Frugal, Frugal, Frugal Friday! Good morning! I have a frugal project to share that is also fun! Well, the frugal scroll project helps decorate for a fun week of Vacation Bible School!
I love Vacation Bible School. The songs, games, stories and projects are a great way share Jesus with the children and I have enjoyed helping with it since I was in school.
I also enjoy decorating for VBS. The decorations help make it a festive, special week.
This week, though, I was reminded that not all decorations need to be big and grand. Sometimes, just a little frugal project (like the scrolls) can be new and exciting for children, especially preschool children.
I have helped make huge ocean tunnels, forests and crystal caves. Sometimes, I have had plenty of time to do (and enjoy) this; other times, I have overwhelmed myself and my family with grand projects.
This year, our VBS has a Bible time theme. Other people decorated with a market place and palace walls. It looked great, but I felt bad. My hallway and room only had scrolls and a pop-up tent covered with sheets.
With older children, their activities and a new part time job, I (rightly) choose to decorate simply for VBS this year. I was still able to enjoy and teach VBS, it just needed to be simpler for me. That made me feel bad- maybe I was letting the kids down by not doing as much.
Then VBS started, and I was blessed.
The decorations are fun, and add a special excitement, but the preschool children were excited with even my simpler decorations.
They all wanted to help open the daily Bible verse scroll, even though it was just free newsprint taped to 2 dowels. So, we all helped open the scroll and then we all helped roll the scroll up, after we read and discussed the verse.
When they left my tent, they were also excited to see scrolls in the hallway. They had to run and find the scroll wall-decoration that matched the verse we had just read!
It was so nice to see the preschool children excited about VBS and enjoying the festive, though simple decorations.
This frugal scroll is one of the wall decorations for the hallway. Some were also on the doors. This scroll paper is heavier wrapping paper. I used marker to write the sayings and verses on them. I tried paint, but it took more time and didn’t show up as well.
From the back, you can tell it is just attached to a wire clothes hanger. I covered the clothes hanger with wire-edged ribbon- it was glittery! But, also, with the wire edges, I didn’t need to wrap it around the hanger. I could just squish and scrunch it to make it stay.
The scrolls were light enough to hang from the ceiling with string and a few staples. I did tape them in the middle of the scroll to the wall, so they didn’t swing back and forth when the kids ran by.
The wrapping paper was just looped around the clothes hanger and then stapled a few times. I did the same size loop (with staples) on the bottom of the scroll. I put a dowel, for weight, in some of the bottom loops, though they didn’t really need it.
These 2 scrolls were easy, frugal, but still fun decorations. I am glad the preschool children enjoyed them. I still enjoy doing the big, grand VBS decorations, but sometimes I need simpler ones. This year, I was reminded that I don’t need to be overwhelmed (or stress my family) to enjoy and help with VBS.
Happy Camping (or using glittery ribbon!)
Frugal Campasaurus