34 tips on VBS snacks April 8, 2009

1. Ask local restaurants for ice.
2. Write a formal request letter to secure donations for snacks.
3. Look into becoming a summer lunch program site during VBS.
4. Provide dinner every evening before VBS for the workers. Have members volunteer to bring dishes.
5. Serve snacks outside for less clean-up.
6. Offer a separate hospitality room for adults workers.
7. Offer a “hang out” room with snacks for youth volunteers.
8. Offer alternative snacks to children with allergies and/or medical conditions.
9. Serve general snacks that church members can donate.
10. Sno-cones are inexpensive and kids love them. Put the ice in a cup, not a cone.
11. Save the “pretty” snacks for training and/or Family Night.
12. Provide ice pops. Inexpensive and cold on a hot summer day.
13. Provide a sign-up supper for the staff every night for VBS.
14. Have an “adopt a day” for Sunday School classes to provide snacks.
15. Sometimes local pizza restaurants will provide free or discounted pizza for children on the last day or for teacher’s appreciation.
16. Find out each worker’s favorite soft drink or beverage and have it for them at snack time each night.
17. Ask for grocery store gift cards to purchase the snacks we need that are not provided through donations.
18. Provide a quick dinner for leaders and their children before VBS begins each evening. It helps with the timing.
19. Make a donation display to request snacks.
20. Offer a meal for the non-church members who drop off their children and wait for them. Great ministry opportunity for fellowship and Adult VBS.
21. Conduct a “Pastor Cookie Competition” by listing each Pastor’s favorite cookies. For 3 months, members bring in cookies and during VBS week we count the types of cookies. Whichever Pastor wins the competition, gets a pie in his face at the VBS rally! We have cookies for VBS and children’s event for the entire year.
22. Advertise in church bulletins for the non-perishables needed for VBS week. Purchase the perishables.
23. Ask church members to purchase restaurant gift cards.
24. Get donations from local restaurants.
25. Serve snacks that you know the kids will eat.
26. Sponsor a “Snack Sunday” for VBS where members bring in donations.
27. Purchase in bulk.
28. Sponsor a “Staff Favorite Snack Contest”. Staff members have a “favorite snack” and the church members bring those items. The winning staffer gets a special prize at family night.
29. Enrollment records help determine the amount of snacks to purchase.
30. Use in-season local fruits. Sometimes we get the local farmers to donate.
31. We have all day camp with VBS and have a kitchen team to help with meals.
32. Purchase a sno-cone machine. It will pay for itself in the money you save buying other snacks.
33. Provide daily attendance count to snack team before rotations start.
34. Buy in bulk and re-bag for each child’s portion.

