Custom VBS Shirts: A Practical Ordering Guide for Churches
Updated: Aug 19
Vacation Bible School shirts look simple until one order has to cover kids, adult volunteers, ministry leaders, multiple sizes, artwork approval, a fixed event date, and a budget. A little planning before the quote can prevent the most common VBS apparel headaches.
If your church is preparing custom VBS shirts, this guide walks through the decisions worth making before you order—without assuming one garment or decoration method is right for every ministry.
Start With Who Is Wearing the VBS Shirts
Separate the order into actual wearer groups before choosing garments. You may have children, student helpers, adult volunteers, staff, and ministry leaders. Those groups can require different size ranges or even different garment styles, while still sharing the same event identity.
Collect known sizes whenever possible instead of building the entire order from guesses. Also decide whether late registrations or walk-ins are likely, because that affects whether you want extra inventory and which sizes make sense to hold.
Decide What the Shirt Needs to Communicate
VBS apparel often has two jobs: reinforce the event theme and make the people serving easy to identify. Before adding more artwork, decide what someone should understand first when they see the shirt.
For example, the main design might focus on the VBS theme while volunteer identification appears clearly on another location or on a separate garment color. If your church has sponsor information, ministry branding, a Scripture reference, or dates to include, establish the visual priority before the design gets crowded.
Choose Garments Around the Event, Not Just the Catalog
Think about where and how the shirts will be worn. Indoor programs, outdoor recreation, summer heat, repeated volunteer use, and take-home keepsakes can point toward different garment priorities. Comfort, fit, available size range, color, and how the fabric works with the chosen decoration all matter.
If the same design will be used for both youth and adults, confirm that the garment family gives you the size coverage you actually need. If not, coordinating more than one compatible style can be better than forcing every wearer into a single option.
Screen Printing or DTF for VBS Shirts?
The artwork and order structure should drive the decoration choice. Screen printing is commonly evaluated for larger runs of the same design, especially when the artwork uses a manageable number of print colors. DTF can be useful for detailed or multicolor artwork and for orders where flexibility matters.
Build the Size List Before the Final Quote
A clean size list is one of the most useful things a church can prepare. Keep youth and adult sizes clearly separated, note any extended sizes, and make sure the total of the size breakdown matches the total quantity being quoted.
For a large VBS, consider collecting sizes through registration or a shared signup process rather than through scattered texts and emails. The goal is simple: one final list that can be checked before the order is approved.
Work Backward From the VBS Date
Treat the event date as a hard planning input. Your apparel timeline may need room for selecting garments, collecting sizes, preparing or adjusting artwork, approving the proof, ordering blanks, production, and delivery.
The safest move is to share the actual VBS date when requesting a quote instead of asking only how fast shirts can be made. That gives the decorator the information needed to evaluate the project against the real deadline.
Plan for Volunteers, Late Signups, and Reorders
Before finalizing quantity, decide how the church will handle someone who joins after the size deadline. Some ministries intentionally order extras; others close registration firmly and avoid speculative inventory. Either approach can work—the important part is making the decision before production.
If your church runs VBS every year, save the approved artwork, garment style and color, decoration locations, final size breakdown, and any notes about what you would change next time. That turns next year’s order into a repeatable process instead of starting from zero.
What to Send for a Fast VBS Shirt Quote
Have the church name, VBS or event date, estimated quantity, youth and adult size breakdown if available, preferred garment type and color, artwork or theme files, desired print locations, shipping destination, and any special volunteer or staff variations ready.
Ready to Quote Your Church’s VBS Shirts?
Kingdom Thread works with custom apparel projects and ships nationwide. Send the VBS details and artwork you already have, even if a few choices are still undecided. We can help evaluate the garment and decoration options around the actual order.
Ready for the next step? screen printing.
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