1. HOT DOG SUNDAY: Do you need a promotion that appeals to kids both young and old? Try a HOT DOG SUNDAY! The rule is simple–everyone that comes to Sunday School on a given Sunday receives a free hot dog. Promote for at least three weeks before the big day of Hot Dog Sunday. The kids won’t forget! Have the hot dogs individually wrapped and placed in an insulated container. Give to riders as they get off of the bus. (Hot Dog Sunday has been used in the winter–for summer use ice cream bars)
2. KITE SUNDAY: Everyone who comes for three weeks receives a kite. If they bring a visitor they receive a ball of string. Show the kite to the kids every week and promote the excitement of flying the kite. Have the bus captains show off a kite on their route and have promotional flyers
advertising the church and the kite.
3. FISHING WELL: Cut out a well configuration from a tall refrigerator packing box. Cover with a stone design contact-paper or paint with Tempera paint. Label the enclosure around the well opening with a sign “Fishing Well”. Purchase a large volume of prize items from M. K. Brody & Co. Inc., 1103-09 W. Randolph St., Chicago, Ill. 60607 or any other novelty supplier. Wrap the gifts separately in tissue paper and label the gifts for either “boy” or “girl”. Have someone (preferably a smaller individual] sit inside the well with out being seen entering the enclosure! When small children fish at the well, the person inside attaches the appropriate gift and yanks the fish line to simulate a “bite”. Children and young people
are allowed to fish one time for each new person brought to Sunday School. More than one chance to fish may be granted to someone bringing their parents or other adults.
4. CANDY STORE: Build a candy store by attaching upright supports for an overhead awning above a small table or specially built stand. The awning above the candy-store counter (the table top) as well as the enclosing skirting around the legs may be made from corrugated construction paper.
Candy displays using boxes and jars may be set up on the candy counter. An attendant dressed in typical candy-store garb waits on the customers and may even have a play cash register to ring up sales. Play money is awarded to those who bring friends according to the following rules: Each friend under 12 (first time or repeat)– $1.00; Each person 12 through 16–$5.00; Each person over 16–$10.00. Face value of play currency and also prices on items in store may be altered to fit ones Sunday School budget. Children may spend their “earnings” the same day as they bring their friends or may save up for a larger, more expensive treat such as a large 12″ lollipop!
5. PENNY JAR: One grab in the “Pentecostal Penny Jar” for each first time visitor brought. To add extra excitement, sprinkle quarters, dimes and nickels within the jar also. If they bring mom and / or dad, they get two grabs. Many variations of this promotion can be make, but it is always popular.
6. THE SULTRY SUMMER SAGA OF SAMUEL S. SLUMP: Make up a dummy of an old shirt and bib over alls. Make the head out of a decorated burlap bag and pin on an old hat. Fill the dummy with many small balloons. Suspend ole’ Sam from a gallows (constructed from wood) but leave the rope loose
enough to allow him to slouch down on a chair. Run “Summer Slump” promotion for four (4) Sundays, each Sunday tightening the rope more. On the fourth Sunday, ole’ Sam Slump gets hung. Sunday School Supt. acts as the judge, Pastor plays the part of a circuit riding preacher. Pupil with the most accumulated points pulls the rope and hangs Sam. The next four highest point holders get to poke Sam Slump with needled ended sticks and collapse balloons until dummy is completely deflated. Begin the promotion by presenting the “Summer Saga” on how Sam Slump has tempted church goers with substitutes for the dead, dry services they have been accustomed to.
Also relate how some churches close doors for the summer months. Then declare that this promotion will do away with Sam Slump and the summer spell will be overcome by increased Sunday School attendance instead of the usual slump. Individual church discretion to be used in the assigning
of points.
(The above material was published by the Wisconsin Sunday School Department in Beloit, WI.)
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