49 tips on VBS Communication April 8, 2009

1. All kids and workers receive a card for attending VBS written by adults who attend adult VBS.
2. Workers receive a thank you note each night from director.
3. Utilize e-mail – it’s inexpensive and reliable. Also, use a phone line/tree.
4. All teachers carry a cell phone so they can call the director if they have a problem or need something.
5. Start a scrapbook or photo journal of VBS. Tape theme, photos and of all the teachers and children in the book. Add their names and share it with next year’s VBS to get everyone excited.
6. Utilize meetings with follow-up e-mails.
7. People are better then signs for directions. Use “greeter” to help parents and children get to the appropriate location.
8. Communicate with other churches in area in order to share supplies and decorations.
9. Use walkie-talkies for directors and staff.
10. Have a phone-tree where all VBS workers can get the same messages and pass along prayer requests to all members.
11. Send letters two weeks before VBS to all leaders. Also have several meetings.
12. Partner with other churches for vinyl billboard size banner leaving dates changeable with vinyl lettering.
13. Provide nightly newsletters to all workers.
14. Print a worker booklet with all VBS information.
15. E-mail devotions to VBS workers daily during week of VBS.
16. Utilize a facebook group page.
17. Have lunch for workers – a great time to talk and fellowship.
18. 6-8 weeks before VBS starts, VBS ministry team does a skit during worship service (always funny, but with the theme). Then, 2-3 weeks later, follow-up with skit and then the Sunday before, we do a final skit.
19. Have a “meeting by letter”. Include all the information they need to know so everyone is on the same page.
20. Use headsets to communicate between departments and directors.
21. Specify the volunteer’s best means of communication: e-mail, text, phone. Have a central place where all can go for information, such as a website.
22. Use daily folders to communicate to all leaders. In the folders, the volunteers can send notes to director at the end of the day.
23. Utilize circulars, direct mail and Prayer Walks.
24. A week before VBS, we hand out a packet in our worship service with addresses and door hangers about VBS. They are placed on doors in an area surrounding our church. It is a Spanish area and we have reached several children.
25. Start early!
26. Recruit a young co-director and work together. Divide responsibilities.
27. Use “kangaroos” in yards to “Hop on over to VBS”.
28. Take one entire Sunday morning service to emphasize VBS. The band dresses in the theme and plays songs that go along, Skit is about theme. Sermon goes along with the theme. Then, we have sign-ups after church for workers.
29. When enlisting workers, enlist with the up front knowledge that they will be encouraged to assist with follow-up.
30. Set and explain “rules” for behavior (attitude) for staff meetings, first item at the first meeting. Make sure to put a positive spin on it. Use humor.
31. Use last year’s registration forms to send out invitations/postcards for this year’s VBS.
32. Use local Bible bookstore(s) (other denominations that may not have a VBS) to distribute flyers or handouts.
33. Utilize billboard signage in high volume areas – for free.
34. Provide newsletters each morning for every worker. Include reminders about procedures, updates on enrollment, etc. No longer use bullets for information, but put information in boxes and use clipart for better readability.
35. Utilize two-way radios (from ushers) for constant communication, limit wasted time in tracking someone down and help transitions move more smoothly.
36. Sponsor a program in schools.
37. Utilize texting and facebook.
38. Have announcement time at the end of joint worship. Also, send LifeWay’s preprinted newsletter to each teacher at the end of VBS with the day’s information.
39. On the daily newsletter, feature a different class and different leaders. Include photos. Newsletters can be given out at the closing celebration each night.
40. Get a person who is active in another field to do your communications. Cross train your volunteers.
41. Make a large VBS sign with information on it. Only to change date of VBS. This is a large yard/street sign made of wood and nicely painted.
42. Take photo of child and family member on family night. Then have the photo made into a postcard and mail to the child as follow-up.
43. Schedule monthly meetings starting in January. Buy boxes and sort all supplies, pencils, materials, certificates, etc. that the teacher needs and pass that out in January. At leaders meeting, do a minute preview of each day. At the January meeting, do a sample lesson from the Bible study, music, recreation and snack. Then in February, do lesson 2, etc. Encourage the teachers to study a lesson each month.
44. Maintain a punch list after each leaders meeting to keep everyone accountable to their responsibilities in a timely manner.
45. Stay in contact with key people so as to be able to answer crucial questions.
46. Utilize daily video, photos, VBS website, VBS blog.
47. Use a company that distributes flyers for us.
48. Provide local newspapers with articles.
49. Use clipboards for daily communication. The VBS office clerk arrives early each day to place current roll, any take home letters, schedule, encouragement notes, etc. Include the student nametags on clipboards, too. Each person collects their board and away they go!

