VBS Decorations on a Budget: Creative ideas for a Memorable VBS Environment
Are you the Director of a Vacation Bible School on a strict decorating budget? Are you possibly a teacher with limited resources, needing to revamp a Sunday School classroom for a week of VBS? I’m here to give you tips/tricks and ideas that make it possible to create a memorable VBS environment that students will cherish as a core memory that they can look back on.
I have a passion for Vacation Bible School and was raised in an ABA church that made Vacation Bible School a special core memory for me. As a kid, I remember the elaborate decorations that seemed to bring the theme of VBS to life. I was blessed to be a part of a church who had many resources/supplies that allowed our volunteers to go all out on decorations and create a fun filled environment that tied to Bible stories that we were going to learn about.
However, the topic that I would like to elaborate on today is that sometimes we have limited resources whether that is supplies, materials or simply money to spend. This past VBS theme (2023), was about Jesus and their need for Him to rescue them. My goal in every Vacation Bible School is to have an area decorated with just the stories for each day. I want the students to be able to see each day’s lesson in one large area that brings the lessons to life. One inexpensive way to create this type of environment is to get large sheets of cardboard, some acrylic paint, paint brushes, and images that tell the Bible stories. Cardboard is usually something that all individuals can get their hands on rather quickly, as well as it provides a way to create a big display of something. I have provided some pictures below as visuals. Each year, our church would strictly buy the director kit from Bogard Press that went along with that year’s VBS. In the kit, they provided transparencies. However, this year they provided a digital format of scenes and images that you could use to decorate with. I enjoy projecting the images onto a wall using an overhead, or some type of projector. If you did not have one of these items to be able to project, you could always ask your church members if there was anyone who could draw. You might be surprised on who God has given that talent to within your church. After projecting the images on the wall, I would lean the cardboard up against the wall and trace the images onto the cardboard. Next, I would paint the cardboard to make them vibrant. This is a very inexpensive way to create large decorations for your VBS at little to no cost.
In years past, after creating these scenes, I would save the cardboard and reuse them during Sunday School lessons, other VBS years and my favorite thing to do is donate them to another church who could use them for their week of VBS. Cardboard is very inexpensive and easy to store in a closet and/or room within your church for future use.
Every year, I decorate a large room (usually the fellowship hall) that tells about our theme for VBS. One year, it was a Jungle River Theme (2018). In our fellowship hall, I decorated using our flat bottom boat, cardboard images that were hand painted and created (using Bogard Press transparencies) as well as stuffed animals to bring the theme to life. This is a very inexpensive way to decorate, by asking your church members to bring household items or objects that can bring the scene to life, without having to purchase a lot of decorations that you simply hang up and use for one week. The same year, I used cream colored drop cloth from Home Depot that allowed me to paint the scenes of the Bible stories. I used the drop cloth due to it being cheap and a great way to store and reuse at a later time. In the picture below, you can see that the backgrounds of each scene are painted on cloth, as well as cardboard people used in a 3D way to bring the stories to life. If you have individuals in your church families who love to draw, trace or paint, this is the way to go, when creating a fun environment on a low budget.
I encourage you to reach out to your church family and ask for the props that would enhance each year’s theme by borrowing them to create scenes. As well as, recruit individuals who take an interest in drawing/painting. Cardboard can be inexpensive and something easy to ask church members to donate large pieces in order to create characters out of.
God has blessed me with a creative side as well as the ability to draw and paint. Although it may seem like a lot of work, time and dedication which it is. However, on a low budget, you can create something quite large that the students will remember for a lifetime.
With Love,
Makayla Lindsey