Check out these ideas for all-club special events with parents

Special events are a great way for your club to connect with club members’ parents. Unchurched parents may get their foot in the door of the church, and church parents may see how fun club is and want to volunteer.

Here are some possibilities for this winter and spring.

Winter

Backyard Skating. An older man in one church flooded part of his backyard every year for the neighborhood kids, and the Pioneer Clubs kids got to take part. You could also go to a local pond or even a skating rink. Invite parents or whole families. If you’re outdoors, try a bonfire and wiener roast to top things off.

Indoor Snow Sculptures. Cover tables with plastic tablecloths, scoop piles of snow and bring them inside. You could put them right on the table or in dishpans. Make snow sculptures and vote for various prizes for each other.

Outdoor Snow Sculptures. Use wood screens, wire mesh or anything else to build a support structure for the sculpture (so you won’t have to use as much snow). Pack snow on and around the support structure until you’ve got the basic shape of the sculpture. Carve the snow to get the desired form. If you accidentally carve away too much, just pack more snow onto that area and carve again. If snow doesn’t pack well, try wetting it a little with a spray bottle with a fine mist spray. Color your sculpture with food coloring or watercolors.

Winter Camp. This could be just one day or a weekend. Activity ideas:

  • Outdoor games. Snow sculptures, touch or flag football, nature or hiking games from Games Galore (to purchase visit our online store).
  • Indoor games. Basketball, volleyball, pingpong, noncompetitive games from Games Galore (to purchase visit our online store).
  • Hayride, sledding, tubing, ice-skating.
  • Speaker. Invite a speaker to challenge the kids.
  • Bonfire. An indoor fireplace would work, but a huge outdoor bonfire would be more fun.

Cookie Party. Decorate cookies. Have a decorating contest with a twist: Get parents or other good sports to be the “cookies.” Give them goggles and let kids decorate their faces with frosting and candies. Give everyone a prize, such as Sweetest Face, Most Likely to Cause Cavities, and so on.

Bike Hike. In warmer climates, how about a winter bike ride? Make a list of things for bikers to try to spot along the way: mailbox shaped like a bird, purple house, stop sign with spray paint on it, and so on.

Spring

Thank-You to Firefighters. One club presented a huge thank-you card to the volunteer fire department. The local newspaper picked up the story, complete with a photo. See if you can get a tour of the fire station and fire trucks at the same time.

“Cans” Film Festival. A club in Maryland chose a Christian video and charged an admission “fee” of canned goods and other staples for the local food pantry. They asked for snacks from local businesses and were surprised at how easy it was to get them. A snack shop helped with popcorn, and McDonald’s supplied orange drink and a cooler.

Gobs of Games. Have a parent-child game event. One club’s favorite game at a Father Fling was to blindfold dad-child pairs and have the kids try to feed the dads ice cream. Look for other games that would work for adults and kids in Games Galore (to purchase visit our online store) and Funtastic Games (to purchase visit our online store), like “Singing Syllables,” “Unrace,” “People Zoo.”

Museum Visit. Try a children’s museum or a hands-on science museum. Having the parents along makes for built-in chaperones.