Prizes in children’s ministry are tricky things. The general thinking by leaders is that kids like winning prizes. So we use them at outreaches and for special events. We’ll give away a couple of bikes or even an iPod or two. The hope is that the prize will bring in a lot of new faces and that we’ll have a lot of happy winners. But all to often, in reality what I’ve seen is two happy winners… and a whole mess of disappointed kids and parents who didn’t win the big prize. I’ve seen a lot of new faces in the crowd, but none of them were smiling on the way out. So are we really getting what we wanted and hoped for or is there a better way?
I don’t do the big giveaways… and here’s why:
- They cost a lot.
- They only bless one or two kids.
- They make the rest of the kids sad, upset, disappointed, jealous or even hateful.
Kids don’t deal well with the concept of Random. They get it in theory… they just don’t like it. It works fine for the randomly chosen winner of said prize… but to the rest of your group Random suddenly turns into just being Unfair! Remember how that felt when you were a kid? It felt Unfair!
What I suggest instead of a big prize drawing is a prize that everyone gets or must be earned. I don’t mind telling a kid that someone else got a prize because they said last week’s bible verse… because I can transform their disappointment into determination. I tell that child that they could get the same thing next week if they say their verses too.
Here are some examples. In an outreach situation, rather than a flier that tells of an iPod that will be given away at the event… what about saying that every child that comes out will get a bag of sour Skittles and a cold soda… plus a special prize at the end of service! Every child wins! And you’ve probably spent less on the candy and soda than the iPod!
For a special event at church you could have a prize for new visitors… and the kid who brought them! Every child has a chance to ‘win’ this prize… and any kid who doesn’t bring a friend that week could do so the next for a second chance.
Just a bit of thinking from a child’s perspective will help guide you when planning your next promotion in children’s church or sunday school. Here are a few of my guiding principals.
- Prizes shouldn’t be so big that it breaks the hearts of those who don’t win… but still good enough to work hard for.
- Every child has a controllable chance to win the prize. If they don’t win it’s because they didn’t earn it.
- All of the prizes are always the same per event. That way children aren’t comparing what others got over (or under) themselves.
Some would argue that it’s important that kids learn self-control and good sportsmanship… and I would agree. But I would also argue that we don’t need to create situations that put kids in needlessly difficult situations. I don’t know about you but I want my visitors leaving my service happy!
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
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I definately agree, having never looked at it that way, it’s a new perspective that we absolutely should think about, Im’ going bring this up at our next meeting and get more feedback from my other leaders, i’ll let you know, Blessings Pastor James.
We do B.O.G.-bring one friend get one prize for each. Kids love it. I get dollar sized candy (especially after holidays) and the kid and the friend gets the prize. My Pastor was brought to Sunday School so he and his friend could each get a softball. We feel very strongly about this and it is working! I often give the prize wondering if someday this child will be a pastor or missionary! Totally worth it!
I agree with giving prizes so everyone wins. Something we’ve recently started at our mid-week is “Team Prizes”. The kids are already divided into small groups, and the groups pool all their points (for Bible verse, bring a friend, attendance,etc) for a big prize — pizza party, trip to the zoo, trip to the park, etc. We make it an experiential thing so the kids will continue to build friendships while celebrating their big win. It’s been a real hit with the kids. I was a little concerned because some of the more expensive prizes (bowling) have high point values and I thought the kids might get discouraged while earning them, but not the case at all. They are excited to see the points move up on their charts each week and know they are going to get to their prize soon.
Great thoughts here. I agree about the prize thing. I don’t do them very often and when I do, I’m pretty specific. When I did prizes the most, they were usually all earned. At times I would do a “random” winner, but it was in conjunction with all the other prizes so most kids walked out knowing what they needed to do to win a prize, but just by being there, they might get a prize as well. Usually the prizes were for bringing friends to an outreach event or something like that. I rarely give away prizes in Kids Church though because I like to keep them special for when we do use prizes as the motivation.
You had some great points here, thanks for writing this post!
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