Want To Host Your Own Women's Shoe Event? Here's How!

The event at our church that used all of the wonderful shoes I've been blogging about was a huge success. 190 women came for 2-and-a-half-hours and had a great time! If you'd like to host your own Shoe Event at your church, here's how we did it: (Keep in mind that we did not "invent" this idea - we scoured other women's groups and combined ideas!)

"IF THE SHOE FITS!"

Women's Ministry Event at CCM

# of People: 190

Decorations: Hot pink and lime green table clothes on round tables that seated 6-7 people each. We had little pedistals at the center draped with 1/8th of a black plastic table cloth for the different types of shoes. In the absence of a pedistal, you could cover a shoe box - it was just to give the shoes some height.

We were lucky that one of the members of the congregation is in the shoe business and had [i]hundreds[/i] of sample shoes that we could borrow. We separated them into 35 different themes, and I made the table tents ([b]if you email me "mags at magsgraphics dot com"[/b], I can send you the Microsoft Word document. All you'd have to do is print on cardstock, cut apart, and set on the tables). We added other types of shoes too to get to 35 different types - just did an "all-call" in the bulletin for the specific ones I wanted.

I also freehanded 20 huge shoes out of foam core. Traced them in big black marker and used paint and glitter glue to color them in. These lined up along the stage in the gym like a shoe store. Any extra shoes we had went up there as well.

Here were the types of shoes:
RUBY SLIPPERS
GARDENING SHOES/CROCS
RAIN BOOTS
TAP SHOES
BABY SHOES
GLASS SLIPPERS
DECK SHOES
BOOTS
GOLD SHOES
STEEL-TOED BOOTS
FLATS
CLOWN SHOES
SNOW SHOES
BLACK SHOES
ANIMAL PRINT SHOES
ROLLER BLADES
FLIPPERS
BALLET SHOES
HIKING BOOTS
MOCCASINS
BLUE SUEDE SHOES
GLADIATOR BOOTS
PLASTER CASTS/FOOT BRACES
RED SHOES
COMBAT BOOTS
PENNY LOAFERS
HIGH HEELS
FIREFIGHTER SHOES
WEDDING SHOES
SANDALS
HOSPITAL SHOES
NURSING SHOES
PLATFORM HEELS
PUMPS
SLIPPERS
GYM SHOES
FLIP-FLOPS

Someone put together a Powerpoint presentation that ran in the background during dinner - it was a slideshow of all of these wacky and wild shoes. Really funny!!

Food: This one was catered.
Cost: $10.00 per person - tickets sold in advance

Entertainment: We had our contemporary worship leader to an Elvis impression and sing "Blue Suede Shoes." Another lady did a Nancy Sinatra impersonation and sang an alternate version of "These Boots Were Made For Walking" that was about wanting to own gym shoes for exercising. It was pretty funny.

Testimonials: We had asked four people to speak about unusual life paths they had traveled / interesting shoes they had filled. I was "Hospital Shoes" and talked about my brain tumor. One was "Combat Shoes" and talked about her son in Iraq. One was "Missionary Shoes" and talked about her missionary work. The last was "Squeaky Shoes" b/c she had adopted a little girl from China and had brought back these little shoes that squeaked whenever her girl walked. The testimony was about her adoption journey.

Doorprizes: We had a small prize on every table. Each table voted on who at their table had worn the most fabulous shoes to the event and that person got the prize. We also had some "big" prizes whose winners were drawn from a hat: Gift certificate to DSW, Gift certificate to a pedicure, a flip-flop fly swatter, a pair of chocolate shoes.

After the event, people gathered the shoe decorations from their table and put them all on two long tables. Then as people left, they could pick up the shoes they let us borrow. I only had 3 pairs to shoes to return to people after the event; all of the others were picked up by their owners.

You should try it out with your women's group - it really was a fun time!!

:) Mags