How to Plan a Luncheon for Your Church's Secret Sister Program

In my article, "Planning a Secret Sister Program at Your Church," I mentioned that you can conclude the program by offering a lunch that includes a speaker and a chance for the women of the church to meet their Secret Sister. Here are some helpful hints on how to do this.

1. Set a date for the luncheon (you can do breakfast or brunch too) and a price that each person will pay, unless of course the church has a budget, than it would be on the house for those who want to attend.

2. Announce the date to the church and have it announced in your church bulletin. Also, if your Pastor sends email to the congregation ask him to include the date in his next email.

3. Choose a theme for the event such as "Slowing down in busy times," or something along those lines and invite a speaker to address that very topic from a Biblical stand point. As long as the speaker is a good talker, has worth while information based on Biblical principals, that person can be anyone. Ask the Pastor's wife, an inspiring church congregation member, a Christian author, a missionary - as you can see there are many options.

4. Choose a location.

Option 1:
Call around to area restaurants and reserve a large room. Don't try to mingle in with the rest of the restaurant. If you do, you won't be able to have your speaker. Meet with the restaurant's manager and discuss menu options. If you believe that a lot of women from church will attend, your best bet is to choose three menu items the way you would at a wedding. This way the kitchen can cook everything and have it out quicker. If you decide to go that route, I'd recommend a fish, a meat, and a vegetarian dish to give variety for everyone. Try to stretch the money as far as you can, giving as much as you can to make it an enjoyable lunch. If possible though, try to leave at least $100 unspent which we will get to later.

Option 2:
If you are part of a down-to-earth casual church, renting a pavilion in the park may be your best option if you are doing the luncheon in the spring or summer. Reserving the space is usually very cheap. In my town it's only $5 an hour. Have a sign-up sheet in advance and ask everyone to bring a meal, somewhat like a pot-luck dinner. That is the most inexpensive way to go for a Secret Sister luncheon.

Option 3:
Hold the Secret Sister program at the gym of your church, or, if you are like me and belong to a church that is still building a church building, you could always contact another church and ask to use their facilities or rent a community center or other public space. Then ask for volunteers from those who signed up for the Secret Sister program to be a hostess for their table. Hostess can bring their own china, set their table with their own style, and keep everyone involved in conversation and feeling comfortable. For food, simply call a caterer and have the food delivered. It doesn't have to be real fancy though. My local supermarket creates really great concoctions for reasonable prices.

5. Once everything is set in stone, ask the ladies of the church to sign-up so you know how many people are going to attend. Ask them to pay when they sign-up and have homemade tickets made and available for when they sign-up. Make yourself available for a few weeks after the service to allow plenty of time for women to sign-up.

What to do with the $100 left over after your paid for the food:
Keeping it to a minimum, go to the dollar store, Wal-Mart, Target or some other discount store and purchase decorations to liven up your luncheon. You can go with items related to whatever theme you are having, things that coincide with the season, or a holiday coming up. Consider things like flowers, fake or real, Terra cotta pots for centerpieces, etc.

If you are really good at shopping for bargains, you may want to purchase favors to give all the ladies. Christian bookstores have mints with Bible verses on the wrapper, or your can get Bible tracts, small books, bookmarks, or whatever small creative item you can come up with. You'll also need plates, napkins, plastic tablecloths (or you can borrow them), and cups if you go with option #2 or #3.

Door prizes:
If you are feeling really ambitious, you can ask the congregation if those with businesses would be willing to donate door prizes. You'd be surprised how many Mary Kay consultants there are, or hair dressers willing to give something in return for free publicity. Plus this makes the ladies who are in attendance feel even happier that they've won something.

Create an agenda for the event:

I am an anal planner, I'll admit, so it goes without saying that there needs to be an agenda for me. It can go something like this:
Check-in
Mingling with coffee and cold drinks
Opening prayer
Speaker addresses the ladies
Closing prayer
Lunch
Time to meet your Secret Sister
Conclusion of lunch

I'd recommend keeping the event to no more than two hours since most people are always on the run and may need time to address family matters.

Good luck planning your Secret Sister luncheon!