Our church has had the fun of having a Pinterest party in our gym for the last several seasons. It has created a lot of interest and curiosity as to how one would go about having one. In order to answer the questions, I have asked, Christina Farless, the heart, planner and brains behind our Pinterest party, to share with you all the “how-to’s” of hosting one. I pray that you’ll hear her heartbeat and motive of the parties she’s initiated, then pray about what you could do with this information in your own home or church.
Please meet Christina…
 |
|
She’s a fun-loving, always smiling young wife and mom of two sweet boys. She is very creative and resourceful. Creating a home for her hard working husband, homeschooling her older son, training her toddler and assisting in many areas of the ministry at Boones Creek Bible Church keeps her busy, but she’s always on the look-out for ways to reach out to those that don’t know Christ. Hear her story…
|
I love Pinterest! I’m a crafty person and I like to spend time in the kitchen, so Pinterest was made for me! I didn’t want to be one of those people that pinned and never did anything, so I have made it a point since day one to try most of what I pin. One day I saw a pin about hosting a Pinterest party at your home (and having heard Pastor C encourage us often about having people in our homes & building relationships) I knew this would be right up my alley! My invitation list quickly became more than I could fit in my home. After talking to Mrs. C about using the church gym, we decided to just host it as a ladies’ fellowship for our church. There were a few church ladies and a few of my friends at that first one, and the parties have continued to grow, doubling in size since the first one! Pinterest parties are a wonderful outreach!! People who would never come to a church service would LOVE to spend a day eating and crafting, even if it is in the church gym! This last Pinterest party we had more visitors than “home folk”, which was an answer to prayer for me! I so want to use this not just to bring our church ladies together, but to grow the body of Christ by bringing in the lost!
The question I get now though is “How do have a Pinterest party?!” Well, here is your answer!
The first thing to do is start a board on Pinterest of ideas that are easy, fairly inexpensive and can be done in just a few hours. This is not the time for making that yarn-wrapped wreath with felt flowers that takes 2 days to finish! You don’t have a Pinterest account? Well, first…get one! But if you can’t or don’t want to, just pick crafts that you know how to do and can teach someone else how to make!
Here’s a link to each of my boards for the parties we’ve had:
Once you have an idea of the crafts you want to do, check out some prices around your local stores for supplies for those crafts so you can get a rough idea of how much it will cost each person. I set the price at $5 per person for the first party and we had about 5 “stations”. At the end of the party we had enough come in to cover the costs of the supplies. But this time, there were 10 “stations”, some with crafts we had done at previous parties and still had supplies for and some new.
|
| There was going to be a wood craft, so I set the price at $10, knowing wood is expensive. (Praise the Lord, we found a local company that donated their scrap wood and my wonderful, handy husband spent several days cutting it to the right size and sanding it.) I’ve been able to let every lady make one of each craft, rather than choosing just one or two. |
|
| Now that you have your crafts and a price, set the date and start inviting people, sharing at least some of what the crafts are, people are more willing to come if they know ahead of time what they’ll be doing. It may be that one craft they’ve wanted to do & haven’t had time for! I also made and event on Facebook and shared the Pinterest Party page so people could see the pins. We also made up a small flyer for people to hand out. We also ask that everyone bring a Pinterest-inspired dish to share. |
|
| Once I have a rough idea of how many people are planning to come, I start purchasing or gathering supplies for that many people, plus about 10-20 more. I also like to make a sample of the craft for several reasons. One, people have something to pick up and look at, instead of just a picture. Two, I know exactly how difficult that craft is and about how long it will take. Three, I can then take the info from the pin and my experience and type out my own easy to follow, step-by-step instructions. |
The day of the party, I asked for a lady from our church to be at a registration table to welcome everyone, collect the money, and have them make a name tag and a label for the snack they brought. We start with snack, to give the stragglers time to arrive and then we get to the most important part of the day. We have a short time of devotion where there is a clear gospel presentation given. Mrs. C has been a wonderful speaker for every party we’ve had! There have been many lost ladies that have heard the gospel that would have never came to church for any other reason. AFTER the gospel message, I give them instructions about what the crafts are, how many they get to do, etc.
|
| At our latest Pinterest party (after researching Pinterest parties on Pinterest!), I had a photo booth that looked like a pin, |
|
| brown paper bags (collected and donated from a local grocery store) that said “Saw it. Pinned it. Did it!”for people to take their goodies home in |
|
| and door prizes that I put together of other pins. I also had other crafts that we had done at previous parties, or that others and I had done on our own, as decorations. I encouraged the ladies that if they liked one of those crafts, to have a few ladies in their homes and make those crafts together. I pray that in the coming months I will get to see many pictures of those parties on Facebook! (Have you planned yours yet, ladies?!) |
|
| You can, of course, do this on a much smaller scale in your own home easily. Just pick one craft and have everyone chip in for their supplies or have 3-4 ladies each bring all the supplies for just one craft and then you each get to make one of what everyone brings. I hope to hear about many more of you hosting your own Pinterest parties soon! |
I hope this answers your questions and also inspires you to host a party yourself. December would be a really great month to get crafty with some friends! If you have any questions for Christina, please leave them in the comment section here and we’ll have them answered for you!
Is this something you could do? I’d love to hear about your party!
With love,
RefreshHer 