The best talks will be short and sweet. However, this really is the heart of your pancake party. Here are some general pointers to bear in mind as you prepare your talk:

Keep it short
5 mins is fine and certainly no longer than 10

Keep it light
Add lots of humour and avoid heavy content - which will not sit well with the lovely party atmosphere you've worked so hard on!

Keep it simple
Avoid being preachy by focusing simply on why we have Shrove Tuesday. This will enable you to flow naturally onto Lent, Jesus and Easter. For example:

• Pancakes: the historical significance of pancakes is to use up rich, fatty food before the fasting period of Lent


• Lent: represents the 40 days that Jesus spent fasting in the desert before his death


• Easter: Jesus died that we might be free from the consequences of sin


​You can then go on to talk about God's goodness or draw in a little of your own testimony.

​Throw in a church anecdote
People enjoy hearing about love in action, so a good one would demonstrate how we help each other out as a community.

Try using visual aids
These are especially useful if you have children in the room, but will also help engage the grown-ups. Examples could be:

• Tossing a pancake - showing how life tosses us around

• A flour-covered apron - signifying how messy life can get (and how God doesn't expect us to clean ourselves up first)

• Squeezing a lemon - Â suggesting our need for a fresh start OR that we don't want to get bitter in life

• Throwing a rubber egg at an unsuspecting victim - demonstrating how life just throws stuff at you

• A real egg - can illustrate how God's love is simple but versatile. An egg can be used in a very elaborate cake recipe, or simply fried. Similarly, God's love can help us in very hard times, but also just in everyday little things.