Tackling Decorations—One Glue Stick at a Time!

Just remember, one person doesn’t need to do it all—just be part of the team.

If you are not a crafty person, enlist help. You most likely have someone in your church who loves to be creative. It may surprise you who steps up to the challenge. Just remember, one person doesn’t need to do it all—just be part of the team.

Donations can be amazing! Let everyone know what your vision or dream is for VBS. One year, we had an idea to have a representation of clothing from various missionaries on display throughout our church (the year we did The Incredible Race). To make this work well, we needed mannequins. So, a couple of phone calls later, I was on my way to a store that was going out of business. They were two days away from throwing the unused mannequins in the trash. Two trips later, we ended up with 12 mannequins free of charge. Not to mention the endless amounts of sermon props for “Parts of the Body.”

Some churches also create an Amazon wish list with decorations so friends, family, and church members can pick out items to donate for VBS.

Repeat, repeat, repeat. Large spaces don’t necessarily need everything to be unique. Sometimes multiples of items go further. More is better.

Think BIG and shadowy! If you are making animals, why not make them large? Why not make them out of black construction paper in silhouette form? A 36-inch roll of 100-foot-long black construction paper on Amazon is about $35. Imagine all the shadow animals that you can create for your walls for $35!

Tablecloths. Another best friend of VBS directors everywhere is plastic tablecloths. They are used for so much more than tables. A fun find recently was rolls of tablecloths that can be cut to whatever size you need. That’s a game changer.

Pinterest. This is the idea vault. Be sure to start boards and share with your team. Remember that if you think and search a little differently, you can sometimes get totally different results. You can also follow Answers VBS on Pinterest for more ideas specific to your theme.

There are no bad ideas when we start planning each year. Everything is possible.

Start with lots of ideas. There are no bad ideas when we start planning each year. Everything is possible. As we meet and put plans to paper, ideas will naturally come to life. What you start with and what you end with may be different. The other piece of advice is to tier your ideas. Start with the “Must Do,” then the “Would be Nice,” and finally the “If we have time” projects. This will help you to not get too distracted.

There is good and then there is “VBS good.” Remember the audience. Who are these for? Does it need to be perfect? No. Does it need to be flawless? No. I start out with so many ideas and then two hours before we start VBS, I am inevitably putzing with something I don’t need to be, so I have to walk away and say, “It’s VBS good.”

Just remember, people will be looking at what you did do, and will never know what you didn’t do unless you tell them!