42 tips for decorating during VBS April 6, 2009

1. Share your work with other churches.
2. Put clear tape on the back of your paper decorations to make pulling the tape off easier.
3. Access a die cut machine at a public library.
4. Share materials and decorations within your association.
5. Enlist people who work and cannot be involved during VBS week to decorate Worship Center, Rotation rooms and hallways.
6. Encourage director to give out a published list of associational VBS’s in training in order to network for decorations and materials.
7. Use decorations, such as an “ABC” mobile that can be recycled and used each year.
8. Huts and buildings can be made from collapsible foam or foam core materials.
9. Request displays from local grocery stores. Repaint and add themed decorations.
10. Give Sunday School classes different decoration ideas. Have them create that item for you.
11. Appoint a decorating team. Let this team create the sanctuary backdrop. Often these individuals can’t help during VBS.
12. Have decorations available to VBS meetings to give out to directors/teachers that attend the meetings.
13. Reuse, recut, reshape and recycle from previous years.
14. Rotate decorations among other churches throughout the summer.
15. Billboard sign companies usually give away old canvas billboard material. The white on the back can be painted for a backdrop.
16. Always announce in church, make a list of supplies needed. You’ll be surprised as what can be donated from Grandma’s attic!
17. Purchase large 100 foot rolls of paper.
18. Use paint from Lowe’s or Home Depot that has been returned by other customers. It’s MUCH cheaper.
19. Purchase rolls of contractor’s paper at Lowe’s and Home Depot and use it for lots of different areas.
20. Use microphone stands for stage and room decorations. Carpet rolls fit nicely over them to be a base for trees or signs.
21. Host a decorating party at your church. Ask the senior members to feed your team.
22. Have youth make the decorations on Sunday or Wednesday nights as service projects.
23. Conduct youth VBS earlier in the year and have them make decorations as their arts and crafts projects.
24. Take lots of photos at VBS conferences, trainings, other churches, etc.
25. Coordinate sharing decorations with other churches with your clean-up so the decorating items are picked up right away and help is available for large items.
26. Use Dollar Store tablecloths and add duck tape borders. Them hang on the wall and add decorations. No holes in the wall!
27. Use $1/yard fabric from Wal-Mart and other stores.
28. Use PVC pipe for frames, shower curtain hangers, and spray paint. Great backdrops or room partitions.
29. Make and effort to pass along the decorations to at least 3-4 other churches. Maybe more!
30. Enlist men to build sets using big yard signs and reusable frames that can be collapsed for storage.
31. Initiate Wednesday night decorating parties with pizza dinners. Provide childcare for anyone who can stop by for any time and paint, build, sand, mount, etc. Start 6-8 weeks in advance of VBS week.
32. Give teachers their own decorating budget and they buy their own supplies and decorate their own rooms.
33. Have a “Decorating Day” with a meal to follow. Have all supplies for all teachers (i.e.- tape, scissors, markers, paint, paper, etc.) on tables ready for a massive decorating event.
34. Reuse from year to year.
35. Check blog spot to see what others are doing and using.
36. Ask artistic members who help draw/paint backdrops and scenes.
37. Use church member’s gifts and talents.
38. We have set designers who offer to crate scenes.
39. If you’re not creative – stay out of it – and let someone who is. (see comments)
40. Keep a “To Do List” on a marker board as people come in to work.
41. Start a sign up list at your associational training to share decorations.
42. Give each class a tote bag with decorations already in it so they don’t have to add much.

28 tips on scheduling and rotations April 5, 2009

1. Include missions in large group Worship Rally time.
2. Add an extra 15 minutes to the total time and include 5 minute per 3 rotations to change classes.
3. Give snacks to take home and eat.
4. Eliminate recreation rotation and include craft with snack time.
5. At the end of each rotation, play a different musical instrument and the kids have to guess what it is. The first correct answer receives a prize.
6. Include music during large group Worship Rally time.
7. Use a block schedule that is color coded, then give it to the staff to follow (i.e.- blue – recreation, green – Bible study, etc.)
8. Post the complete schedule in a central area for all to see.
9. Instead of a Bible study room for each class/grade, create a Bible study site of K-2 and 3-5 with a team of 5 workers for each room. The team works together to decorate and each person teaches one time and assists the other four.
10. Serve a meal at the beginning and eliminate snack time.
11. Do the mission lesson while the children are eating their snacks.
12. Have a morning VBS and an evening VBS due to limited space. Morning session from 9:00 a.m. – 12 noon and an evening session from 6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
13. Combine crafts with missions or other videos, if you’re crunched for time.
14. Place schedules on the backs of nametags for quick reference.
15. Split children in two groups during one 30-minute time frame. One group has missions while the other group goes to crafts. Then, flip-flop the groups.
16. Conduct VBS from Saturday thru Wednesday evening. Begin on Saturday at 3:00 p.m., have an hour or more of games, feed the kids dinner, and begin VBS. End with Worship Rally. The remainder of the week, classes run from 6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
17. Have Bible Study at the same time. All classes are studying at the same time frame. There are fewer distractions this way. No rotations occur at this time.
18. Run a 3-day schedule, Friday-Sunday. Begin Friday night, run all day Saturday and Sunday afternoon. End with the Family Night on Sunday evening.
19. To facilitate better use of space, we split the fellowship hall between dinner and crafts. We then feed the children on a split schedule as well as speed the process as well as help with space issues.
20. Due to limited space in church, we have held Bible study outside in tents, in a motor home, under a canopy, or whatever might work with the theme.
21. On Friday evening, cut two rotations and host the musical.
22. Host outside activities (games, races, etc.) for a pre-rally gathering. Call to Worship is the line-up time.
23. Divide kids into family groups (all ages) so the older can help the younger and don’t have as much peer pressure.
24. Rotate the leaders rather than the kids. This saves time.
25. Expand VBS time for the day by 15-30 minutes.
26. Have teachers help relieve each other, so everyone gets a break.
27. Rotate everything!
28. Put Worship Rally in the middle of the schedule.

