plus, EK Fernandez rides was setup for Card credit which is more modernized form of payment, I see it for more of a deception forcing people to spend more where it's harder to track the loaded amount against cost of the rides which may lead to confusion, frustration and overspending. Friday night, they reported they ran out of food items around 9. Poor planning apparently. It was just so much disappointment all around. Ugh let's not forget the event hours which used to close 11pm in the past but closure at 10pm was indicated. Even the sound booth with announcements- often irritating in the past but announcements were minimal. And before kids could pay tickets to put in an announcement request but Idk so different this year.The planning committee needs to be replaced and more thought out approaches is needed to be pursued for execution to be effective. If the 2 designated malasada lines are short, hours modified, limited food options, limited rides and open space to sit to eat your food and crowd allows to walk freely without rubbing shoulders when passing, somethings wrong & needs to be addressed if the expectation for the carnival to continue and maintain event annually to maximize profits for families to enjoy, as something needs to be changed. I'm sure I wasn't the only carnival attendee who wasted their time and ended up disappointed. I'm considering not returning next year after this bad experience. Hate to compare, but I used to think Punahou hosted the best carnival event, but I'm sure I'll enjoy I'olani Annual fair better this year!

I've been going to the Punahou Carnival at Punahou School for years as it was a mere 7 minute walking distance from where I once lived. But for this year, it was a different experience, not just travel wise but overall. As expected, parking can be difficult to find for this weekend event. You can either pray to the street parking gods to have a spot available nearby the campus or pay at nearby locations like Central Union Church or neighboring school and churches ranging from $10.00 to up to $30.00.Food items and games (except for the E.K. Fernandez games) can be purchased through scrip. There are many scrip booths available on campus for you to purchase scrip from. Most of the crowd tends to go to the scrip booth at the entrance of the school, but I found it more convenient to go to the other areas like by the white elephant tent or kiddie land as the lines are much much shorter. One key thing to remember is that the booths only accept credit/debit, Apple Pay or Google Pay to purchase scrip. No cash will be accepted. One scrip is 50 cents, a whole sheet of scrip is $10.It does tend to get busy during this event and it is highly expected that you will be waiting in line for the food. Unfortunately this year, the food was just...meh. The regular gyro that costs about 15 scrip had an equal amount of protein and onion (if you know me well enough, I'm not a fan of raw yellow onions). The noodles (that I always look forward to) that costs about 10 scrip with char siu, was bland and didn't have that many char siu pieces. The teri burger (9 scrip, 10 with cheese) was nostalgic but also meh.But the most upsetting food we had this time around was their famous (turned infamous for us) Portuguese bean soup (32 oz. is 18 scrip, limit 2 per person). When we got home and were ready to partake in that so-called hearty, comforting bowl of soup, we were faced disappointment with more broth than the actual ingredients. It was so watery that I was only able to identify only 4.5 pieces of elbow macaroni in that 32 oz! My friend's soup however had a lot of ingredients (she went earlier in the day instead). To make things worse, they moved the soup station further away from everything else, meaning extra walking (without any markings or signages) to just be let down.Although this year's experience wasn't the greatest, it's still the Punahou Carnival, with its usual crowds, usual announcements over the PA, and its nostalgic charm. Hopefully, they'll improve the food quality (the best ones we had from this experience were the malasadas and corn on the cob) and include some signages or arrows to point us of where to go for the hot items instead of letting us go on a hiking adventure up, down, left, and right through the campus.

I ended up at the Punahou Carnival yesterday and it actually didn't rain. If you know about the Punahou Carnival you know that it always rains during that time. It was also a lot less crowded. I could actually walk through the place without being shoulder to shoulder with people.I don't really ride the rides anymore. I just go for the food. I usually get the fried noodles and chicken plate. I didn't see those this year. I did get their Portuguese bean soup, malasadas, acai bowl and beef nachos. There wasn't a line for the nachos and acai bowl, but the lines were long for the malasadas and soup. The wait for the soup was an hour and a half. Yes, I stood in that line with everyone else to get soup. The line was backed up all the way to the parking lot. They limited everyone to four containers. It wouldn't be worth it to stand in that line to get just the 5oz. size. I got three of the 32oz. containers. The lines for the malasadas weren't as bad, but they limited each person to a dozen. The hubby had to stand in line twice to get the two dozen, while I was in line for the soup. After the malasadas, he went to get the acai bowl and I was still in line for the soup, lol. Ahhh, fun times! To my surprise they didn't raise the prices. Scripts were 50 cents each. The 32oz. soup was 17 scripts, dozen malasadas were 10 scripts, acai bowl was 17 scripts and beef nachos was 10 scripts.

