Sunday kids check-in

This 210-attendance mainline church checks kids in at the classroom door with Planning Center Check-Ins. Allergy and pickup notes print on the tag. They kept Realm for membership and did not migrate it. Extra cost is $14/month plus two iPads they already had.

By Caleb Brooks · Published September 2026· Editorial standards · Conflict of interest

Field guide page: steps and costs from hands-on church-tech work, written under a pen name. Church names stay private. See how we write and verify.

What do you need before you start?

You need Planning Center Check-Ins (and People), two tablets or iPads with a label printer, and a Friday owner for the volunteer ratio sheet. If your church still uses another membership system (here: Realm), decide up front that check-in records live in Planning Center and membership stays where it is.

Why did this church build this workflow?

A child with a nut allergy went into the younger room on a Sunday the regular teacher was out. The note was in a binder on a hallway shelf. Nobody opened it. The child was fine. The kids director was not. Clipboards also meant they could not tell a visiting parent who was allowed to pick up a child without a hallway meeting.

The rule: if it matters in the room, it is on the tag. If they cannot print it, they do not rely on it.

What would they do differently next time?

They would have put check-in at the classroom doors on week one. The lobby station looked welcoming and created a line that made parents skip the tag. They would also have put the twice-yearly Realm-to-People name check on the calendar. They skipped the first one and spent a month matching “Jim” and “James” on the same household.

Friday and Sunday checklist

1. Friday: update the ratio sheet from the four-week average. Name volunteers. Text backups if short.
2. Confirm allergy and pickup fields print on a test tag before Sunday.
3. Sunday: iPads at classroom doors, not the lobby coffee line.
4. New families: create the People record before the child enters the room.
5. Checkout is the matching claim code only. No hallway waves.
6. After service: note no-shows and printer issues for Monday repair, not mid-service workarounds.

Common mistakes

• One lobby check-in station. Lines form, parents skip tags, allergies stay in binders.
• Relying on Realm for Sunday tags while allergy notes live elsewhere.
• Opening a room with no named adult on the Friday sheet.

Field note after a lobby line

They put the only printer by the coffee pots for “visibility.” Parents skipped tags to catch the sermon. Allergy notes stayed in a binder. Moving stations to classroom doors cut the line and put medical notes where teachers actually look. Visibility at the lobby is not the same as safety in the room.

Field note after an allergy label miss

A substitute greeter skipped printing allergy labels during a rush. A snack volunteer almost served the wrong item. They now open Check-Ins fifteen minutes early and refuse to open the classroom door until labels print. Speed is not safety.

Field note after a late guardian update

A custody change sat in email while Check-Ins still listed the old pickup list. They now require same-week guardian edits before the next Sunday opens. Wristbands are only as true as Monday data.

First name (large)
Room name
Allergy / medical (print even if long)
Allowed pickup (first names only)
Security code (matches the parent claim tag)

Room
Expected kids (4-week average)
Volunteers named
Ratio (adults : kids)
Backup if short
Notes