Cheap Vacation Bible School Ideas for VBS on a Small Budget

Vacation Bible School is a church-wide outreach program aimed at the community. You need several committed volunteers to make a great VBS that kids will look forward to annually. Unless your church produces its own Vacation Bible School Material you will need to search for a program that fits your targeted age group.

Avoid buying VBS Starter Kits because you can easily spend $150 -$200 and half the material is not useful to your particular church. You can make your budget go much further buying only the material you will use for you VBS program.

After selecting a VBS program the first thing you should is order one of each item you will use so that the volunteers can become familiar with it. Next buy or create your promotional material and work on getting kids registered for VBS. Registration is necessary so that the proper amount of student material can be ordered. Set a date that registration closes that is well in advance of the actual vacation Bible school date so that ordered materials will arrive on time.

Save money on crafts by coming up with your own to go with the theme. You can ask the people of your church to save, and bring in items. For example: baby formula cans make great planters, pen holders, or coin banks. Do you have someone in your church who is great with creating crafts? Ask for her help!

Even on a minimum budget plan on spending $10 per student, and up to $30 if you have a more flexible budget. Some churches choose to eat the cost of all materials while others may elect to charge upon registration either partial or full cost. You must decide what will work best for your church and your community.

Here is a list of some recommended vacation Bible school curriculum.