3 Steps to Plan a Last-Minute VBS

Think you waited too late to plan a Vacation Bible School (VBS) program for your children’s ministry this summer? Don’t stress it! You can definitely still plan a successful VBS for your kids, using these 3 simple tips for quickly kickstarting the preparation for a fantastic VBS!

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You CAN Still Plan a VBS This Summer!

It seems like summer break gets shorter every year–and to make things even more complicated, we’re busier than ever. If you feel like summer snuck up on you and you just didn’t get your VBS prep off the ground in time, don’t throw in the towel just yet! You can still make it happen this summer! Below, I’ve outlined the 3 most crucial steps I think you need to tackle to pull it together quickly…

1) Gather Volunteers

I list this first because coordinating folks is always the trickiest part of any event. So start talking NOW to anyone you think may be interested in helping!

Ideally, you’re looking for a mixture of genders and ages to volunteer, as the older folks can bring maturity and wisdom, and the youth can bring energy and enthusiasm. Personally, I also think it’s really important to have some guys on your VBS staff, too–little boys need to see that Christianity and the Bible aren’t just for women, in my opinion.

Try to assign individuals to roles where they’ll shine. And don’t be a micromanager! Instead, let your volunteers invest personally in planning and preparing for their specific areas during VBS. Ideally, you’re looking for a mature adult for each of these jobs:

• Bible Teacher
• Song Leader
• Activities Leaders (commonly a crafts leader and a games leader, and sometimes a memory verse or missions presenter)
• Snack Coordinator (this can be really simple, or you can even decide to skip it)
• Skits/Drama (this is highly optional, but I’ve seen fun skits pulled together in less than a day’s time, and often the kids do really enjoy them)

You can make an announcement asking for volunteers or put out a sign-up sheet, but I find that it’s much more productive to talk personally to the individuals you hope will serve during your VBS.

Get commitments from folks as quickly as you can. As long as you have a solid VBS staff, you can easily handle a lot of the other details in planning VBS!

2) Decide on a Date, Time, and Place (& Begin Promotion)

This may overlap a bit with #1, because you may need to choose the dates of your VBS based on when your volunteers will be available.

Decide how many days your VBS program will last, and choose a date that gives you a couple of weeks to prepare. The end of July or the first week of August would probably be best this year!

You’ll also need to decide what time of day you want to do your VBS program. Some churches do a week-long VBS in the mornings. Others do a week-long VBS in the evenings. But you can also do a 3-day VBS, or a weekend VBS, or even a one-day VBS!

You’ll need a place to hold your VBS program as well–ideally with at least one large indoor room, and somewhere to do active games and activities (either indoor or outdoor). However, you CAN also adapt your program to suit your facility, if needed. Most churches will use their own building, but other options are a community center, a park, or even someone’s garage and backyard. Personally, I’ve used all of these! They all worked just fine.

As soon as you have the location and the date pinned down, print out posters or invitations, post on social media, and start getting the word out!

3) Choose a Theme (& Order Any Materials You’ll Need)

Themes are what make VBS so much fun!

If you have the funds, you can take the easy route and get one of the big-box curriculums. Answers in Genesis, Group Publishing, and Regular Baptist Press are all popular sources for these. I do highly recommend Answers in Genesis; their materials are always very biblically solid. That said, they usually quickly sell out of the core items for each year’s VBS theme–especially the supplementary materials, which means you lose a lot of the ease and convenience of a boxed VBS curriculum. Since you’ll have to source many of your own materials anyway, you can cut costs by choosing the digital curriculum rather than the printed–or maybe even choose a curriculum from a previous year, as those are usually discounted.

Alternatively, take a look at the curriculums I offer! My husband tells me regularly that I charge too little for my curriculums, but I know so many folks are struggling to make ends meet, and yet also trying to fund your children’s ministry out of your own tight budget, and I just can’t bring myself to raise the prices. So you can get an entire Bible curriculum (including a lesson guide, a student workbook, a crafts manual, a games manual, and a coloring book) for less than $70 from me. I don’t know anywhere else you can get a full curriculum for that kind of price. I have curriculums on the Fruit of the Spirit, the Armor of God, the book of Acts, and more.

My best recommendation for a last-minute VBS theme is to keep it as simple and easy as possible. Don’t get hung up on the fancy-schmancy stuff that the big box curriculums make such a big deal over.

The most important thing you need is solid biblical lessons. Beyond that, you can improvise and make do with really basic materials. For example, last year we decorated almost exclusively with inexpensive plastic tablecloths from the dollar store–and I thought it still looked fantastic! You can even take shortcuts, like ordering full craft kits from Oriental Trading for just a few cents per craft, to keep things extra simple. You should receive things ordered online in about a week’s time, but the sooner you can get your order in, the better.

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And there you have it–3 simple, straight-forward steps to plan a successful last-minute VBS program this summer:

1. Gather volunteers
2. Decide on a date, time, and place (& begin promotion)
3. Choose a theme (and order any materials you’ll need)

Finally, don’t forget to pray and seek the Lord’s guidance at each step along the way.

And have fun “passing the faith along” to your kiddoes this summer!