27 tips on managing VBS data April 5, 2009

1. Create a database of past registrations of 3 years back or more. Send an invitation/VBS announcement each year.
2. Local association offices have zip code mailing list or post offices of every family of zip code areas.
3. VBS Tools Online ROCKS!
4. Renew VBS Tools so information will be downloaded and you won’t have to retype all the registration information.
5. Use VBS Tools for ALL VBS participants…not just the kids.
6. Give each teacher last years registration forms for their class so they can call and personally invite children that will be in there class.
7. Collect prospect lists from Sunday School enrollment, past attendees, etc.
8. Monitor trends through pre-enrollment and make adjustments. (i.e.- 50% of your enrollment occurring on VBS Tools within the last 36 hours.)
9. Provide registration packets that include nametags, parent card, etc.
10. Consider using an EXCEL spreadsheet and an e-mail list.
11. Send out personal invites to children who attended VBS the year before and asking them to bring a friend.
12. Outreach Database has all age/birthday information and every outreach event attended such as sports camp, Super Wednesday, etc.
13. Use the database to send thank you’s at the end of VBS from the director. Encourage kids to come to Sunday School and other events throughout the year.
14. Send a room assignment card as a follow-up to their registration. Enter daily people who do not register electronically.
15. Organize all hard copy data in a filing cabinet for next year.
16. The week before VBS we send out a letter to all those who have pre-registered that explains drop-off/pick-up procedures and lets parents know what group their child is in. This helps avoid confusion on Monday.
17. Clearly identify on Day 1 all visitors on registration forms. Have the data entry person pull Map Quest so directions for visits are finished by end of VBS week.
18. Use VBS Tools to find out if multiple kids are from one family.
19. Volunteer keeps database and adds to it throughout the year prospects for new members and registration from other kid events (i.e. – Trunk or Treat).
20. Use EXCEL spreadsheets to utilize mailing labels, identify birthdays and send Christmas cards.
21. Issue VBS t-shirts when registration form is turned in – high percentage received. Use completed forms for information to give to Outreach Chairperson. Use information to project class size for next year. Teachers us information to mail postcards to children the next year to give personal invitation to VBS.
22. Keep a binder of hard copies of registration information for emergencies.
23. Send postcards in April/May to all non-church members announcing VBS.
24. Always include a church home or Sunday School attendance line on the registration form so that you can easily sort for those with “none” listed for a timely follow-up.
25. Close registration to church members one week prior to VBS. Register everyone else on the first morning. This encourages pre-registration of church members and helps estimate the class sizes.
26. We use EXCEL on a laptop at the registration table for attendance. A different page for every class (age) with categories for member/non-member, etc. (it will automatically add for you.)
27. We set up an on-line registration form that pulls right into an EXCEL document. Over 50% registered on line last year. Much less typing for out data volunteer.

