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| |  Posted 2/29/2008 6:26:42 PM | |
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| We spend about $30 per person (that means kids & staff). We do pretty much everything as far as group crafts, books, and buddies. Each family that registers gets a free music cd and each staff person gets a free tshirt as their thank you gift. We also provide dinner so we get some of that money back because they pay a few bucks per person per meal. It is a huge amount of money in total but most of it is raised through monetary donations and items that are purchased like meals and kid shirts. I must say that God has really blessed us because I don't need to work real hard to raise the money. But I will add that it took several years to get to this point. We've certainly had several years where we did it for a fraction of that cost by using alternate crafts and skipping some things so don't be intimidated. Start with whatever you have, cast a great vision, provide the best program you can with what you have and let God take care of the rest. He will do it!
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| | | Posted 2/29/2008 7:36:23 PM | |
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| | Mindy, you are SO right! I was just thinking of things that you would order from Group! Snacks can be a HUGE expense. I also didn't include things like costs for supplies for Bible Adventure or the other stations. Most of the time, our leaders purchase those themselves and just sort of donate things! But I think that a very fair estimate per child is in the $15 range to be generous. And again, I've done it for MUCH cheaper than that! But we didn't have the buddies or most anything else. We did all alternate crafts and little or no decorating.
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| | | Posted 2/29/2008 8:16:34 PM | |
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| | I was thinking about snacks too. Since we have an evening VBS we also feed them dinner along with the Cute Group snack. So we allow $500 just for that area. I think last year we spent around $450 on food alone. In years past we have been able to get some stuff donated from Taco Bell, Chic-fil-A etc...but when you live in the Bible belt, stuff like that gets tapped out fast. I have to confess that comparitavly we have a really good budget. I didn't realize that until now. But I still don't feel like I go all out and I haven't been able to order everything. (Although Group did just receive $300 of our Money and I got my order in today!) But I still have a lot of ordering to go as well! All that to say...Sit down and figure out your necesities, the resources you have at your disposal, and your estimated amount of kids, then just start tallying. I think if every director is honest with themselves, more money is spent than we think, because we tend to pick up stuff here and there and don't count it in the grand total.
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| | | Posted 2/29/2008 8:24:35 PM | |
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| | For us to do the snacks in the curriculum for 75 kids, it equals $80-$100. As for crafts, we don't do any that are suggested and if we do...we make them ourselves as similarly as possible. It is just too expensive and that is one part we can cut corners on. As I said, we have bypassed the books in the past, but this year we are going to try to shoot for them!
 ~Misty from Indiana
Non-conformist!! Romans 12:2  Lord, keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth!
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| | | Posted 2/29/2008 8:27:38 PM | |
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| | I have $500.00 to spend on VBS for about 30 kids. I don't think we will be doing very many of the crafts from Group because like others have said it is a good way to cut corners and since our VBS kids are 3-6 years old most of the crafts will be way to hard for them. (We offer VBS as a summer program for kids 3-6 while kids 7-17 use Totus Tuus.) I think decorations are important espically for the HolyLand Series because kids need to understand they are in a different city I think it plays into the program majorly. I also think the more student items you can get the better. All the little extras as gifts for the kids are fun and I think it is something that kids will use to remember VBS. I plan to spend about $10.00 per child this year. God Bless, Matt
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| | | Posted 3/3/2008 11:29:51 AM | |
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| We live in a small community and our budget just got cut this year because of a church finance loss last year. I have spent $2200+ in the past for 160 kids plus workers. Most things are donated the expensive pieces are the t shirts for volunteers and books. We are lucky to have a talented lady to do crafts and she comes up with her own crafts that don't cost as much. This year we are raising money and if you do a community wide VBS like we do have other churches help out with this. We are doing a Sloppy joe feed. Get your church committee groups to help and it is not as much trouble as it could be. I think tshirts are important for the volunteers to show our appreciation for their hard work.  |
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| | | Posted 3/3/2008 12:18:42 PM | |
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| Hello,
We have a generous $2,000 budget for VBS but we see almost 200 kids every summer.
One way we cut costs is to charge the children and families. When you think of a summer camp, day care or other programs - there is a fee. At first I was not thrilled with the idea, but we are able to put together a fantastic program because we collect from the attendees.
Cost Savers:
1. If you charge at least $10 per child you will be able to offer so much more.
2. Food & Craft Donations - get organized VERY early. Whether you use the group ideas or make up your own put together a poster or table that lists all the items you need. Ask your congregation to donate some of the items. (Last year I only spent $150 on food items for 250 people total.)
3. Buy reusable items that can be used over and over again each year.
4. Pray for the perfect fits in your leaders. You can't get it all done on your own. Pray that the decoration leader is creative and thrifty.
Have fun!
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6 |
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| | | Posted 3/4/2008 6:49:29 PM | |
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| | We have a budget of $800. However, all of our snacks, items needed and decoration ideas items are donated. I set up a sign up list in our narthex and ask the congregation to bring in items that they are willing to donate. All non-perishables will be posted in about 2 weeks. All perishable items are posted about 3 weeks before VBS and we ask them to be brought in the week before. I also have been known to go to businesses for donations. We have a very large goal this year of 250 children. The church is allowing us to put a mass mailing this year on the operating expenses of the church. We plan to have about 1,500 postcards go out to our area. Also, all of my registration is pre-registration required. All is either on-line through our website or phone in. we don't have the manpower to have people at a registration table. We will need everyone with the kids. I really haven't figured how much per child because so much is donated.
Nancy |
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