I am hoping to get some advice from ya'll about this program. I come from a a very small parish that has had very little in the way of children's ministry. We've had a kind of bare minimum Sunday school program, but other than that, nothing. When I first started at this parish, most of the members were older, and there were very few families with children. However, in the past few years, we have had more families coming, and I am working hard to add some children and youth ministry to our parish. My husband and I are working on having the first ever VBS this summer, and we are hoping for 15-20 kids, maybe more if we can draw in some kids from other churches or around town.

So, because this is a new concept, and we haven't figured out our budget (because it will all depend on the donations we get, and then how much the church itself is willing to cover after that), we need to begin this process with a big focus on keeping this program affordable and appropriate for our small church. We already have the starter kit, but I still think we are both overwhelmed with the task ahead. And as people who never went to VBS as kids, we have no personal experiences to draw from.

What tips do you have for scaling this program for a small group? What are your shortcuts, money-saving ideas and other ways we can make this first endeavor financially manageable? What is absolutely necessary, and what isn't? Any common first-timer mistakes? Any big lessons you learned in your program? What do you think are the biggest keys to success?

I appreciate any advice you could share!

Saving $$ - I would do without the student books, buy the shrinky buddies (in the outlet) and focus on putting on a quality program while the kids are there. 

Find INEXPENSIVE alternate crafts (like making your own bouncy balls from glue, borax and cornstarch for pennies per kid).

Mistakes - Don't underestimate the need for training everyone, especially crew leaders.  It's vitally important they understand what's going on.  I thought that because we were a smaller church I could get by without that.  BIG MISTAKE since it was their first time using Group.  (not mine... I knew what I was doing so they should too, right?  WRONG!  LOL)

Advice - Watch the DVD in the starter kit and read the director's manual cover to cover.

PRAY for God to show you ideas and send people your way who can help.  HANG ONTO THESE VERSES:

Luke 10 2He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

Remember always that this is a ministry and an outreach.  It's a great chance for the kids to learn, but also for the adults to work together and have fun, PLUS a great opportunity to have a "WIN" for the church to help get them excited about other outreach/mission/ministry events to happen!

Don't order the books.  We use a lot of teens that are needing volunteer hours for public school, confirmation.  We started out small and now we are expecting 170 this year.  Training for your teens and station leaders is vital.  They have to know the mission, music, how to be a crew leader, help decorate.  We couldn't do a VBS without them.  We have 5 mornings of training and decoration prep before.  We always learn the songs and use the DVD Music.  You can use this DVD over and over during the year.  It is worth the money.  They decorate, clean, help station leaders, crew leaders, handle all the technical stuff.  This is a great resource.  We had trouble in the beginning getting enough but it paid off.  A secret about training.  Teens can be so coool that they may not want to sing and do the actions for the songs.  What I did in the first few years was to continually play the same song over and over again until all were participating.  I have no trouble now, the teens all know what to expect. 

A few other money saving tips are using similar crafts from other places. 

I hope this helps!  Good luck!