Lenten Goodie bags

 

We are hoping to be back in person on Easter, but our church is still holding virtual services right now.  So, I am working on Lenten bags to give to each of our families.  I thought I'd share items that I've found in case anyone else would like some ideas.  Please share yours in the comments for others to glean off of! :)  Thanks!

1.  Lenten devotional booklet.  Our 3rd-5th graders are meeting on zoom for Sunday school but we haven't had much success with our younger group - so I've been sending them stuff to do at home with their families.  I saw these online and thought they looked good for our prek-2nd grade group.  I was a little hesitant because I couldn't see exactly what was inside, but I'm very happy with them - the pics don't show the daily devos, just activity pages.  Fun little devos and activities for each day and some good holy week ideas for families.  They could actually be used with older children as well.

2.  Some fun activities from Oriental Trading.  Ever year I get some little sticker or scratch off activity from OT because I always find a use for them!  This year, I got some bracelets, scratch off lenten count down calendar, stickers, and a palm sunday sticker scene.  The calendars must be out of stock because they aren't coming up anymore.  But there are a LOT of other scratch off/sticker activities that kids love to do.  I also bought fake palm branches to use for Palm Sunday - but we will be in person or outside by then, so I am not including those in their goodie bags.

3. Alleluia Butterflies!  Illustrated ministries makes these and we did an activity with them years ago that was really fun!  I decided to include 3-4 in each bag this year, and include the idea of "burying" them and then "releasing them" on Easter! 

4.  Legos and a cross:  I found an idea at this site years ago and we did it in our prayer stations that year. I altered it for them to do it at home this year and bought the cheap legos from Target (dollar bins) and/or the Dollar tree.  For the younger kids, I went ahead and assembled a cross that they can build on.  I included instructions on the prayer in each bag.

5.  Egg decorating kit!  A few weeks after Easter, I always go to the store and buy egg decorating kits that are 75-90% off.  Usually they cost around $.25 :)  So, I had around 25 laying around that I could add to their goodie bag!

6.  Valentine's Day goodies:  Just for fun, since they'll be picking up their bags the beginning of February, I added in a little baggie of some Valentine's day silliness and candy :)  (I also go shopping after Valentine's day and get fun valentines that don't include candy, 75-90% for the next year - so I had tons!)

7.  Lastly, I threw in some personalized items for my older kids in the 4th/5th grade TNT group and a note to all the families talking about what I included and how they can use it.  Our TNT group made a 2021 Word cloud of words that we need to focus on this year.  I framed them and put them in the bag.  

If you are including anything else in your bag, let me know!!  As I mentioned, I am planning on being in person on Palm Sunday and Easter, so these bags are focused more on lent and not Holy week.  I'm praying I get to see my kids on Easter!!!  (even if it's socially distanced and with masks...I'll take it!)

Christmas eve Joy bags

 

I have felt some heartache this Christmas (every year...but this year 2020 especially), for those that will be shut in, quarantined, alone this Christmas Eve and Christmas.  It happens every year, but it will be much more prominent this year as many older people are having to stay in by themselves.  Many churches are doing online services, so Christmas Eve and Christmas day services will not be in person either.  So, for many people, there will be no personal interaction...which breaks my heart.  So, I wanted to do something for a few people I knew who would be alone.  I wanted to include some funny things, some useful things, some treats, activities and some inspiring Scripture and messages.  So, I went on pinterest and put all these things together and put them into a stocking.  Thank you to all the bloggers who have made these tags and printables - all of them free.  So, all you need to do is make a trip to the Dollar store and buy the items (total was $12 per stocking...including the stocking)!  The only things that I didn't get there was the puzzle (which I already had on hand) and the colored pencils - which I had leftover from the back-to-school sales at Walmart.  

Here are the things I included - but maybe you have stuff on hand already - and many of these (like kisses, candy canes, etc) come 8-10 to a pack.  

Buy a little sanitizer and attach this cute "santa-tizer" tag to it! thank you to "Main Event Prints" blog for the printable.

