This is the Creative Ideas page.

Welcoming

- Create small goody bags for each family to give them when they arrive.  You can fill the bags will small hotel soaps/shampoos, stickers for kids, a piece of fruit, etc.

- Have your congregation's youth prepare welcome signs for each sleeping area/room with the names of the family members.

Here's our congregation's sign-up board:

Animoto

Consider making an MTV-style video short using the Animoto web site.  Animoto is an online service where you upload your digital images, select music from the animoto library, and they instantly create a short music-video using your photos.  You can insert text, highlight certain photos, and control the speed of the image-changes.  It's a good way to make a high-impact visual of your congregation's hosting experience.  You can open your own, free animoto account on the site or you can use mine.  I have secured an "animoto for a cause" license (special for non-profits) for one year which allows us to make as many full-length (1 - 2 minute) animotos as we'd like, for free.  To do this, just use Robin Heyden's animoto account (ID=rheyden@comcast.net; password: sirowain).  Animotos made under this account are also fully downloadable so you could put them on your computer's hard drive or a CD.

Carole Marple, Pilgrim Church, figured out a way to print small magnets (pictured here) using a Publisher template on magnetic paper.  She prints a set of magnets for each day of the hosting week so that when volunteers sign up on her volunteer board, they take a magnet with them, reminding them of their date, to put on the refrigerator back at home.  What a clever idea!  See the Images and Files page for a copy of Carole's template or email Carole directly for more information:  Carole Marple.

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At the Hills Church, we are very excited about our upcoming first hosting week.  At a recent training, I noticed a certain anxiety level among volunteers about the logistics of hosting, so we are holding an orientation for our volunteers, one week prior to our first hosting, in an informal q&a format to answer questions such as "where will overnight hosts sleep?" and "what bathrooms will be used?"  We'll also have a walk through to show volunteers where supplies are kept, sleeping arrangements, etc.  Laurie Otten, acting coordinator, WHCC

At UUSWH, our volunteers felt they needed more guidance on their role as a volunteer.  So we wrote "role sheets" for each of the major volunteering jobs - meal bringer, overnighter, set-up, break-down, etc.  We made copies of the role sheets, on different colored paper, and left them, in quantity by the sign-up board in Parish Hall. That way volunteers could take a sheet with them (which would also serve as a reminder).  I've uploaded six role sheets to the "images and files" area if anyone would like to see them.         

-robin heyden, UUSWH

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