Being in ministry usually means you’re going to have to fundraise for something. After all, a church is technically a non-profit and generosity is a core tenet of our faith.

Over the years, I’ve heard countless ideas for fundraisers for various reasons, but there’s one I’ve done year after year with great success.

It’s called Silly String Sunday.

Silly String Sunday is where leaders challenge kids to buy as many cans of silly string as possible at $5 per can. Then on the day, they get to spray those leaders with the silly string all for missions. It’s a mess and a ton of fun.

Here’s how to do it.

1. Set your goal

A lot of fundraisers need to hit a certain dollar amount in order to be successful, and I believe those have their place. 

However for Silly String Sunday, I didn’t really care how much I raise. My goal was to see every kid buy at least one can.

Just by making a small investment pushes past the awkwardness of never giving before and helps kids realize the joy of giving.

Before you start answer these questions:

• What do you want to accomplish? 

• How much money do you want to raise? 

• How many kids do you want to participate?

2. Start advertising early

Because this is a fundraiser, you don’t want to spring it on the kids and parents at the last minute. So, start early. I usually start 4-6 weeks out. I’d play a video (seen above), make announcements, pass out flyers and talk to parents.

Frequently, I would do a missions or evangelism series to coincide with the lead up to continue building excitement.

3. Pre-buy the silly string

Part of the benefit of advertising early is that kids can pre-buy cans of silly string. However, I’ve learned that most cans are sold on the day of.

That makes it super hard to know exactly how many cans I need, so I’d just have to make an educated guess. Typically, it worked out to one and half times as many kids as I had per service. Most if not all kids will buy one, some will buy two, and the rare few will buy more.

I bought my silly string from the Dollar Tree. It’s called Goofy String, but it’s the same thing. Since they're $1 (now $1.25) it’s easy to get a lot without impacted your budget. Also, if you’re charging $5 a can, you’re making a significant profit that can cover the cost.

4. Set up before service

I always did the spraying at the end of service, but setting up before will help things go a lot smoother. 

What I found works best is to lay out a large tarp with a chair on each corner. Then I’ll string caution tape around the chair to create barrier and line the kids won’t cross. Finally, I set up chairs in the middle back-to-back for me and any other leaders who are getting sprayed that day.

This keeps kids from spraying each other, possibly ruining their clothes, shows everyone where they need to be, and makes cleanup easy. Silly String isn't biodegradable, so even if you do it outside, don't leave it on the ground. Please clean it up.

5. Film and take pictures

This event is a ton of fun with action, color, and excitement. You should document it. Reach out to your church photographer or just pull out your phone and have someone take pictures and/or video. It helps tell the story after the event and promote it next year.

6. Celebrate

Make sure after the event that you tell everyone how much you raised and how much participation you had. If you supported a specific project, tell people how their gift contributed to the impact of the project.

Bonus: Incorporate other leaders

When I first started this event, it was just me with my volunteers sitting behind and watching. However, I found the participation and excitement went way up when I started including the kids’ small group leaders and other volunteers. I never forced them to, but I did make the offer.

You’d be surprised how many people are willing to step into the ring.

Silly String Sunday is a fun and exciting event you can do year after year. You can raise a lot of money, but more importantly you can get kids excited about missions and giving. If you have to raise money for something, I encourage you to give this one a try.

What fundraisers have you done that have seen success?

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