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Sep 25, 2007 - Tropical Ministry Fair |
 Recently my church had a ministry fair where all the ministries showcased their volunteer opportunities. The theme was a tropical theme: "Surf's Up! Dive In and Serve!"
Every ministry received a 10x10 tent and was asked to pick a theme that fit under the overall theme of tropical/beach/ocean. It was really wonderful to see how everyone used their creative skills to put together outstanding booths!
One ministry went with the Castaways theme. They used silk plants, sand, and handmade signage to create a tropical atmosphere. I thought the FedEx boxes were a great touch!
Another group did an underwater theme. They created large seaweed out of cut styrofoam painted green. Gauzy fabric was strung between the seeweed, creating a nice underwater feel when the breeze blew it around. In the back you can see the dolphin fountain they brought in. For giveaways, they had little bottles of water which they hand-wrapped with labels. Now that's a lot of work!
Some leaders that had multiple ministries had larger tents. This one was a 10x20 tent. It had a beach theme, complete with towels, hanging grass skirts and surfboards. Their sign said "Love to Serve" in sand with surf boards spelling out "Serve."
One outstanding group used a coast guard theme, tying in their role of saving people's lives with the role of the coast guard. The large life preserver on the left was purchased from Stumps, but they were super creative in their ideas and decor. It's a little hard to see but the background of the tent was a large banner of a coast guard ship. On the right was a first aid dummy, dressed in the uniforms the staff wore. At the base, blue flowing fabric was draped to represent water. Hats off to their creativity!
My team, the events team, went for a pirate theme. Our sign was a large, hand painted sign with burned edges to look like a treasure map. Everyone got into costume and it just so happened we all went with the red/brown/black theme even though none of us planned it!
We tried to be cheap with decor elements while making them look good. This was a blank chest purchased at Michaels. We nailed in decorative studs. The bottom of the chest had green floral foam that was covered with fake gold coins, jewels and a cute little pirate duck. We even spray painted common items gold (like a horseshoe). One of the more creative items was a gold-painted computer keyboard which was tucked into a large treasure chest. It was placed on a table, with netting hung around it.
My part in the decorations was creating a ship that came in 180 little pieces (I know, because I had to number them all!) While my team was creating the banner and decorating things, I spent a couple hours trying to figure out how to put the ship together. We put this on a table, draped with red fabric around.
Each booth also had ways to draw people in: serving food, offering water, teams of people running around with sandwich boards or singing songs, even a person dressed in a bright red crab costume (their team had a crab shack). We all had literature and forms for people to fill out.
This week we give out prizes, and the grand prize goes to the group that did the best job of follow-up. After all, having a ministry fair like this and not doing any follow-up of potential volunteers defeats the whole purpose of doing a ministry fair in the first place!
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