U-create Crafts made this great M&M printable using religious Christmas Story references.

This is one of my favorites.  This is a beautiful printable by Darling Doodles <3 

Chapstick!  Dollar tree had Christmas ones for $1 or other kinds 3 for $1. Fun for little ones made this cute tag.

The Legend of the Candy cane is a good printable or you can use this bookmark printable from My computer is my Canvas that explains the symbolism of the candy cane legend.

I found this idea at How Does She and made my own tag using fun fonts from fontmeme. 

I modified this tag because it was meant for a mixture of foods.  Because of COVID, people (especially our older friends) would prefer bagged items instead of prepared food.  So, I just cut off the bottom of the tag and only included bugles and pretzels. From Caramel Potatoes.

I love the Happy Home Fairy and she has the cutest free printables.  Including some corny jokes in the stocking would be great!

If you want to include a Hershey's chocolate bar (I ended up not doing this one because it was $5...but it's cute) here is a printable from Esty.  

Lastly, I wrote out a card with "Merry Kiss-mas" (which you could also print here from Etsy for $3 or elf kisses here) and included colored pencils and an inspiritional word search and coloring book from the Dollar store - saying "May your Christmas be inspirational and full of color" :)   

I put all of the items into a stocking from the Dollar store and I'm going to deliver them on the 22nd with a note attached that says, "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL CHRISTMAS EVE OR CHRISTMAS DAY" :) 

Merry Christmas and God bless!  May your Christmas be full of love, peace and joy...

  

The Church has Left the Building!!

Or, others have called it "Meet the Need" or "Matthew 25 Ministries" or Gone Servin'" or "Service Worship" or Vacation in God's Creation!".  Whatever you call it, the idea is the same...

This was the slogan we decided on :) 

On Sunday morning, you meet at the church for your worship service as normal.  After an abbreviated worship/Bible study (or after your normal worship service...you decide), those who are able leave the church to serve the community.  Those that are not able to go, can continue to worship, or there can be an alternative mission for them at the church.  As I have a passion for missions, I LOVE this idea of putting your faith into action.  It is something our church is considering for the summer months and so I asked other churches who have done it to give us some ideas.  They obliged!  So, here are some suggestions for the "Church has left the building" ministry!...If you try it, share with us what worked!

praying before we started

• Way to promote - give everyone a t-shirt, button or sticker to wear that has your slogan.  That way everyone in the group is recognized.  If you're going to a park or retirement center, etc this would be a great way to keep up with your group as well. One church made t-shirts that said "Gone Servin'...the church has left the building" :) 

  

  We had someone in our church donate shirts that had our church's name and #goneservin :) 

  
  

• So what are some things you can do when you go "out into the world"?...
• "Bag hunger" - give every group a plastic bag with a shopping list inside.  Go shopping for the things on your list then deliver them to wherever you are donating the food.  For those that need financial help, perhaps ask those that are staying behind if they would like to contribute $2-5 for those that are buying.  Include the $ in the bag for those that need assistance.
• Helping your own - are there elderly in your congregation that need some small repair at their house?  perhaps painting a deck, mowing their lawn, weeding, moving furniture out to throw away or donate, rake leaves, etc.  Divide up your congregation into work teams and go help.                                                   
• One thing we do at our church (Highland Presbyterian) is 10,000 meals - Stop Hunger Now.  It's a great intergenerational activity that, although it costs quite a bit to do, you can raise the money and they take care of all the organization.  This will be one of our projects this summer.
• Retirement home - go and sing, do crafts, play games and worship with a nearby retirement home.

• First responders - make goodie bags with homemade treats, bible verses, etc (go on pinterest and get ideas!) and deliver them to hospitals, fire stations, policemen, urgent care facilities, etc.  If you have multiple groups going, make cards ahead of time of places to go and give each group a card so that every place is covered and you don't have 5 groups go to the same place.

