Favorite Things Christmas Mingle Relief Society Activity

We wrapped up the year with our last Releif Society Activity of the year tonight.  We had a Favorite Things Christmas Mingle.  In the past the ward has had a progressive dinner type activity and traveled to a few different homes.  I wanted to do something a little different, while at the same time still create that cozy, cabin, homelike atmosphere.

Here is what we came up with.

We seved dinner family style, no buffet line! We used plastic disposable plates and silverware that looked like the real thing, but could be thrown away.   I asked a few sisters in the ward to talk about why the Christmas season is special and important to them and to share any family traditions or memories they had.  Every sister that wished to participate in our Favorite Things Gift Exchange brought a gift and we had a gift exchange.  Gifts could be something they bought, something they made, their favorite recipe with some ingredients, etc.  The possibilities were pretty much endless in order to accomodate everyones needs.  The evening was well attended.  Our biggest activity so far.  I planned for 50 and we had like 49.  We only had enough left overs left for another plate!

John was awesome.  He helped dish out the food, washed dishes, bused the tables, helped decorate and clean-up, he was wonderful.  Without his help those of us on the committee would not have been able to enjoy the evening, but because he helped, we hardly had to do anything.  We got to enjoy ourselves along with everyone else.

Relief Society "Souper Service" Activity

It's been a while since my committee has had to plan a Relief Society Activity.  We had a Garden Party planned in the summer, unfortunately the day of the activity it was 110 degrees so we cancelled the activity.

For this activity we decided to do a "Souper Service."  We used a fall theme, served Ham & Potato, Chicken Noodle, and Taco Soup along with homemade bread and cookies that looked like little apple pies.  Our activity for the evening was assembling bags for children who are patients at Valley Children's Hospital in Madera.  Our goal was to collect enough items (crayons, coloring books, puzzles, stuffed animals, puzzles, DVD's, games etc) to assemble 25 bags.  We surpassed our goal and assembled a total of 50 bags!  I also gave a talk on charity and service and we had a little game for them to play involving leaves and words from a couple of scriptures on service and charity.

Here are pictures from our activity.

Relief Society Activity-We are all on a "Purse-onal" Journey

Tonight we had our bi-monthly Relief Society Activity for the women in our ward.  The theme for this activity was, We are all on a "Purse-onal" Journey.  Our decorations centered around purses.  We had a light dinner (aram sandwiches, a vegetable tray with dip, and a fruit tray with a yummy marshmallow cream dip).

 Each person received a purse with M&M's in it.  The M&M's were their markers for when we played P-U-R-S-E aka bingo.  Our PURSE cards had items on them that were all things you may find in a womans purse.  The half sheet of paper had the lyrics to a song titled  "Count Your Many Purses" played to the tune of Count Your Many Blessings.

Playing P-U-R-S-E aka Bingo.

I also gave a talk that tied in the purse theme.  The talk was about how we are all at different stages in our lives, some of us are carrying back packs, some of us are carrying diaper bags, some of us have the big mom purse, some of us are carrying little hand bags.  Some of us are in college, some of us are just starting families, some of us have kids in school, some of us are empty nesters, some of us are widows, but we all have something in common, and that is we all need each other, regardless of whatever stage we are in on our "purse-onal" journey.

Overall the evening went well.  We had a larger turnout then we expected, and everyone seemed to have a good time.

New Beginnings

Tonight the girls and I attended our wards Young Women's New Beginnings Program.  The theme for the night was a cruise ship theme, which tied into the 2015 church theme of "Embark in the Service of God."  They did a great job planning out the activity, and did not leave out any details, they even had entertainment during dessert, a skit performed by the Young Women and their leaders.

Ashlee had a few parts in the program for the evening and Mikayla was introduced as a new beehive entering the program in April.

Our ward has a very small Young Women's group.  Half of these girls are new beehives that will enter into the program this year.

They had a photo booth, with props for the girls.  They had a leader taking pictures with a Polaroid camera, so they could take their photo's home that night.  This is Olivia and Ashlee, being silly.

Relief Society Activity

I have a new calling at church, I am now the Relief Society Activities Leader.  I was kind of scared about this calling,  since I haven't been able to attend very many of these activities, I wasn't really sure what to do.  Thankfully I have an awesome committee and there are resources widely available on the internet.

Tonight we had our first activity.  The theme for our activity was "This Little Piggy."  I found the idea on Pinterest, and we changed it up some to meet the needs of those in our ward.

When each sister arrived we had them write their name on an envelope, each envelope contained a note card which would be used later on.  They also picked a "Pig Pen", this cute little piggie on a chocolate heart, glued to a popsicle stick determined which "pig pen" (center) they would be starting at.  We also hoped that by randomly selecting a "pig pen," we would be encouraging sisters to mingle with others, instead of those that they usually mingle with.  Unfortunately, many of them kept drawing sticks until they ended up in a pen with their friends.  That was discouraging!

  We had four "pig pens" each pig pen rotated every 15 minutes to another pig pen.  At the pig pens they learned the following:

This Little Piggy Went to the Market-a center about budgeting and using your monthly cash flow effectively.  This center was taught by a sister in our ward that uses the Dave Ramsey budgeting method.  Each sister at this station received a chocolate gold coin and a laminated monthly budgeting/cash flow chart.

This Little Piggy Stayed Home- a center about organizing your home, simplifying and donating to those in need.  A sister on our committee taught this station.  Each sister received a chocolate heart and a daily chore chart.


This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef- a center about menu planning and making freezer meals.  I taught this station.  each sister received a hand out on freezer meal planning and prepping, along with several freezer meal recipes.  I also had Orange Chicken for them to sample.

This Little Piggy Had None- at this center, they chose a note card with a name on the envelope and wrote a note to the person who's name was on the envelope.  They also received a little treat bag that said "Hogs and Kisses", inside the bad were Hershey hugs and kisses.  At the end of the evening, before desserts, each sister received the note card that was wrote to them, for them to take home and read.

This Little Piggy Went Wee-Wee-Wee All The Way Home- our "trough" dessert station.  Everyone gathered their chairs around the "trough" and enjoyed desserts and socialized with each other.  Belinda, Jen and Traci did the desserts.  They all looked and tasted great.

We also had a gift for the person who arrived on time.  This person received a chocolate pig, with baby chocolate pigglets inside of her!

Some pictures of the room.  We went with the black, pink and white theme and incorporated pigs and damask print.  Belinda and Jen did a wonderful job with the decorations.

The evening seemed to go well.  We received positive feed back, so that was a good thing.  My committee, Belinda, Jen, Marsha, Traci, Katie and Tara, all did a fantastic job.  Everyone had a part and they did their part.  Now it's time to start planning for our next activity.....