Let's do an update for post COVID Carnival 2024!2024 has rolled around and a few things are different. The theme of course has changed to "Explore the Shore." I guess some coastal theme? Really running out of ideas here kids, but can't blame them after a dozen dinosaur, space/future, music/movie, cowboy, western, safari, etc have all been done. Plus, the theme doesn't really matter, it's about having fun.And how do you have extra fun? With great tips of course! So here are a bunch!Alumni booth has been moved indoors so there are THREE places to get air conditioning without being injured, with the other two being art gallery and silence auction.Art gallery has moved to Bishop, which is the octagon shaped three story building next to kiddie land. The carnival is going almost cashless in that you can only buy script from the script booths with debit or credit cards. Touchless payments are good to go just like they were in the 2023 carnival. You can still buy full sheets of script from the Dillingham box office with cash, aka the theater where Variety show is held.Kiddie land now has its own script booth so you don't have to leave the area when your kids burn through $50 in script in 20 minutes. You know, the amount you thought would be good for several hours. Yeah, rethink that and then go buy more script.Haiku Leis and Jams and Jellies are now on a ticket system. This should reduce congestion and wait times.  It's a bold strategy Cotton, we'll have to see if it pays off for Punahou.Most of the big EK rides will not be there, however, the centrifugal like Zero Gravity will be making an appearance. A host of other smaller kid friendly rides will be there. EK's big tent of games will also be there but all EK attractions must be paid for by EK fun cards which can be bought and reloaded at the Carnival.EK fun pass CANNOT be bought with script, only cash at the EK fun pass booth.Chicken plate is still on hiatus (insert sad face here), but you can still get a full meal at Hawaiian plate north of the Carnival grounds.Bring sun screen and your reusable water bottles, which can be refilled for free with chilled filtered water at several  locations on campus.Check out my earlier review for more still relevant tips!

Who can not resist going to the Punahou Carnival, its a tradition here on Oahu and more so if you live in Honolulu. I'm just a sucker for carnival food and willing to wait in the loooong lines for my fix. My fav is the portugese bean soup and i always pray i get the middle or bottom of the pot, its the most hearty soup you will every have. Next is the malasada, something about their malasada that sets it apart, whether it be the texture or sugar coating something makes them irresitible. My next fav is the orange dream smoothie its simple ingredients and not too sweet and just right, then the gyros, hamburger, corn on cob and noodles, yes, I normally have one of each when I go. All that walking and talking in lines makes me hungry. Their newest booth is a snack booth, if you haven't given it a try, go try it next time, I'm in love with their popcorn (taste like movie theatre kind), and you can add toppings or arare, etc. Cannot go carnival without checking out the art gallery, white elephant, buff n blue logo store and carnival items, this year they had eden in love carnival bags and amazing circle blankets, got one of each and also they came out with new lunch bags (they were selling at portugese bean soup). Passed on plants this year due to ants they found before carnival. One last stop of the O Men booth they sell the big island produce, if the malasada lines are super long I go to get produce and normally by end of night you get a really good deal.

I have to admit, it's been a bit since I've been to the Punahou carnival. I was talking to my friend Keoki, an alumni who made me want to go a. We were talking about malasadas. Since he was pulling a shift there, I decided to check him out. Yay!!!! No rain!!!! We found parking right across the street, too. We hit some good deals on the plants-50% off! They had will call, too! That was nice. Got into the express line for malasadas and was pleased to find out you could buy up to three. So, duh! My husband and I got three each. Then into the teri cheeseburger line. Yum!!! The Portuguese bean soup line was a bit too long for me. Maybe next year. The gyro line moved very quickly. Then, it was on to the games. I liked that they had a "players card" system, but the games were quite expensive. Also, as we stood in line to buy the card, an employee walked down the line with preloaded $50 cards; do you didn't have to wait. However, that was less than 10 games. We still had lots of fun - nice date night plus I'm supporting my niece's school. Will see you next year!!

First time ever to the Punahou carnival and it's getting better and better as the night went on. We arrived around 6pm on a Saturday night. First parking was a challenge, but we managed to find some space at the church parking lot at least for $10 but it was not the closest to the school. Then the Scrips booth by the entrance had huge lines! So glad we found out about the other booths and the lines were significantly shorter. Except for the soup and malasadas, the wait for other food was not ridiculous. For carnival food, the burger and beef nachos were pretty good. I wish the corn was grilled. The malasadas were hot and fresh but personally I just don't care for malasadas but prefer a Chinese or an Okinawa donut instead. I love the cheese and ground beef on the nachos that I ate two plates myself lol. I was pleasantly surprised by the very reasonable prices, usually carnival and fair food are ridiculously overpriced with poor quality with a long wait. Their rides and games were also very affordable!For the rides, I went on the helicopter one with my toddler son and he absolutely loved it. We all went on the carousel too and had fun. It's my son's first time holding a golf club and he enjoyed the range a lot! Aside from the somewhat crazy, at times unmanageable crowds and parking situation, overall it's a fun night for all of us!

No signs. Waited in line for 20 minutes for attendant to tell us cash only. No customer service. $20 a ride. Lacking organization and management just like everything else on the island. All ATM's broken. Terrible experience. Absolutely No Fun