Hey Stacy in Northport.  I am in North Birmingham.  I wish I would have met you sooner and I would have been glad to have you stop by for a night of our Power Lab too see what was going on.

As for tips...make sure you have a team of people to help with the decorating other wise you will wear yourself out.  ORganizing?  HMmm...the key to life it seems.  I do lack some in that department in my house right now, but for VBS felt I did pretty well.  I got one of those crates that you hang file folders from at Walmart.  That helped me tremendously to be able to file papers and I had plenty of space left over to just put things that people handed me or that I needed to make sure I had, like my Sing and Play manual, FFF manuals and directors manual of course!  Being on top of updates is helpful too.  Also just making sure you have good reliable people for your stations will go a long way in releaving your stress levels. Knowing that your station leaders can handle things when you give them their book and supplies if you need to, is a great stress relief. 

Communictation with your workers I think is key to a successful VBS.  If you send out updates, talk with your people, let them know you are available...that goes a long way in them being able to overlook gliches and helps them to be more flexible too.

You'll do great!!! It's a lot of tiring fun, but so worth it.  Email me if you havn't yet received the daily take home sheets as well!

Reeny, I have not used the closing production skit...but I did add my own stuff in to suit our needs.  Our closing lasted about 45 minutes, so you should be OK.  Also, on the last night I don't think anyone will object to ending a little late.  Ecspecially since you are ending at 8:30.  We end at 9:00 and still went over on the last night. I think people just expect that.  We did all the nights of spotlight drama on the last night so parents could see it and did lots of song and a little skit with Professor Wilma.  We crammed a lot in.

I don't know what your plan is as far as giving out certificates, but if you can skip that it will help tremendously on your time.  We had goodie bags with the certificates made up and had them in the pew for the crew leaders to hand out at the appropriate time.  You will save a lot of time there if you are worried about the time.

I'd be glad to answer any other questions.  You'll do great!  Power Lab is a fun VBS and one that everyone will really get into!

I don't think it really matters too much.  The night before or the day of would be fine.  Just have towels

Thanks for any help!

Coreen in Iowa

I think the recipe provided will fill the tub that you are supposed to use and will work for an indefinite number of kids.  And yes, I would cover it over night and then stir again when your ready to use.

Hope that helps!

We did do spotlight drama, but we did it all on the last night.  This was for 2 reasons...

1- it gave the ladies doing the pictures more time to get the shots they needed and to edit them fully.

2- it gave the parents an oppurtunity to see a full weeks overview on the last night.

We did project it onto our screen as a Power point presentation, and did not have any technical problems. 

The key to a succesful Spotlight Drama in my opinion is having 2 people working on it.  You need one to take the pictures and one to get the kids posed up as they need to be.  This helps it run quickly and smoothly and the kids don't have to miss out on much while they are doing it.  Plus if it is running smoothly the kids are having a great time while they are posing.

Hope it works out for you.  As a director, I really enjoyed seeing the finished product at the end of the week.