End your club year in style with an End-of-Year Celebration. Include recognizing club members and leaders along with the fun. Invite parents and Pals*. Mix and match the following ideas, or think up your own.

Theme Ideas

Bananas over you.

Banana Split. Construct a giant banana split in a new, clean rain gutter. If you think there’s still an “eww” factor, set each guest’s ice cream in a small container before putting it in the rain gutter. Let everyone top their own ice cream.

Dress a Banana. Bring supplies for pairs or small groups to creatively “dress” a banana.

Banana awards. Hand out bananas with notes attached that say, “We’re bananas over you--_____________” and insert a positive quality or a positive action the club member or leader has done this year.

Rubber ducky, you’re the one.

Ducks. Buy graduation rubber duckies online. (Read the fine print to make sure they’re the kind that will float.) If you’re near a small river, let kids put their initials on the bottoms. Have someone dump the ducks in the river upstream from your celebration location. See which ones make it to the finish line first, second, third, and so on. Or play a duck pond game with the duckies in a wading pool or tubs of water. Mark numbers on the bottoms. Players choose a duck and get a prize based on the number.

Other games. Add a few other picnic-type games. Or check Games Galore or Funtastic Games for water games.

Ice Breakers for Guests

Fun sheets. Start off your celebration by handing out Fun Sheets that guests can use to get acquainted.

70th anniversary. Download word search games if you haven’t used them already this year.

Recognition for Club Members Being Promoted

For club members who are moving from one age level to the next, do something extra to make it special.

New outfits. If you have different club outfits for each age-group, have club members being promoted come up one by one and shake the hand of their new leader, who hands them their new club outfit.

Mortarboards. Buy inexpensive cardboard mortarboards at an online novelty shop. Have all children being promoted wear them and come to the front as a group. Have your pastor speak a word of blessing over them. Then they flip their tassels to the other side of their caps.

Promotion certificates. Give promotion certificates, from the Clip Art CD. Roll them up and tie them with black ribbon like a graduation scroll. “When you make it a big deal, then it really has meaning for the kids who are being promoted,” said one coordinator.

Crests. Give club members the club crest for the next age-group.

Recognition for Club Members Staying in the Same Age-Group

Participation certificates. Hand these out, from the Clip Art CD.

Special Honor Certificates. These have a space to fill in something you appreciate about the recipient. Find them in the Promoting Your Pioneer Clubs Program book.

Recognition for Leaders and Pals

Look for ideas in the “Help Club Members Thank Their Leaders” and “Appreciation Events for Club Leaders” articles. Some leader-appreciation ideas for leaders will work just fine for Pals, too.

Whatever ideas you choose, you can make this a time for club members and leaders to really feel good about having been in Pioneer Clubs this year.

*Pioneer Clubs Pals are adults from the church who are matched with club members for prayer and fellowship. For more information, see Making your Pal Program Work.