  

  dropping off a goodie basket at the police department across the street from our church

  
  
• Go to the mall and hand out waters and a small treat to the employees.  Meet at the food court for lunch! 
• neighboring schools!  During the summer when there are no students many times there are renovation projects going on.  Ask you county if any of the schools closest to you need help with simple projects like planting, mulching, painting, etc.  If there is enough space outside you could have a bag lunch picnic afterwards.

  

  we raked leaves at two of our local schools.  We also picked up trash and "chalked" them!

  
  
  
  
• parks - talk to you county as well about cleaning your local park(s) - picking up trash, mulching/planting, etc.  This would also be a great place to have a picnic bag lunch afterwards!

  

  cleaning up the park across the street from our church

  

  we also painted rocks with positive sayings and hid them around the park

  
  
• Mission trip provisions - if your church is going on an upcoming mission trip or if you sponsor mission workers that need supplies, put lists in the bulletin with supplies that are needed - these could be bought or found at homes or neighbor's homes (maybe like a scavenger hunt?).  If money is needed you could find a way to give to those that need it to buy their supplies.  If you had a fundraiser beforehand you could even give out money to everyone to buy the supplies. Go out and buy/collect supplies and then come back and pack them up.
• Check out this church that is currently doing this 4 times a year on the 5th Sunday.  Quote from their page, "Successful churches that provide Service Worship offer a wide variety of mission opportunities for all abilities. For example, some groups may write letters to people who are in care facilities or bake cookies on the church property for a shelter. Other groups may go to the home of a veteran who is deployed or disabled and do yard work or paint the walls at a church in need. The morning will start with a short service to bless the workers and send them on their way." http://www.faiththatworkstucson.org/service-worship
• Another organization that is doing this is called "workship".  Although I like what they are doing, I feel compelled to state that the danger of what they are doing is losing the spirituality of church.  Church isn't just action and providing for physical needs - there are many non-profits that do this.  The church also needs to fulfill the spiritual needs of its members.  That includes teaching the Bible - not just a 7 minute snippit of a social justice sermon.  However, you can definitely get some ideas from this group as to how to run your "the church has left the building".  http://www.workship.org/services-1

• Now here are some things to do back at the church...
• There will be people who are not able to go out with your groups or simply don't want to.  Make sure you have things for them to do back at the church so they feel included.
• One church had those that stayed back prepare sandwiches/lunch for the volunteers who were out doing missions.  When they return to the church they all eat together.
• Do your own Meals on Wheels type program.  Get a list of your shut-ins and/or those in your church that are sick.  Have the people at the church prepare meals (could be freezer meals that could be cooked or prepared hot meals) that could then be taken to the members.
• Card ministry - this is a neat idea.  Those at the church can write and address cards to those that are mourning, celebrating (birthday, anniversary, etc), that haven't been at church in a while, that are new - a welcome to the church card, etc.  Whatever they are going through, send a card :)
• Church beautification - this could be inside or outside - whatever needs to be done.  
• Make sandwiches for local homeless shelter.
• make door decorations or table centerpieces for any upcoming events
• make a treat for first responders

  

  goodie baskets for our local firefighters

  
  
• we have an afterschool program.  They could put together little welcome bags to our next group of kids that sign up.

• Figure out how you want yours to run - maybe every other week?  Every week for a month?  Will everyone come back to gather at the church to discuss what they did and what it meant to them?  Some of the activities above would be perfect for a picnic afterwards - everyone could take their own bag lunch - or the people back at the church could prepare them and someone could take them to the volunteers if they are at a park, school, etc.
• Maybe you could do the missions every other week and the weeks in between you could regroup and have someone speak about what they did - this would help both groups know what they others did.  Plus you could show pictures.  
• I think the idea behind this is wonderful.  Take our faith and belief in Jesus Christ and the Church and put it into action with our neighbors and community!

If you have any other ideas please share!  I would love to hear them :)  God bless!

