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Last Login: 7/19/2008 9:53:28 PM
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| We hope to spend around $450. Our VBS will have about 75 kids.
How much money do you think you'll be spending when it's all said and done? How many kids do you expect?
Thanks!
 James in PA
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Last Login: 6/30/2008 12:36:13 AM
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| We spend about $1500 for 50 kids. Two big budget items are colored t-shirts for the kids. One color per rotation group. That way, when the kids are rotating, a glance at a kid's t-shirt tells you where the kids belong. The kids LOVE wearing their t-shirts during the week. Also, we usually do a t-shirt craft late in the week where the kids decorate their t-shirts. By Thursday or Friday things are going so smoothly that the shirts are superfluous. Kids can be amazingly bold about decorating their t-shirts to declare their love for Christ.
The other big budget item is the music CD's. We give one free to each family that has kids attending. The kids love the music and listen to it at home. With all the negative music and tv shows out there, we feel very strongly about placing Christ-centered music in kids' homes.
We don't usually do the Bible books or buddies because we don't think we get as big a bang for our buck as we do with the music CD's. However, the buddies are so cool this year, that we might get them. You can bring the cost of the CD's (and other Group items) way down by ordering 100 from certain retailers and then returning the extras. You still get the 100+ price.
Pray about your budget and then talk to your pastor. The first year we did VBS the budget was supposed to be about $100. But I made a budget, and talked to my pastor explaining why I wanted certain items and got everything I asked for - and I go to a middle income blue-collar church. Also, we don't charge kids for attendance - we don't want anything to hinder our preaching the Gospel to kids.
Christi |
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| Last year we spent around $400 and raised it all on our own. This year we are hoping to stretch to $700 just so we can get the student books and a few other things. We have 55-75 kids.
 ~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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Last Login: 9/26/2008 6:13:53 PM
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| | We are blessed to have a congregation that totally supports of VBS ministry and budgets for it. This year we have a $4,000 budget for about 250 children, ages 3 to grade 5!! Praise God! We give each family a free CD of the music when they register. That way the kids are familiar with the music and are very prepared for VBS week. Many parents comment that it runs continually in their van and any extras I have we hand out to new families during the year as we use the VBS music in our Sunday School music time ALOT!! I do get requests to replace the previous years CD because it's "worn out"!! What a great thing to have happen!! We do this instead of the Buddies -- it seems to be a more effective use of money and the kids seem to enjoy the music more. We also buy the books - 1 per student - it's something we think the kids need to go home with so Mom & Dad can see what they've done -- perhaps Mom & Dad need an outreach too, so that can open a door for them. Sometimes the simpleness of a children's page can bring Mom & Dad back to a church. The rest is spent on crafts and decorating and publicity. We try the get the best bang for our buck in everything we do as with any other VBS program. Huskermom Kathy |
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Last Login: 9/14/2008 9:16:54 PM
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| | I'm curious about those of you that replied. Do you purchase all of the crafts and books? I was thinking about a much larger budget (which is due in April), but being my first time, wasn't quite sure what I'm getting in to. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks! Kate
Kate Radford
Children's Ministry Coordiator
Carmichael, CA 
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| I just did a little Excel tally. These numbers are for all of Group's most expensive options:| $ 3.49 | Memory buddies | | $ 3.09 | Book | | $ 5.99 | Music CD | | $ 2.00 | Operation K2K ball (1/5 of cost!) | | $ 0.60 | 1/25 of Cinema Science Kit | | $ 1.50 | Day 1 Craft | | $ 0.69 | Day 2 Craft | | $ 1.00 | Day 3 Craft | | $ 1.20 | Day 4 Craft | | $ 0.49 | Day 5 Craft | | | | $ 20.05 | Per child (most expensive options on everything above) | | | | | | | | | | | | $ 129.99 | Kit | | $ 19.99 | Chadder DVD | | $ 35.99 | Challenge Beaker | | $ 19.99 | Sing & Play DVD | | | | $ 205.96 | Program Costs |
So a very quick calculation tells me about $20 per child plus about $200 for the program. Decorating is so individual that I couldn't begin to calculate that one. This doesn't include promo posters or anything like that. Of course, there are cheaper crafts, CDs and buddies can be less expensive if ordered in bulk, etc. I wanted to come back and add that this is the MOST you might spend (well, I could have added a Tshirt!). This is NOT what we spend! Oh my, no. I've done Group's VBS for as little as $150 (with a free kit because I'm a Resource Advisor for Group) and for a WHOLE lot more than that. I usually try to budget $10-15 per child for the whole shebang! We have 200+ kids at our community VBS and we spend approximately $2500.
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| | I am very blessed with a budget of $2500 for roughly 80 kids. I can do the program as written with all the crafts from Group, the books, the buddies, and we give a CD to each family that registers. My crew and site leaders all get shirts and this year the site leaders will have lab coats. |
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| |  Posted 2/29/2008 3:49:45 PM | |
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