Take your youth to the mall. Divide them into small groups. Let them know that they get to spend $1,000,000 . . . well . . . sort of. They get to choose what they would spend a million dollars on “today . . . in this mall!”
Teams are to go from store to store, recording the purchases they would make if they had a million dollars.
Give them the following instructions:
1. Absolutely NO RUNNING!!! Automatic Disqualification!!!
2. Team members must stay together. Another automatic disqualification.
3. No more than one item may be “purchased” from each store.
4. No more than one kind of an item may be purchased. (ie: only one ring, only one pair of shoes, etc.)
5. On the ledger, a team secretary must keep record of the items purchased, the store in which they were purchased in, and the cost of each item.
6. Do not include taxes in your figuring.
7. Do not record the original price for items on sale-record the sale price.
8. You may purchase only what is marked for sale. For example, you may not offer to buy a cash register-or the whole store for a million dollars.
9. Remember that you represent (your church name) and Jesus Christ. Use courtesy and manners while you are shopping.
The first team to report back to the start AFTER spending their million wins.
Teams have one and one half hours to spend their million and return to the starting site to verify their figures. If no team spends it all, the team that has spent the most at the end of the game wins.
When you get back to the church, let the youth share what high dollar items they found. Then lead into a discussion on materialism (or a number of other topics). Share how even if we did have a million dollars to spend, it cannot bring true joy, only temporary happiness. You can fill in the rest according to the needs of your group.
Idea by Michael Stevens
