Getting the Word Out About VBS!

It would be pretty ridiculous to have a VBS without telling anyone about it.  After all, without the kids, you wouldn’t have a program!  So, you need to have a plan as to how you are going to get the word out about the awesome VBS you’re planning.  Here’s a peek at the two-part advertising calendar that we’re using, keeping in mind that our event will be held July 19-21.

Getting the Word Out to the Community:

• By June 2, have the vinyl outdoor banner posted in the church lawn.  We’ve purchased the one that our VBS publisher sells, though you can certainly make your own.
• By June 7, place an ad for our VBS in the local newspaper.  It doesn’t cost us anything to advertise in this particular paper, so it’s an easy way to advertise.
• By June 14, place a sandwich board sign with pertinent VBS information at the main intersection of town.  We had a gentleman from our church actually build one for us.  What a guy! 🙂
• By June 14, hang posters advertising the event at local businesses.  I photocopied our VBS Promo Flier on bright orange paper, so it’ll be pretty hard to miss!  Also, if you click on the link above to see our promo flier, I created a QR code for free online, so anyone can scan the code with their smart phone and the details from the poster will be automatically downloaded to their phone.  Pretty cool, eh?
• By July 15, hand out slips of information regarding VBS to the kids at the local youth center.  Experience has taught us that we can’t give the information out to the kids too early or they’ll forget or lose their information slip.  If we give it to them the week of the event, though, they get excited about it and stay excited all week long!

Getting the Word Out to the Church Body:

• By Sunday, March 3, publish information about VBS in the church kids’ newsletter.  I just included the dates, times, and the theme, so families can plan their vacations and trips accordingly (If VBS is that important to them!).
• By Sunday, March 3, have information about VBS put in the looping slideshow of announcements.
• By Sunday, March 10, make the first verbal announcement to the congregation to get them excited too!
• By Sunday, March 10, have an advertising booth set up in the church lobby.  The main purpose of this table, at this point, is for volunteers to sign-up to help out, but closer to the event, this table will be used for pre-registration.  Make sure your table is attractive and fits with your theme.  As you can see in the picture below, I’ve used the free promo poster that comes with our VBS starter kit, a check-print tablecloth, and a few fun accessories like a cow cup to hold the pens, a toy tractor, and a sample of our service project.

• By Sunday, April 7, show a promo video for VBS during the Sunday morning service.  If you’re using Group’s Hay Day VBS, they have some great ones on Vimeo.  We’re probably going to use this one.
• By Sunday, June 2, send a letter out to all members of the Fillmore Family.  We have mailboxes at the church for most of the regular attenders in our congregation, so this is an easy way for me to let them know more of the details about VBS.  If you’re wondering what goes in this letter, I just tweak the one that is provided in the director’s manual.

I also plan to have twice-a-month announcements in church starting in May where we’ll be creatively sharing more and more about what the kids will be in for at VBS, but I’ll save those for another time to share with you 🙂

So, there’s what we’ve planned on doing so far.  What do you do to advertise for your VBS program?

It’s VBS Planning Season!

It’s only March, but VBS planning is well underway here at Fillmore.  Last summer was full of transition in how our church thinks about VBS.  For the five years prior, we had done a soccer camp, which worked well for a while, but we decided that we wanted to return to a more traditional VBS format.  Rather than diving right back into a five-day program, we chose to use Group’s weekend VBS format, which worked beautifully for us.  When it came to choosing this summer’s VBS curriculum, I considered making the move to a five-day VBS, but ultimately decided to stick with the weekend format again.  Come this summer, Fillmore will be transformed into a barnyard for a Hay Day, where we’ll be growing in our friendship with God!

What VBS program are you planning to use?