Advent Angels

In the first church where I worked they did something called Advent angels. I don't think they came up with it - they probably got the idea from somewhere else, but I loved the idea so I've done it at every church I've worked at! The idea is for the children (and youth and adults!), to make four crafts-one for each week in advent. Then, each child is either assigned a shut-in or someone in the church who is sick or going through a hard time (or they may know of someone in need in their own neighborhood). During each week of advent, the children/families/adults deliver their gifts to their assigned person...BUT, the catch is, you can't let the person know who you are until the last week! :)  I can't tell you how much fun my kids had sneaking around, leaving gifts and running :)  And to see the gratitude on the faces of the recipients during the last week is priceless :)  Here are a few activities we've done in the past and a few we're going to do this year.
   In actuality, we try and use stuff around the church.  I am also a bargain shopper so I shop after Christmas and get things for the next year.  We don't have a large budget so creativity is key :)
  Also, you have to remember, we make them all at one time - and there are four to make...so they can't take long (and unless you have a lot of helpers, some of them need to be quite easy and self-explanatory).  I like to have one station a Christmas card station where they make a simple but neat card, that includes a little poem, to send on the first Sunday to explain what is going on (free printable).  I also assume that many of the people that we're sending our gifts to are stuck in their rooms or houses a lot.  So, for the four gifts, I try and make one an ornament, one a table decoration, one that includes food and then an extra one.

  So, here are some ideas to kick off your Advent Angels :)

I got some flower pots on sale at the end of  summer so I'm looking for a project with these...
I like the simple red pot with the black belt - might let them put some sequins on it to "bling" it up a bit :)  But what to fill it with?...

table decoration:  We did something similar one year.  This one is quite ornate and ours were not :)  We bought styrofoam trees (on sale :) and wrapped garland around them and hung small ornaments (from the dollar tree) on the garland.  It proved harder than I thought so I would suggest spray painting them all green beforehand and then decorating like the one above.

Christmas Card:  Cute idea for the front of the card - except you would obviously write "Merry Christmas" :)

Food:  We did this Rudolph water last year, in addition to our own
variation of the trail mix pictured as well.  I used plastic containers for
our mix.  The only problem I had was the nose falling off the water bottle - I think glue
dots is your best choice.

Ornament:  We have tons of little glass ornaments like these laying around so we might do this ornament this year.  It's pretty simple according to the "pin" (website is no longer functioning).  Just swirl Pledge floor cleaner inside to take away the static, then pour in glitter!  I hope it's that easy!

I got these advent calendars from oriental trading on sale one year.  Even my three year olds could do this with minimal help and they turned out quite cute.  I'm not a fan of "mass produced" crafts - but with so many to do, I end up doing about one per year.  Like this one - it turned out beautifully! 

Food:  This is always cute to do.  Red hots, what looks like an empty squished baggie (no link from pinterest), a baggie full of hot chocolate and mini-marshmallows!  and don't forget the googly eyes :-) not too hard...

This is pretty cute.  You could go many directions with a DIY advent calendar!

Ornament:  very cute.  I did this once with preschoolers and put their picture in it :)  I let them roll the cookie cutter in glitter as well - always better with glitter!  

How darn creative.  I love this - on SOOO many levels!!  I'm thinking, teacher gifts, when my husband goes off on trips, advent angels, you NAME it!  Pill cases like this are $1 but sometimes I see them on sale and sometimes in packs of  two.  I'm thinking, give this on the last week of advent so they can count down until Christmas - put Christmas related Bible verses in each day, maybe a Christmas joke or two, a few Christmas candies (wonder if hershey kisses would fit?) and a few notes from their little angel :)

I did this once with a group of preschoolers.  It's very quick and easy.  Let it dry and wrap it in a baggie.  You could tie a ribbon around it and slip it in a gift bag or goody bag.

Cute tag that you could attach to any gift...or you could include it in the card above :-)

Whatever you decide to make for your person, it will be appreciated!  I hope you participate in Advent Angels and have a very meaningful Advent season!  Make sure and remember those in need and suffering this Christmas season - it's such a happy time for most of us, but there are some that will be dreading the season.  Do something to make someone smile! :-)

In Christ,

Laurie