Managing VBS Registrations

Once your VBS event is live, registration data flows into two key areas: the VBS Dashboard (overview page) and the Registrations tab. Together they give you a real-time picture of who is signed up, how many volunteers you have, and whether you need to follow up with any families.

VBS Dashboard

The VBS Dashboard is the first page you see when you open the VBS admin area for an event. It provides a bird's-eye view of registration progress along with quick actions and recent activity.

Stat Cards

Four stat cards appear at the top of the dashboard. Each one is clickable and takes you directly to the Registrations tab for more detail.

Children — Total number of registered children with a breakdown by gender (boys and girls).
Families — The number of distinct families that have registered at least one child.
Confirmed — Children whose registration status is confirmed. If any registrations are marked "maybe," the count appears here as well.
Volunteers — Adults who signed up to help during VBS.

Quick Actions

Below the stat cards, a row of action buttons lets you perform common tasks without leaving the dashboard:

Register Family — Opens the family selector dialog to manually register a family (see the section below).
Message Attendees — Navigates to the messaging page where you can send emails or texts to registered families.
Check-in Sheet — Opens the check-in page for the event so you can print or review attendance lists.
Subscribe — Subscribes you to notifications for new registrations on this event.

Recent Activity

A feed at the bottom of the dashboard shows the latest ten registrations. Each entry displays the guardian's name, the number of children they registered, and how long ago they signed up. Volunteer sign-ups are distinguished with a heart icon.

Tip

If a donation competition has been set up for the event, a Competition snapshot card appears next to the activity feed showing each group's current total.

Registration List

The Registrations tab is where you manage all sign-ups in detail. It uses a tabbed layout with up to four tabs depending on your event's configuration.

VBS Registrations tab showing the Children list — The Registrations tab organizes sign-ups into Children, Families, Volunteers, and Waitlist tabs

Children Tab

The default tab lists every registered child in a table. Columns include:

Child Name — The child's first and last name. Click a name to view the child's full details in a dialog.
Age — Calculated from date of birth, with the child's completed grade shown alongside.
Gender — Displayed as a pill badge.
Guardian — The parent or guardian who registered the child. Click to view the guardian's profile.
Allergies — Any allergy information on file for the child, shown as a red pill if present.
T-Shirt Size — The t-shirt size selected during registration, only visible if t-shirt collection is enabled in event settings.
Friend Preferences — A badge showing the number of friend requests for this child. Click it to see details.
Actions — An actions menu with options to edit the registration or remove the child.

Tip

Enable t-shirt size collection in Event Settings to see size aggregates in the registration list — helpful for ordering supplies.

A search box at the top filters the list by child name or guardian name as you type.

Families Tab

The Families tab groups registrations by family. Each family appears as a collapsible row showing the guardian's name, the number of children registered, and a phone number if available. Expand a family to see individual children and their details.

Volunteers Tab

The Volunteers tab lists all adults who opted to volunteer. The table shows each volunteer's name, contact information, children they registered (as pill badges), any notes, and their volunteer status.

Waitlist Tab

If your event has a guest limit and registrations exceed it, a Waitlist tab appears. It lists families who registered after the event reached capacity. You can promote waitlisted families to confirmed status if spots open up.

Note

The Waitlist tab only appears when at least one registration has a "waitlisted" status. If no one is waitlisted, you will see only three tabs.

Adding Families Manually

While most families register themselves through the public RSVP flow, admins can add families manually from both the VBS Dashboard and the Registrations tab using the Register Family button.

Click Register Family

On the VBS Dashboard, click the Register Family quick action button. On the Registrations tab, the same button appears in the page header. Both open the Family Selector dialog.

Search for the family

In the Family Selector dialog, type a family name, guardian name, or email address into the search field. The left column shows matching families from your organization's People section.

Family Selector dialog with search and child selection — Search for a family, select children, and optionally mark the parent as a volunteer

Select children to register

Click a family in the left column to see their children on the right. Check the box next to each child you want to register. Children who are already registered appear with a Registered badge and their checkbox is disabled.

Mark as volunteer (optional)

At the bottom of the dialog, a Parent is volunteering checkbox lets you register the guardian as a VBS volunteer at the same time.

Submit the registration

Click Add Registration to complete the process. The selected children are registered under the family's primary guardian. The page refreshes automatically and the new registrations appear in the list.

Tip

The Register Family flow is useful for walk-in registrations on the first day of VBS or for registering families who called ahead. Since it uses existing family records, the guardian and child information is already on file.

Grade and Age Information

Each child's age is calculated from their date of birth and displayed alongside their completed grade in the Children tab. Grades are important for VBS because many churches use grade ranges to determine eligibility and group assignments.

A child's grade can become outdated as school years change. When a grade has not been updated recently, a stale grade warning may appear. If you see this warning, ask the parent to confirm or update their child's grade during the next registration or check-in.

Warning

If grade restrictions are set on the event, children outside the allowed range will not be eligible to register through the public RSVP form. Admin manual registration does not enforce grade restrictions, so double-check eligibility when adding families manually.

Permissions

Managing VBS registrations requires the events.manage permission. Users with this permission can view registrations, add families manually, edit existing registrations, and remove children from the list. Read-only access to registration data requires the events.view permission.