BABY DAY

BABY DAY

A Month in Advance:

* Make a list of all Sunday School and Cradle Roll babies under two years of age. Provide cards for church members to submit names of new parents. Include names of inactive members who have babies.

* Advertise Baby Day as a special time to honor babies. Prepare posters to display in grocery stores, laundromats, maternity shops, and baby furniture stores.

* Prepare a bulletin board or wall display in the church foyer or other prominent place. Title the board "Precious in His Sight." Use world maps as the background. From magazines or other sources, collect pictures of infants from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. Randomly scatter the pictures over the bulletin board. Include photos of the babies in your own church nursery.

* Plan the order of service with the pastor so necessary music, bulletins, and other materials can be acquired or prepared. Arrange to have the children's choir sing "Jesus Loves the Little Children."

* Assign someone to take photos or shoot video in the church nursery. Use to present a slide show or video presentation in the Baby Day morning service. Accompany the slide show with the theme song, "Jesus Loves the Little Children."

* Purchase a small gift for each baby, babies' parents, and each nursery worker.

Two Weeks in Advance:

* Send invitations to all the families in your nursery department and Cradle Roll, as well as to prospective parents. Be sure to include the theme, "Precious in His Sight," in your invitations.

* Purchase gifts for babies, parents, and/or children's nursery workers.

Make plans for some of the following Baby Day Activities:

* Make a prayer tree. Secure a large bare branch in a bucket of sand. Decorate the bucket in a baby theme. Use a bootie pattern to cut out blue and pink construction paper baby booties. On each bootie, write a baby's name, baby's birthday, and parents' names. Hole punch booties at the top, and attach them to the tree branch with ribbon. Have families select a bootie and commit to pray for that baby and the baby's family throughout the coming year.

* Decorate a baby crib with theme-related items, such as world maps. Invite church members to place in the crib new or "gently-used" baby clothing to be sent around the world. Log onto the LINKS page at www.nazarenemissions.org for more information. See the "Used Clothing" link for a list of needs.

* Invite each teen and adult Sunday School class to prepare a nursery kit to be presented to parents of new babies in the church. Provide a list of items to be included in each kit. Option: Have each teen and adult class "adopt" a family with an infant. Let each class visit with the "adopted" families to determine how the classes can assist the families throughout the coming year.

* Hold a "Precious Babies" nursery shower. Use your church bulletin to provide a list of nursery needs. Option: If your church nursery is in need of a face-lift, encourage people to provide blankets, crib sheets, decorative items, etc., in the "Precious Moments" motif.

* Invite a photographer to take pictures of babies and their families. Create a backdrop with a world map and the Baby Day theme title, "Precious in His Sight." Later, frame the photos and present them to parents.

-- submitted by Kathy Lewis