You may have never thought about it, but there is a real art to giving things away. Have you ever had an event where you were giving stuff away and ran out? You had some angry folks didn’t you? Or have you ever gave stuff away and felt the person receiving it really did not need it? Here are a few tips to make sure you continuously have happy customers and to make sure your gifts get put into the right hands.  Some of these tips are pretty basic, but others are worth pondering.

• If you plan on giving everyone a treat after your presentation, be sure to always have more than enough. If we are giving away M&Ms for example and I know that the average attendance is 100 kids. I will bring at least 120 – 130.

• If you have a large crowd and you are giving away only a handful of prizes, it is always better to have a drawing. Kids and parents will feel that they were treated unfairly if you randomly hand out the prizes. When I first started doing sidewalk Sunday school, someone donated some really nice hockey jerseys. I had maybe 5 or 6 of them, but I had a crowd with about 80 people. I made the newbie mistake of randomly handing out the jerseys. I had some people who were really mad at me.

• If you are doing quiet seat prizes for the kids who are the most quiet during your lesson, be sure that your quiet seat prize isn’t huge in comparison to your normal give away. For example, if all the kids will be receiving a package of M&Ms after the presentation, don’t give away something like a Nintendo Wii for your quiet seat prize. If you are handing out candy bars for quiet seat prizes, the other kids may be a little bummed that they didn’t get one, but at least they won’t be absolutely devastated.

• From time to time, we will have new coats or shoes donated to us. To be a good steward of what God has given us, we like to put these items in the hands of people who really need it. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out truly is in need the most. I’ve found that principals are in the know. They can tell you what kids come to school each day either with a torn, dirty jacket or without a coat at all.  We’ve actually delivered bags full of coats to schools before and let the principal find the neediest kids to give them to. Distributing them this way also helps to build relationships with the schools.  Either way you choose to hand them out, I would do it privately unless you have enough for everyone.

• If you are having a big drawing (let’s say it is for a Nintendo Wii), be sure that neither the volunteers, and in most cases, the volunteers’ kids can enter the drawing. There’s a reason why companies like Mars don’t allow their employees or employee’s family members to win any of the sweepstakes that they occasionally offer. I would feel like someone rigged the sweepstakes if a Mars employee ended up winning a $500,000 sweepstakes. Those attending your event may feel the same if a volunteer wins the Nintendo Wii.  Besides that, the big drawing was for the people you are ministering to.

Until next time…