During the new year consider adding one or two more events to your calendar for reaching out to your families and their neighbors.
January: Celebrate Ethnicity: Put flags on the church lawn from around the world, or inside if weather is bad. Invite a missionary to speak and several people to bring items from other countries for a walk through 'museum'. They can stand behind the items and tell about it. Ask the congregation to dress in anything international they can. Have singers share songs in other languages. Play a video of a service in another country and pray for that church.
February: Honoring presidents'. Find and read several quotes from out founding fathers. Do a search for an Abraham Lincoln or Ben Franklin impersonator in your state who could come. A great book of quotes (over 800 pages) is America's God and Country by William J. Federer of FAME publishing. The quotes are understood by adults but not children due to the manner of speaking in colonial America.
March: Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! Collect children's books, new and used, from people in your church. Rent a Cat in the Hat costume. Invite families with young children in to hear stories of Dr. Seuss and to see a video (Horton Hears a Who or Horton Hatches an Egg). You'll need permission to show the video publicly. Have a drawing class to show how to draw Dr. Seuss style buildings. Give each child a book as they go. Have them ready by age and gender.
April: Easter Egg Hunt. Have a special speaker before the kids are released by ages to go to the egg hunt.
May: Teddy Bear Repair Fair: Set up games and jump houses and have a puppet show. Your church members can donate stuffed animals throughout the year to give away for adoption on that day. Have a repair station for stitching and stuffing for stuffed animals people bring in. Have a puppet show inside while your workers clean up the games, hot dogs, etc. outside.
May: Mother and Daughter tea.
June: Father and Son magic show and donut breakfast.
July: Patriotic Program.
August: Hobby Day: Classic cars, toy trains, etc. are displayed on Saturday and Sunday at your church for the community to come and see. Sunday morning would be a talent show of various hobbies.
September: Bullying seminar for parents and kids. Look for a school assembly speaker and local law enforcement to talk about gang awareness. Invite the community. The local school(s) may even let you pass out information, particularly if you are not planning on having it as a religious event.
October: Along with the Harvest Festival this is a great time to push a Celebrate Recovery group in your area. They help people who are struggling with any type of addiction.
November: Children's Book Week. (See Dr. Seuss birthday for similar ideas.)
December: Christmas concert for kids.
Please respond and add more ideas to this basic list. Anyone have ideas for a mother/son outing. How about a father/daughter fifty's night out?