Keep having fun and learning after VBS! Use the Big Fish Bay postcards to invite students and families back to your church for a Big Fish Bay family fun fair. And when you visit students for follow-up, invite the family to the fair.
Set up booths in your church’s classrooms, gym, or family life center. Here are ideas for booths:
Meet and greet. Have a booth or area for meeting and greeting your visitors. Introduce families to your pastor or pastoral staff, Bible study leaders (especially those who lead home Bible studies in neighborhoods), Sunday School teachers, other children’s ministry leaders, small group leaders or hosts, adult ministry leaders, and the secretary or other person they’re likely to talk to if they call the church.
Tall Ship Treats Café. Set up a café style area with a few small tables and chairs, if possible. Serve Big Fish Bay snacks and beverages (ideas available in the Director Guide and in the decorating CD in the Director Resource CD Set). Use Big Fish Bay serving products for serving these treats. Consider putting this booth next to the Meet and Greet booth so people can mingle while they snack.
Photo booths. Set up the photo booth you used in VBS and add new settings. Let families take their own photos, or have a photographer, laptop, and printer set up for taking and printing free photos to give to families.
Optional: Print a photo and place it in an envelope labeled with the family name. Also insert information about your church and a gospel tract. Families can pick up their envelopes sometime during the fair or as they leave. If they fail to pick up their envelope, even better. Now you have another reason to drop by their home! (Use the registration cards from VBS to know where to go.)
Game booths. Set up booths for different age groups. (If you’re using classrooms, use the same classrooms per age group that you used in VBS. Kids will feel comfortable returning to the classroom they used during VBS.) The Director Guide and director resource CD in the Director Resource CD Set have ideas for pre-primaries through youth. Ideas for twos and threes—be sure not to overlook this age group—are available in the 2s & 3s teacher book.
Music booth. Your auditorium could be this “booth.” Or set up a booth with a DVD/CD player and screen or empty wall, one of the Big Fish Bay music CDs or the Worship DVD, and a few rows of chairs. Visitors can pop in and out of this fun booth, where they can sing the VBS songs. Also invite students who attended VBS to help the MC quote the Scripture verses they learned in VBS. By this time, many students will have forgotten the verses, so this is a great way to reinforce their learning!
Gospel booth. Provide chairs for guests. Invite a Christian illusionist, chalk artist, or other gifted person to present the gospel in a brief presentation. Or present the gospel using the Big Fish Bay salvation poster. Have someone available to answer questions or counsel individuals.
At the exit, present each family with a bag of goodies and information. Bags could include Big Fish Bay family fun sheets, church information, church pens, gospel tracts, any leftover VBS novelties, and an invitation to your next Big Fish Bay family event.
This is part 2 in the five-part series Make Big Fish Bay a Favorite Summer Vacation Spot. Look for part 3, “Puppet Matinee!” Also read part 1, “Summer Days in Big Fish Bay.”
