Table etiquette and manners- A mother/daughter Relief Society Activity

First off, this dude is a life saver. Seriously. Gotta give him a shout out. When things weren't running as smoothly as I would have liked, aka the church printer jammed an hour before the activity, this man I call my husband came to my rescue. I need to do better at expecting things to go wrong; and plan for the worst, but I guess I am just too optimistic. : )

The activity was a mother/daughter activity focused on dining etiquette/manners. So, all women were invited, as well as any daughters/grandaughters, ect. ages 8 and older.

First, we had three quick classes that were on: table decorating (*note all of the cute themed centerpieces our speaker brought for examples), how to set a formal table properly, and table etiquette.

Next, we had a relay race. We divided everyone up into two groups. We had three stations set up on both sides of the gym. The girls were the main competitors, while the moms were there to help their daughters in any way possible.

The first station was just 'cause we are girls and usually get dolled up before we have a nice dinner. : ) The daughters had to quickly put on the items on the table. 

I brought a pair of shoes, a skirt, and the sister I work with brought some jewelry. They had to keep all of the attire on until they completed all of the other stations.

The second station was table setting. They had to properly set a formal dining table setting, napkin folding and all. : )

The next and final station was to match dining do's and don'ts.

Once the third station was completed, the mom and daughter team had to hurry back to the beginning and take off the dress-up clothes and leave them on the table for the next mother/daughter team.


We also had two "crafts" for the ladies to participate in if they wanted.

One craft was making a paper origami recipe book (aimed at the younger girls). Some simple kid-friendly recipes were printed off and available to be placed in the recipe book.

The second was really not even a craft. We asked the women to bring an empty picture frame that they would like to use in their kitchen for a dry-erase menu board. We then provided the menu inserts for the frames. Annnnd that was it for that one. : ) You could have them decorate their frames or the menu inserts if you have time. I got the idea off of pinterest, duh! This is the main example I used for our menu boards. Check out my relief society page for more of the ideas I used for this activity...

For refreshments, we had an ice cream bar. The team that won the relay race was the first group to hit up the refreshment table. It was a big hit! I am so bummed I forgot to take a picture of it. I thought it looked pretty cute, if I do say so myself. : )

For the ice cream bar we had:

Vanilla ice cream

Ice cream cones

Chocolate syrup

Caramel syrup

Strawberries

Bananas

Sprinkles

Whipped Cream

Chopped up cookies

Whole cookies

Toffee bits

Chocolate chips

M & Ms

Maraschino cherries

It was a fun night of learning and play! And dessert always makes activities a little better! : )

72-hour kits and SWAP meet

I will apologize ahead of time for the amazing pictures. I know they will probably make you jealous. They are far superior than any photographs you have seen in your life, and probably that you will ever see. (hah!) Anyway... my photography skills are not the point of this post. 

Last month, we just had our activity where we made 72-hour (food) kits AND had a SWAP meet going on at the same time. We had tables on the outer part of the gym with different sections like women's clothing, men's clothing, baby items, little boy's clothing, kitchen, home goods, miscellaneous, ect. You brought your stuff you were wanting to get rid of, and placed it at the corresponding table. You were then able to walk around and snag anything anyone else brought that caught your eye! Whatever was left over at the end of the night, if the original owners did not want to bring it back home, was picked up the next day to be taken to a thrift store.

For the 72-hour kits, we had the women order in advance how many kits (if any) they wanted, and we had them pay us in advance as well. Our kits came to approximately $12.50 per kit, and they were completely filled with good food, gum, water flavoring packets, sanitizer, and cutlery. I personally think it was a great deal after doing it on my own and our kits were not nearly as full and yummy. A fabulous sister came up with our kit list and then went out and bought everything in bulk. *I can get a copy of her kit menu and put it up on here.* We had an assembly line where they grabbed a mylar bag and a kit list, then grabbed the assigned number (written on a post-it next to the item) of each thing and placed it in the bag. As soon as they were done filling, they went over to get the bag sealed. We are planning on doing the 72-hour kit activity twice a year, around General Conference time (scrumptious conference snack for the kiddos! : ). That way we are able to keep the food in the kits constantly fresh. **Water was not provided for the kits, so you would need to provide your own water per person. Some people have large purified water jugs that they plan to use for their kits, but it also is convenient to have individual water bottles for each 72-hour kit backpack. 

Going along with the SWAP meet/garage sale kind of feel, we had a faux "bake sale/lemonade stand" for refreshments. It was fun to get that ready! I had just a few sisters bring something, so we ended up with cookies, ice cream cake (not pictured), and rice crispy treats. I made cupcakes, cookies, and then picked up two boxes of pastries from our local store to slice up into bite-size pieces. I bought Countrytime lemonade mix, got some bagged ice, and sliced fresh lemons for the lemonade. Easy peasy.

