How to Host a "Forever Party" to Help Kids Understand Eternity

When you’re 6 years old, the wait for ice cream after dinner feels like for ever. Time is a tricky concept for kids. So are topics like death, eternity, the new creation and heaven. Joni Eareckson Tada’s new kid’s book The Awesome Super Fantastic Forever Party helps kids understand—and get excited about—a future for ever with Jesus. 

To help this wonderful truth stick, kids benefit from hearing the storybook and engaging with it and the concepts via games, crafts, colouring and more. Throwing a “Forever Party” for your family or a kid’s ministry is a great way to make the truth about forever-with-Jesus memorable.

Use the tips below, or download a host’s guide as well as free crafts, games and more here. 

Throwing a “Forever Party” for your family or a kid’s ministry is a great way to make the truth about forever-with-Jesus memorable.

How to throw a “Forever Party” for kids

1. Send out invitations

Invite friends and family or host a party for a class or as a kid’s ministry event. A Forever Party is a great way to tell kids about Christ and the hope of the future with him in the new creation. You can use this as a fun form of outreach or to disciple young believers. 

2: Set the scene

One of the amazing things about living forever with Jesus is that it’ll be better than all our favourite things. To help kids see this, you might try choosing decorations that span various favourite themes so that every child can find something to get excited about. Kids can do the decorating themselves with downloads of the “Come Quickly Jesus” banners included in the free party pack.

3: Choose tasty treats

Chocolate chip pancakes are featured in the storybook. You can find a recipe for these and for cake cookies in the free party pack. For home parties, these recipes are fun to make all together with kids. For larger parties, you might also lay out a candy or ice cream sundae bar to keep reinforcing the idea of kids getting to pick out their favourite things.

4: Provide plenty to do

Offer colouring and activity sheets as well as crafts from the free party pack to help kids engage with the story and concept of the storybook. Plus these serve as take-home goodies kids can share with their parents and keep as momentos.

5: Get Into Games

Download a paper-based game from the free party pack. We also recommend playing games themed for the party, like:

• Telephone: Ask kids to sit in a circle. Whisper a message, preferably related to the theme of a Forever Party with Jesus, into one child’s ear. That child should whisper the message into the next’s ear and so on until you reach the last child. They should announce the message and see if it matches up with the original.
• Popcorn Pop: Toss a ball or small toy from person to person. Whoever catches it shouts something based on a prompt. If they can’t think of something new to say, they are out and sit down. Possible prompts could be “Something you could eat for ever”, “a song you could sing everyday”, or “a place you love to visit”.
• Muscle Memory: Use a hand signal to announce something that will be made new. Ask kids to copy it. Then ask a child to repeat what you just did, and then add their own signal and announce something else made new. Ask all of the kids to copy both. Keep going around, asking each child to follow the sequence and add to it, then all of the kids to demonstrate the sequence. When someone forgets a part of the sequence, they are out and sit down.

6: Share the story

Read The Awesome Super Fantastic Forever Party storybook, or play the full-read-through video of the story read by Joni Eareckson Tada. There are also downloadable full-size illustrations you can project on a screen.

7: Praise Jesus together

Follow up the story with a time of worship. Choose a couple of kid-friendly songs of praise. Even better if there are actions!

8: Capture the memory

Take a picture of everyone all together and reiterate that one of the coolest things about forever-with-Jesus is getting to actually be with him and the people we love. No more goodbyes! No more arguments or sadness! Just joy for ever together.

9: Invite Jesus back

Hand out party squeakers or confetti. Tell kids it’s time for this party to end, unlike the forever party with Jesus. That one will never end and we can’t wait for it to begin, so let’s invite Jesus to come back and start that party soon! Everyone can cheer three times, like at the end of the book, “Come quickly Jesus!” 

10: Hand out party favours

We recommend giving every child a copy of The Awesome Super Fantastic Forever Party and the corresponding colouring book to keep and to revisit over and over again. You can find great deals on buying the book in bulk on our website.

Adaptation Recommendations

 • For the colouring sheet that features a long table and encourages kids to draw food in the places designated, cut out images of food to glue in place instead of asking them to draw.

• Opt for crafts using pom-poms, stickers, and other textured, easy-to-handle materials.

• Instead of playing “Muscle Memory” ask volunteers to act out things they are excited to do in heaven. Ask kids to copy them or to make noise for which things they are excited about too. 

• Use the picture version of the “Would you rather” sheet.