You are the new youth pastor. The mission trip is in 8 weeks. The senior pastor mentioned that "we usually do shirts" and wandered off. You have not done this before. You are not sure where to start.
This is the version that does not require failing first.
Step 1: confirm the math before you order
Three numbers run this:
- Expected count. Be realistic. If 50 kids signed up, plan for 45 to show up to the trip and 5 chaperones plus the youth pastor + spouse. Total target: 52.
- Buffer. Add 15 percent for late additions, kids whose registration came in last week, and chaperone family members. So 52 → order ~60 shirts.
- Per-shirt budget. $7 to $12 per shirt is the realistic range for one-color, one-side, on a basic cotton blank, at quantities 30 to 100. Below $7, you are buying a thin shirt that will feel cheap. Above $12, you are over-spending unless the design is intricate.
Step 2: pick a vendor
Three options, in increasing complexity:
Option 1: Specialty youth-ministry vendor (Ministry Gear, Sunday Cool, Uth Stuph).
- Built for this audience. Stock designs you can lightly customize. Decent price.
- Faster turnaround than most local printers.
- Light on creative control.
- Best default if you want to ship in 4 weeks with low effort.
Option 2: Local screen printer with a custom design.
- More creative control. Better margin if you have a parent or volunteer who can design.
- Requires a real vector logo / design file.
- Slower (~3 to 6 weeks turnaround).
- Best if you have a creative volunteer and 6+ weeks.
Option 3: Crowdfunding-style platform (Bonfire, RushOrderTees fundraising).
- Skips the inventory question entirely. Each kid orders their own shirt.
- Lowest organizer effort.
- Slightly inconsistent shirt quality across orders.
- Best if you can absorb a 1- to 2-week shipping delay before the trip.
Most first-time youth pastors should run option 1 (specialty vendor). The next year, if you want more design ownership, switch to option 2.
Step 3: design rules that don't embarrass anyone
The good news: youth-group shirts are forgiving. The audience (the kids and their parents) is rooting for you. The bad news: a few patterns consistently land badly.
What works:
- A single bold word or short phrase on the front (the church name, the trip year, the trip city).
- A scripture reference small on the side or sleeve, not as the main visual.
- One ink color on a contrasting shirt color. Two-color jobs are 30 percent more expensive and rarely sell better.
- A design that the kids would wear at school the next month. If they would not, neither will you.
What doesn't:
- "Mission Trip 2026 Volunteer Team" in five different fonts.
- A scripture-heavy back with 80 words at 10pt type.
- The trip city's flag in 6 colors.
- Comic Sans. (Nobody is doing this on purpose; somebody on the design committee always proposes it.)
Step 4: collect sizes
Use a Google Form or your church management system. Required field: shirt size, with a visible chart. (See how to collect t-shirt sizes from a group for the form template.)
Default size distribution for a typical mixed-age youth group (12 to 18) plus chaperones:
| Size | Share |
|---|---|
| YS | 8% |
| YM | 18% |
| YL | 22% |
| Adult S | 14% |
| Adult M | 18% |
| Adult L | 12% |
| Adult XL | 6% |
| Adult 2XL | 2% |
If your group skews older (high school only, no middle schoolers), shift to mostly Adult sizes (S/M/L = 60 to 70%).
Hard deadline: 3 weeks before order placement. Default for non-responders: AdultM for older, YL for younger.
Step 5: pay for the shirts
Two patterns work; pick one early:
Bundled into the trip cost. "$300 trip = $290 for the trip + $10 for the shirt." Cleanest. Parents understand it. No separate transaction.
Fundraised separately. Car wash, bake sale, sponsor letters. Works best when the youth group already does fundraisers and the shirt becomes the visible "we earned this together" artifact.
The pattern that consistently goes wrong: absorb the shirt cost into the church budget without telling the senior pastor. By trip 3, the budget is gone and nobody knows where it went.
Recommended starting points
4 picksWhat to do with leftovers
Three options that work:
- Save 5 to 10 for next year's recruitment. The new kid in September who didn't go on the trip but wants the shirt is your best evangelist.
- Sell extras at $15 each in the church bookstore. Adds a small margin.
- Donate to a partner ministry overseas. Some mission organizations accept kid-sized shirts for distribution. (Confirm before shipping; not all ministries take branded shirts.)
What about the parents who want a shirt?
Add a "parent shirt" section to the order form. Charge $20 each, deliver before the trip. Parents pay willingly and the trip gets a small extra revenue line.
The thing every first-time youth pastor does wrong
Ordering one shirt for the senior pastor and the worship leader and the children's director "just in case." Then doing it again next year. Then again. By year 3 there are 12 freebies on every order and the math doesn't work.
Pick a clear policy in year 1 (chaperones who go on the trip get a shirt, everyone else pays) and stick to it.