Publicity

Invite the Entire Community

The Baobab Blast Director Guide helps you get kids, parents, and volunteers excited about VBS. To help you get started on reaching out to your community, check out the tips below, order the Starter Kit, and visit the Baobab Blast online community for other great ideas. Any way you do it, make sure that Baobab Blast is on everyone’s minds and on everyone’s calendar. Think about what will turn heads, generate enthusiasm, and intrigue kids to sign up for this program. There is a place for everyone at Baobab Blast this summer, so be sure to invite the entire community.

• Climb to the top of the Baobab and let the wind carry the news across the savannah... “Baobab Blast is Coming!” Prepare a display using photographs from last year’s VBS along with items from this year’s Baobab Blast. Peak interest in the week by displaying craft items or science materials or a few musical instruments that will be used during the week. Use the display to generate interest in volunteering and registering.
• Encourage everyone to join in! Decorate the entrance to your fellowship area with something as simple as a Baobab Blast poster from the Publicity Poster Pack or as elaborate as an enormous baobab tree! Grab people’s attention and invite them to be part of this Great Get-Together. Put up a “Baobab Blast This Way” sign. Ask enthusiastic high schoolers to wear Baobab Blast T-shirts and have them “blast” the Music CD to attract attention. Ask them to hand out Baobab Blast stickers to people as they enter the fellowship area.
• There’s nothing quite like a pastor willing to join in the fun. Ask your pastor to carry a stuffed elephant to visit the Sunday school classes, inviting everyone to FOLLOW him/her to sign up for Baobab Blast.
• Enlist volunteers to circulate after worship services, wearing Baobab Blast T-shirts and carrying bright signs or sporting buttons that read, “Ask me about VBS!”
• Send Baobab Blast invitation postcards to church and community members.
• Ask your church youth group to hold a phone-a-thon and extend personal invitations to kids to sign up for Baobab Blast.
• Have a Baobab Blast poster-creating session in Sunday school. Supply poster board, paints, markers, magazines, scissors, and glue. Encourage each kid to sign his or her creation and then display them in designated areas around your church building.
• Create an enormous elephant trunk (try some dryer vent tubing) and have the text “Come to God’s Great Get-Together and have a BLAST” spouting from the trunk. Have a willing volunteer wear an animal mask or hat and distribute a flyer with VBS information.
• Hold a raffle for a hat, T-shirt, or canvas bag with the Baobab Blast logo on it. Every kid gets to put his/her name in the drawing one time. They can add their name again when they register and every time they invite a new friend.
• Create a large cardboard cutout of Amy, the red colubus monkey, paint with bright colors, and display it around the church in the months prior to VBS. Create excitement and wonder about where Amy will show up next! Add surprises to her such as a new hat, a scarf, an interesting book about Africa, and more. Kids will enjoy the search and the excitement will build about what else is in store for them at Baobab Blast!