Repurposing In KidMin - Doors & Windows

I admit it, I am a perfectionist. And I don't always take no for an answer. Sometimes that turns out to be a good thing. Like when we redid our children's area, and I could not stand how the old doors looked in the new area.

Stressing and Obsessing with VBS Decorating

To decorate or not to decorate, or maybe the real question should be, "Just how much should we decorate our church for VBS?"

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Let's start with asking why we decorate in the first place. I think we decorate for VBS for the same reasons that we theme our children's areas or church platforms. It creates a "wow" effect. It makes VBS feel like something special. And it sends a message that you cared enough to make the place special for your VBS guests. That "wow" effect makes a very good first impression - so it is important.

So how much decoration does it take to get that message out? Only you and your team can decide that. I just want to give you some ideas for getting the most bang for your buck in this post.

Sanctuaries take a lot of work to make an impact. We share our decorations with another church. This year they made these big coral reefs for on the platform. We had jelly fish hanging from the lights and cardboard water bubbles on the walls.

The short video below shows what we did in a small walk through room and in our craft room. We covered both in blue. For about $70 you can buy a 1000 foot roll of colored paper. We used less than 1/2 of it to cover our craft room. In the smaller room we used blue plastic which had been used 2 years running. We added some Dollar Store plastic tablecloths.

Ocean Commotion Decoration Part 2

I found some more pictures from week 1 of Ocean Commotion VBS.

This treasure chest was for the kids to put their offering in. There was one for the boys and one for the girls. They were made from Styrofoam coolers. Another Pinterest project.

VBS Week 1 always includes a photo op for kids.

The platform decor used insulation panels. The back panels were painted to look like the bottom of the ocean. These coral panels in front were also painted onto insulation panels.

This is church number 2 where Ocean Commotion will take place. We decided to cover the murals with blue paper to make underwater scenes. You can buy a 1000 foot roll for about $70. We covered all the walls and have lots left. The paper is 3 feet wide and our ceilings are 9 feet high, so it is a perfect fit (sort of!).

DIY Theming Part 2 - Dignified Doors

In my last blog post I wrote about some DIY tools available through online sites to theme, remodel, or just spruce up your children’s area. In this post and the next, I want to show you what we

DIY Theming That Doesn't Look Like You Did It Yourself

Earlier, I wrote a blog post about the DIY remodel of the children’s area in our church building. I wanted to do the work ourselves to save money, but I had one stipulation: I did not want

How God Brought Our Walls Down (Sort Of)

Four years ago I began working my way into leadership of the children’s ministry in our church. There were a lot of changes to be made, and one of the first was updating our facility.

I started by asking a few people for some ideas. One idea that surfaced was to remove

Bible Times Sunday School Room

This room came about when we were doing a VBS a few years back. The program had scenery you could project onto the wall of a room to make it look like the inside of a Bible time’s home.  I thought we had some rolls of white paper we had made look like stone, and so I planned on doing the whole room instead of just one wall.

Two things changed that.