VBS Registration Pro – Getting Started Guide

This guide is written for VBS directors who don’t do tech.
If you can click buttons and copy and paste one line of text, you can run this system.

You do not need coding experience.

What This Plugin Does

With VBS Kids Registration Pro you can:

• Collect kids registrations online
• Collect volunteer sign-ups online
• Run Free or Paid registration
• Accept payments through PayPal or Stripe (credit cards)
• Automatically track payment status
• Send parent confirmation emails
• Send admin notifications
• Send bulk emails to parents (filtered by status)
• Export CSV reports
• Export PDF reports
• Manage volunteer roles
• Track registration statuses (Active, Pending, Paid, Cancelled)
• Manage event capacity (if enabled)

Step 1 — Install & Activate the Plugin

  1. Log into WordPress Admin
  2. Go to Plugins → Add New
  3. Click Upload Plugin
  4. Upload the ZIP file
  5. Click Install Now
  6. Click Activate

After activation, you will see a new admin menu:
VBS Registration

Step 2 — Create Your Two Public Pages

(Most Important Step)

Keep Kids and Volunteers on separate pages. It keeps links simple and avoids confusion.

A) Kids Registration Page

  1. Go to Pages → Add New
  2. Title it: VBS Kids Registration
  3. Paste this shortcode into the page:
[vbs_kids_registration]
  1. Click Publish

B) Volunteer Registration Page

  1. Go to Pages → Add New
  2. Title it: VBS Volunteer Sign-Up
  3. Paste this shortcode into the page:
[vbs_volunteer_registration]
  1. Click Publish

That’s it. Your forms are now live.

Step 3 — Configure Your Event Settings

Go to:
VBS Registration → Settings

Fill in:

• Event Name
• Event Date
• Event Time
• Event Location
• Director Email

These details automatically populate confirmation emails and reports.

Step 4 — Choose Free or Paid Registration

In Settings → Registration Mode choose:

Free Mode
• Parent submits form
• Registration is saved as Active
• No payment required

Paid Mode
• Parent submits form
• Registration is saved as Pending
• Payment button appears
• Status changes to Paid after successful payment confirmation

How Pricing Works

The system automatically calculates:

Total = Number of Children × Registration Fee

Example:
$30 fee × 3 children = $90 total

You do not need to calculate anything manually.

Step 5 — Choose Your Payment Gateway

Go to:
VBS Registration → Settings → Payment Gateway

Choose:

• PayPal
• Stripe

If Using PayPal

Set:

• Environment (Sandbox or Live)
• PayPal Email

The plugin validates PayPal notifications and updates payment status automatically.

If Using Stripe

Set:

• Mode (Test or Live)
• Publishable Key
• Secret Key
• Webhook Secret (recommended)

Stripe securely confirms payment and updates registration status automatically.

Step 6 — Customize Form Fields

Go to:
VBS Registration → Form Fields

You control:

• Parent information fields
• Child information fields
• Emergency contact fields

You can:

• Rename labels
• Enable or disable fields
• Adjust what appears on exports

The same labels appear in your PDF and CSV exports.

Step 7 — Configure Emails

Go to:
VBS Registration → Email Settings

You can configure:

• From Name
• From Email
• Director reply-to
• Parent confirmation subject
• Parent confirmation message
• Admin notification toggle
• Optional BCC to director

Email Merge Tags Available

You can use:

{parent_name}
{children_names}
{event_name}
{event_date}
{event_time}
{event_location}
{registration_id}
{payment_status}
{amount_paid}
{currency}
{txn_id}
{site_name}
{site_url}

These automatically insert real registration data.

Step 8 — Send Bulk Emails to Parents

Go to:
VBS Registration → Bulk Email Parents

This tool:

• Pulls parent emails automatically
• Removes duplicate emails
• Lets you filter by status:

  • All
  • Active
  • Pending
  • Paid
  • Cancelled
    • Supports merge tags

Perfect for reminders and event updates.

Step 9 — Manage Kids Registrations

Go to:
VBS Registration → Registrations

You can:

• View all registrations
• Filter by status
• Search by name
• Manually update status
• Delete registrations
• Perform bulk actions

You always know:

• Who registered
• Who paid
• Who is pending

Step 10 — Manage Volunteers

Go to:
VBS Registration → Volunteers

You can:

• View volunteer sign-ups
• Delete volunteers
• Bulk delete
• Export to CSV
• Manage volunteer roles
• Reset roles to default

Volunteer data is stored separately from kids registrations for better organization.

Step 11 — Export Data

Go to:
VBS Registration → Export Data

Exports include:

• Kids registrations (CSV)
• Volunteer registrations (CSV)
• PDF reports

CSV files open in Excel or Google Sheets.
PDF files are formatted for printing and sharing.

If You Don’t See the Form in the Editor

Some page builders do not display shortcodes inside the editor view.

This is normal.

To confirm it works:

  1. Save the page
  2. Open the live page in a new tab
  3. Confirm the form displays properly

The live page is what matters.

Final Encouragement

You do not need:

• Multiple form plugins
• Separate payment tools
• Spreadsheets
• Extra software

Everything runs from one unified dashboard inside WordPress.

If you can create a page and paste a shortcode, you can run this system confidently.