43 VBS Cost Cutters April 4, 2009

1. A local newspaper company donates ends of rolls of paper left after the bulletin is run. This is great paper for use in decorating and it’s free.
2. Have a sign up sheet for different families to provide snacks each night.
3. Save large foam board cutouts to be recycled into new objects and repainted.
4. Have a Valentine’s Banquet for the adults as a fund raiser to benefit VBS.
5. Buy in bulk.
6. Take advantage of “no shipping” and coupons on catalog orders.
7. Ask congregation to “sponsor a child for VBS”.
8. Ask local construction companies for leftover insulation panels.
9. Instead of buying reward trinkets, put kids name in a drawing each time they memorize, etc., then on parent night, have a drawing for decorations, hats, etc. that have already been used that week.
10. Give limits on reimbursements to teachers who buy their own supplies.
11. Borrow and/or share with other churches.
12. Combine two classrooms to rotate in and out of a decorated room. Saves the cost to decorate.
13. Host a decorating workday/workshop to make decorations. Share with the churches who participate.
14. Start early!
15. Go to Sears’s furniture stores to get extra Styrofoam and cardboard for decorations.
16. To save money, we alternate crafts with recreation each day. Half of the students go to crafts and the other half go to recreation. Another option is to alternate crafts with missions.
17. Ask people to donate items from home for decorations.
18. Look for free stuff from construction sites, cardboard container companies, libraries (name tags) newspaper and printing companies (free paper).
19. Find a church member who works for a food company/supplier and ask for snack donations.
20. Buy snacks you are SURE the children will eat.
21. Find a local contractor who can get insulation foam at cost.
22. Assign 10 team captains with each team to raise $100-$250 for VBS. Program culminates the event.
23. Give your adult Sunday School classes short supply lists of items to purchase.
24. Electrical supply companies will often supply Styrofoam packing.
25. Furniture stores will often supply large cardboard boxes.
26. Do not permit teachers to buy their own supplies.
27. Laminate name stickers and use safety pins to save money on nametags.
28. Ask the senior ladies in the church to bake cakes and snacks for the workers.
29. For family night, instead of sending home treat bags, we send home a family basket (donated used baskets) with church items: coffee mugs with goodies, parent tips booklet, church information, loaf of bread, etc.
30. For small churches, move crafts outside. Get a tent provided from a local funeral home.
31. Buy classroom supplies when the back-to-school sales are going on in late summer.
32. Contact local sporting goods store to sell t-shirts for children’s craft at cost.
33. Use colored chalk to color salt to use as sand.
34. Ask hotels to donate old sheets to use as backdrops.
35. Buy generic brands of needed supplies.
36. Contact local school system for “packed lunches” for children.
37. Reuse large props by redecorating.
38. At the spring children’s musical, we advertised our VBS t-shirts and asked for donations for kids that may not be able to afford them.
39. Shop yard sales and thrift stores.
40. Ask church to donate pre-packaged snacks (i.e.- Little Debbie cakes, Kool-Aid, etc.)
41. Ask your mission groups in your church to provide snacks for VBS kids.
42. Keep your eyes “peeled for deals” when shopping.
43. Get sheets for backdrops from Goodwill or motels.

14 tips on managing curriculum supplies April 4, 2009

1. Always order extra – It’s not fun to run out of student books. Leftovers can be returned. (Note that returns have to be postmarked by August 1 in order to receive credit and that items must be in saleable condition.)
2. Make it, or bring it. You’d be surprised what church members can make or have stored in their attics.
3. Curriculum is shared with several churches in Association. I keep a calendar and each teacher puts each day’s supplies in a gift bag that’s labeled and then passed on.
4. Coordinate with other churches to get supplies.
5. Order through Baptist Association.
6. Donate left over incomplete kits to send to foreign missions.
7. Give used supplies and décor to a local congregation to use on a mission trip.
8. We have different individuals review the curriculum for the teachers. This helps to streamline all the information. They also purchase all the supplies needed for the teachers.
9. Give specific deadline for supply lists to be turned in.
10. Have church members “sponsor” the cost of a child to attend VBS.
11. Get supplies from other churches after their VBS is over.
12. VBS of 230 or less – buy supplies and crafts as directors so you control your budget. Pull from all churches in area and share..
13. All leftover supplies go to a sister church with a small budget.
14. Publish a list for needed items in a newsletter and ask for donations.

