Perfect Gifts for Parish Visitors That Won’t Break the Bank

Welcoming first-time visitors warmly is essential for fostering a thriving Catholic community. Offering thoughtful gifts can make newcomers feel valued, appreciated, and inspired to learn more about your parish. In this article, we'll explore budget-friendly gift ideas that leave a lasting positive impression on your guests.

Let’s Start with Youth!

Nothing quite says, “Your family belongs here,” than by warmly welcoming children. Many parishes have found great success in offering a small bundle of crayons and coloring pages to families with young kids, right as they walk in.

Additionally, during special holidays, passing out a treat after Mass — as families leave — can have a lasting positive effect! Consider candy canes after Christmas Mass or another kind of treat after Easter, Pentecost, or any other Mass you want to highlight. In fact, did you know that there are many online and possibly local-to-you printing companies that will print your parish logo onto candies and/or candy packaging? That might be a fun option to consider!  

For Your Adult Visitors

Welcome gifts for your adult newcomers can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and can accomplish more than just simply implying that you’re glad they visited. Intentionally crafted visitor gifts can communicate your parish’s mission, invite guests into ministries, help create an environment of care and prayer, and more! Here are some successful gift ideas from some of the parishes we partner with:

• Mystery Bible Verse — Print out a bunch of different Bible verses on your parish’s stationary and put them in your parish’s branded envelopes. Use beautiful verses about God seeing, knowing, caring, and loving people, but be sure to put a different verse in each envelope. Inside the envelope, consider also including a parish registration, list of ministries, and even a recent bulletin with upcoming events. At the beginning of Mass, tell the congregation that anyone visiting is encouraged to pick a mystery verse out of the bunch, special for them.

• Need Prayer? — Printing out an inviting card that says something like “How can we pray for you today?” and placing it in each pew shelf next to the hymnals, or somewhere similar, is a great way to invite newcomers to participate. Make sure the card includes:
• Instructions for where the card can be placed for collection.
• A section to write down a prayer intention.
• An area for the person filling out the card to share their contact information.
• A checkbox to indicate whether they would like to be contacted directly about the prayer request.

Don’t forget to have pens or pencils readily available, too!  This type of “prayer card” will foster a sense of caring and nurturing for newcomers and long-term parishioners alike.

• Newcomer’s Coffee Hour Mug — Invite visitors to your newcomer’s gathering by giving them a mug with your parish’s logo, stuffed with some candy, as well as with information about your parish’s next meeting. Bonus if you make it an actual “Newcomer’s Coffee Hour” to tie in with the mug theme!
   
  
• Personalized Card and a Chance to Get a T-Shirt or Tote — A thoughtful greeting card signed by staff along with a hand-written welcome note is a wonderful visitor gift. Consider printing a list of fun things to do at your parish for a newcomer to check off and including it in the card. You could make it even more engaging by offering an incentive: if they check everything on the list, they can turn it in at the parish office to receive a parish T-shirt, tote bag, or something similar! (Here’s a great list of merch ideas for parishes!) Include items like “enjoy coffee and donuts after Mass,” “turn in your parish registration,” “sign up for a ministry,” and “attend one of the talks at our upcoming parish mission weekend.” 

What are some strategic, affordable, and useful things that your church can include with your welcome gift? Consider bundling any of the following with your gift to increase your hospitality:

• Your current parish bulletin.
• Coupons from some of the local businesses that advertise in your bulletin (for example, does a pizza place sponsor an ad on your bulletin? Ask if they’ll share a coupon for visitors!).
• A list of your parish ministries, including meeting times and contact information.
• A printout of your upcoming parish events or a QR code that takes users to the events page on your parish website.
• A welcome letter from your pastor.
• Information about your newcomer’s meetings or gatherings.
• Parish registration information.
• Mass times and office/contact information.
• Information about OCIA and/or how to learn more about Catholicism.
• Information about the sacraments and how to register themselves or their children.

Need a Little Assistance Getting Started?

LPi is your one-stop shop for all things parish communications and offers many tools to assist you in crafting the perfect welcome gift. For example, if you want to offer church merchandise like coffee mugs, T-shirts, and the like, but don’t have a great parish logo yet, head over to our Logos and Branding page to get started on your very own logo refresh or total rebrand! Or, get inspired by some of our favorite parish logo examples and learn about what makes a church logo successful in this recent article.

Another tool to make use of while designing assets for your welcome gifts is WeCreate, our library of Catholic art and content. The thousands of digital images available inside can be used in any way that you’d like to enhance your welcome cards, gifts, prayer cards, and however else you’d like to use them! We even offer templates that you can customize for your own needs, and graphics for every liturgical occasion and ministry need!

Bonus — although WeCreate can be purchased as an à la carte subscription, parishes who already print their bulletins with LPi get it for FREE! Head on over to our WeCreate support page and we’ll be happy to get you started.