Lots of Family and Childrens’ workers have asked if they can make their own GodVenture Hope Boxes, and so I’ve put together a Basic Kit which you can use!
The kit includes:
- a mini-mag with faith at home activities, including Bubbles Blessings, Card Prayers and Seed Prayers, plus Flame Prayers on the back and an A3 Thanks poster in the centre
- 3 A6 postcards with more faith at home activities, including a set of Bible verse cards and some activities to do with them, and a card of the key Bible verse to display
- an A5 sheet of stickers to use for the Flame Prayers on the back cover of the mini-mag
- pdf to print your own A4 sticker to seal your PiP boxes and make it look fun and inviting 🙂
- pdf to print of the A4 Extra ideas sheet of 6 more faith at home activities – for you to print
- pdf to print of the A5 Washi tape etc sheet about how to use the creative resources in the box – an A4 sheet for you to print and then cut in half
- a spreadsheet with costs of materials and links to places you can order things
The best things you could add to the Basic Kit are:
- bubbles (I used wedding bubbles as they fit into a PiP box – see below)
- seeds (I put six seeds in a diner money envelope or origami book corner with the top folded down and taped shut)
- blank greeting cards
These three resources will allow families to do all the activities at home. They will only need to add basic things they are likely to have, such as pencils or pens.
Other things I included in my GodVenture Hope Boxes added to the fun, and gave families opportunities for more creative responses in some of the activities, as well as doing their own ideas:
- rainbow coloured lolly sticks
- rainbow colours A6 card
- rainbow coloured elastic bands
- tea light candle
- chocolate coins
I also included Hope cards from CharliePatch from whom you can buy her gorgeous A5 cards for only £1 each (usually £2.50) and HK Creations who has put together a special discounted pack of A6 Hope postcards for you here. Do support them if you can! I can vouch that their cards are great quality 🙂
The easiest way to package and post these things out is in a PiP box, which is shallow enough to fit through most letter boxes. You could use C5 size boxes and still fit everything in easily. (There’s a link in the spreadsheet which comes with the Basic Kit to help you find the number of boxes you want.)
However, you can do this however works best for you.
The stickers included in the Basic Kit can be printed with the postage using the Click and Drop service from the Royal Mail, and then posted in your local post box, or in one of their special parcel post boxes (see here for a list to find one near you).
When it comes to actually packing your boxes, I suggest you get a movie or series of TedTalks or audio book or whatever you’d like to have on in the background, as there’s quite a bit to do.
Start by preparing the resources. I had to:
- collect the elastic bands into rainbow colours and tie them together with one elastic band
- cut the A4 coloured card down to A6 then stack in rainbow colours
- stack the lolly sticks in rainbow colours and put an elastic band around them
Next I made the boxes, which isn’t too hard once you get the hang of it.
Once the boxes were made, I set out all the contents in lines around my room, started with the largest and flattest pieces, and ending with the most interesting shapes. Here’s the order I used:
- A4 sheet of Extra ideas
- A5 sheet titled: Washi tape etc
- A5 sheet of stickers
- Hope cards from HK and CP
- Blank greeting cards and envelopes
- Pile of A6 rainbow coloured cards and printed postcards – except the Hello card – that should go on top so it gets seen first
- mini-mag
- bubbles, lolly sticks and seeds
- tea light, chocolate coins and elastic bands
- Hello card
Finally, I closed the boxes up then sealed them by placing the sticker over the opening. There’s a line on the sticker saying ‘open here’ – place this along the opening of the box, then gently fold the other sides over the front and back of the box. If you’re printing posting using Click and Drop, obviously you need to print the postage on the stickers before you put them on the boxes!
And then to the Post Box with an IKEA bag full of Happy Post 🙂