Submitted by Daniel J. Fee, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin
Idea posted June 13, 2006
I put LOTS of things on the floor at the ends of each row of risers. When it's time to pass stuff out, the person on the end just bends down, takes the box (or container, bucket, or whatever), takes one instrument and passes the rest down to the middle, where the container is met with one being passed from the other end. In the middle, I (or someone else) can grab the containers and set them down. Sometimes, they just pass the container back for collection at the end of the song.
Many things aren't IN a container and are just passed down the row. No one leaves the risers, and it's pretty much done silently.
Also, if the things are small enough, I have the kids keep the THING in their pocket (i.e., film canister maracas, confetti, silverware, pieces of candy, etc.) Once I had a program that I was tempted to call the "pocket" program, because it seemed like everything but the kitchen sink was stored in the kids' pockets!
A couple weeks ago, I had my boys sing "God Bless The USA." They all wore baseball caps (and used them in some movements). I didn't want to have to pass them out, so they unclipped the adjustable strap and stored them on a back belt loop until the song. It worked like a charm!
I try to avoid passing things out if possible, but when we have to, I want it done cleanly.