36 VBS traffic control tips! April 3, 2009

1. Have the local police department supply off-duty policemen with arm bands.
2. Have parents join the children for Worship Rally at the end. Parents are already in the building when time to go home.
3. Enlist some men or older youth to be parking attendants.
4. To smoothly move rotations, schedule the time down to specific, not general, times (i.e. – at 6:41 p.m., 1^st grade goes to music, at 6:42 p.m. 2^nd grade goes to recreation, etc.)
5. Use separate entrances for preschool, children and VBX.
6. Be sure to schedule rotation rooms close together to eliminate long walks.
7. Place a person with a walkie-talkie at each street entrance.
8. Offset schedules so preschool, children and preteens are not all in the hallways at the same time.
9. Appoint guides to accompany kids to ever rotation. Provide special signs for them to hold for their group.
10. Have senior adults help open doors and greet children and parents.
11. Ask the youth and college/career members to serve as escorts and help kids rotate.
12. Use the local fire department to park cars. They bring their trucks for the kids to explore and they pass out fire safety materials, fire hats and stickers.
13. Use ropes for preschoolers to travel through hallways.
14. Designate a drop-off and pick-up area for parents in cars.
15. Allow transition time in schedules.
16. Designate traffic flow one-way in and one way out. Create traffic patterns in hallways that don’t collide.
17. Mark hallway floors with lines. Yellow down the middle, green arrows on one side and red arrows down the other.
18. If going upstairs, use one set of stairs. If coming downstairs, use another set of stairs.
19. Rotate each age division within their own areas.
20. When rotating preschoolers, have them act out an animal (hop like a kangaroo, etc.) to get from place to place.
21. For dismissal, have the children that ride buses dismissed to the sanctuary before children that came with parents. They are given a colored bracelet that represent their bus.
22. Have an older couple manage the schedule by ringing a bell to change rotations.
23. If parents are going to pick-up children from their classrooms, provide the parents with a map of the facility.
24. Signs, signs, signs. You can never use too many signs for information or directions.
25. Dismiss from Worship Rally in groups.
26. Organize the different areas in a circular route, so that the groups don’t meet in the hallways.
27. Use local parking lots with additional parking spaces for buses.
28. As children arrive and register, they are assigned a color based on age. They line up behind same color traffic cones and take refreshments by that color
29. Rotate clockwise through hallways.
30. If possible, use rooms with two doors. Enter through one door and exit the other.
31. If using a carpooling line for pick-up, provide parents with color coded placards with the child’s name. Have the parent place the placard on the dashboard of the car as they arrive for pick-up.
32. Use a crossing guard.
33. Use road signs (i.e.- one way, do not enter, etc.) in the hallways.
34. Use an air horn to signify rotation times.
35. Offer parents a cool drink while waiting to pick up their children.
36. Ask the deacons to direct the parking.

46 tips for security during VBS April 3, 2009

1. Have parents pick up children in their rooms with “claim tickets”.
2. Set up stations outside by age groups with leaders for pick-up. No one comes into the building to get kids. They wait for dismissal in an organized manner.
3. A group from out older men’s group continually circles the campus with radios.
4. Use hall monitors that know the schedule and can direct strays to appropriate places or find director quickly in emergencies.
5. Use color-coded nametags with security information in a 3”x4” plastic sleeve for children, youth and adults. Use stick on nametags for preschool.
6. All directors and teachers are outside during pick-up. All kids have to stay seated until their name is called over sound system by director.
7. Always have someone outside with kids and while they are in class (at least two adults).
8. Deacons rotate nightly to assist with security and to recruit other men of the church.
9. End each daily session with a mission rally so children are in a contained space. Parent do drive by and pick-up.
10. Consider background checks and personal interviews with all workers involved in VBS.
11. Rope off sections and label them clearly for parents to find. Teachers stay with their class until all kids are picked up.
12. Have a Safety Team handle the traffic control as well as meet and greet parents.
13. Use parking lot monitors to escort kids to cars. As they take kids to the cars they talk to the parents and invite them to church.
14. All 1^st-3^rd graders must be picked up from their classrooms. If the parents do not tell us before VBS that someone else is picking up their child we DO NOT let them go.
15. We use matching color magnetic stickers on buses (i.e.- children with blue wrist bands ride the blue polka dot bus).
16. Use security cards and block off front of church.
17. For a small town – get mayor of town to furnish volunteers to block off streets and direct traffic during VBS.
18. We have a plastic “credit card” with our church’s name and information on it that are given to parents at drop off and brought back at pick up time at their Bible Study rooms. Committee members have to be contacted if they do not have a card before they are allowed to pick up their child.
19. Enlist a VBS nurse that has a small office location equipped with first aid kits and a cot, etc.
20. Use security bracelets. They can be purchased from LifeWay or have Kinko’s make them.
21. Enlist retired police officers to patrol the areas to make sure everyone is where they need to be.
22. Have a husband and wife team meet cars in the parking lot as they drop off children to meet and greet parents and children and to make sure the children get through the parking lot safely.
23. Use law enforcement officers of our congregation to provide safety and security measures.
24. Use sign-in and sign-out sheets provided by LifeWay’s VBS Tools Online database.
25. Enlist “Safety Cops” to help with flow of traffic and children and any problems that come up.
26. Dismiss all ages from our sanctuary instead of parents looking for classes. We meet back for an ending Worship Rally daily.
27. Use crossing guards to help children cross the street.
28. Place an adult at every door in the church building during entry and exit times.
29. Ask a local deputy to be present during drop off time with the cruiser’s lights on. It gets people driving by to slow down.
30. Do not allow any “unassigned” adults to roam the building.
31. Check the playground each day for safety of equipment and cleanliness.
32. Provide runners with radios to pick up children from classes as parents come to pick them up.
33. Do not let parents walk the campus to find their children.
34. Use same style name tag for all adults working during VBS so they are recognizable.
35. Require all VBS volunteers complete the church policy training conference. We need to all be on the same page as to how we handle the children and different situations.
36. All adult volunteers wear t-shirts everyday.
37. Place safety and database information on the back of the registration form. Copy the allergy/medical information for quick reference if questions or an emergency arises.
38. Use colored numbered wristbands for preschoolers.
39. Have additional pick-up people listed on the bottom of the registration form. Each child’s form that is in your class is in a folder for the teacher.
40. Lock outside doors 30 minutes after VBS starts.
41. Assign an animal to each age group them separate each group into four colors to match the security bracelets. Identify the belonging of each child be looking at their tag where they where supposed to be.
42. If a pick-up person does not have a receipt to pick-up a child, the individual must show a driver’s license and wait until the parent is called for permission to release the child.
43. Do not offer any type of food item containing peanuts due to allergies.
44. Offer alternative snacks for children with allergies and medical issues.
45. Enlist adults for security team, rotating them each night. Make t-shirts that say SECURITY for the team.
46. Make large posters to post at entrance concerning parent pick-up procedures.

32 ideas for taking VBS beyond your church walls April 2, 2009

1. Conduct Youth VBS separately at a fun location for a weekend.
2. Use the parsonage for the youth or VBX.
3. Our church helps a small church (mission church) to enable them to have VBS in their church.
4. For Family Night, we rent the local community swimming pool.
5. We took a team to a Navajo church to present the program.
6. Use VBS as a backyard missions.
7. Do a one day of VBS at a one time visit to an orphanage.
8. Do a brief VBS at a picnic area of a state park.
9. Conduct VBS in multiple concurrent locations (i.e.- parks, schools, etc.)
10. Take children’s choir to do the musical to area nursing homes, children’s hospitals, etc.
11. At the end of VBS, the celebration goes with the theme. Last year was a water luau and this year we’ll go to Kentucky Down Under.
12. Youth mission trips is where we use VBS material and let them teach VBS to children in low income areas who don’t have the chance to go to VBS.
13. We do VBS in Youth Emergency Shelters and Crisis Pregnancy Centers for moms and kids.
14. Adopt a church that is struggling and help them host a VBS.
15. Host a VBS on in a summer playground program and in low income housing play areas.
16. Visit shut-ins (homebound) and have a lesson with them.
17. We do a small version of VBS at a migrant work camp.
18. We will be doing VBS in Guatemala in November with our key leaders from this year’s VBS.
19. Use Club VBS on our Spring Break mission trip.
20. Use VBS curriculum on summer mission trips.
21. Present the musical at schools and community events.
22. Take VBS to Children’s group homes.
23. We one day of VBS at the mission we established in Kentucky and we get the kids to come from the community by bringing free school supplies.
24. We do a one day Back to School Bash at our local park and do one day of our VBS.
25. Perform the musical at nursing homes or Veteran’s homes.
26. Conduct Adult VBS at an Adult Assisted Living Center.
27. Coordinate VBS Link-Ups with other churches. Take in people, supplies, food/snack to help struggling churches.
28. Our youth use the VBS for their national mission trip – the youth help in an area in their local VBS and then help in that same area on the mission trip.
29. Find a church in your Association that does not do VBS. Pair up with their leaders to co-direct at their church to teach them how to lead the event. The following year they do it on their own.
30. Conduct VBS at a local housing authority facility or at a public housing complex.
31. We have an “offering contest” for our boys and girls to compete. A male and female member of our worship team goes in a dunk tank at the end of week depending on who wins. We use the monies for our annual mission tip and our kids have raised over $1,000.
32. We have our clown ministry go to housing projects to invite children to VBS.