Some early pictures of the "bake sale" before we got all of the other yummies.

The beginning of the assembly line looking down...

Our awesome bag sealers!! : )

It was a fun and very productive activity! I was definitely thankful for all of the help that was given in preparing for it! I know I feel more prepared and at ease having these ready for short-term emergencies. I placed each of the 5 kits I made (one for each member of my family) in a backpack and I have them stored in a hallway closet at my house. I am still in the process of purchasing water bottles and then gathering all of the extra goodies that belong in a 72-hour kit (spare clothes, first aid, flash lights, ect.). Slowly but surely I'll get there! We might have to wear dirty clothes, light a fire by rubbing my unshaven legs together, and use tree sap and grass for bandages, but at least we got food ya'll!!!!

**But seriously, being prepared brings peace! Especially when you have a family to think about.

Rest and Renew Rendezvous

For the Relief Society women's activity for the month of November, we wanted to focus on relaxing before the holidays/taking care of yourself. Thus...Rest and Renew Rendezvous. I just love me some rhyming/alliteration. : ) The point was to give just a few tips on at-home beauty remedies and relaxation ideas. We just wanted to give the women a chance to get away from the worries of life for a couple of hours. We had four presentations: hair-care, facial-care, nail-care, and some basic yoga. Each station gave a 5-10 min. presentation and then we moved on to the next. After all four presented, we set the women free! We let them go to whatever station they wanted and really do whatever they wanted to do for the remainder of the time. We also had a reading nook and a scrumptious hot cocoa bar. So, most women had their nails done, did a sugar scrub on their hands, a few got facials, a few read in the book nook, and we all just had fun chatting and laughing while sipping our cocoa. Sadly, there were a lot of things going on for many of the families in our ward that night, so we didn't have a super good turn out number-wise. Nevertheless, we still enjoyed our relaxing night together as sisters and friends! : )

This was my hair-care station. I am not a professional, but I found lots of ideas online about at-home hair remedies, tips for healthier hair, how to style, ect.



The reading nook.



The hot cocoa bar. We had the DELICIOUS gourmet hot cocoa from Sam's, whipped cream, bittersweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, different kinds of marshmellows, candy canes, toffee bits, chocolate sprinkles, whipped cream, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice coffee creamer, vanilla, and pirouette cookies. We had hot water in the little contraption at the back of the table. We also had cucumber water to go along with the "spa" theme I was going for with the decorations.

 

My sister in law Stacy who is awesome at nails!!



She had us do a sugar scrub on our hands while she spoke to us.

Another fantastic sis-in-law of mine (Irina) helping out by doing the facial station! I finally figured out why she has such beautiful skin!!! She had lots of fabulous ideas for at-home facials.



She found lots of ideas online using things from your kitchen to help your skin be radiant!



Yoga station by Janine! She is super athletic, so she had some great yoga poses for relaxation! She brought a yoga dvd for people to do after we were done with all of the presentations.

Some of the ladies getting their nails did! : )

Fernanda and I with our crazy milk, honey, and nutmeg masks! : ) Who would have thought those things combined could be good for your skin?

Thanks ladies for a fun night full of pampering and relaxation!! : )

Over the River and Through the Woods...

We had Relief Society Enrichment Night tonight at church.  (That is when the adult women have a little shin-dig and do something (fun/educational/spiritual/uplifting) together, roughly once a month. The theme I came up with for this month was, "Over the River and Through the Woods to Grandmother's House We Go." So... what does that mean, you might ask. Well, how 'bout I just tell you.


1. Part 1. WOODS: Decorate the gym with stuff to make it look "woodsy." For me, that was ransacking my in-laws guest bedroom which had mini-pine trees, bears, and branches. Of course since we are in the middle of October people, I put up some of my own fall decorations as well. : )

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2. GRANDMOTHER'S HOUSE: Bring your grandmother's best main dish/side dish to share for the potluck. A few people explained what they made and the history behind the recipe.

 

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*Or like me, snag a yummy broccoli salad recipe from here and pretend it was your grandmother's secret recipe. jk. That is totally not honest, just fyi. I really did make that for my side dish though, but I didn't claim it as a family recipe. : )

3. RIVER: Chocolate fountain with strawberries, bananas, pretzels, oreos, chocolate chip cookies, and caramels to dip in.

4. Part 2 WOODS: We did four fabulous autumn wood crafts.

 

Here are the four autumn wood crafts we did.

The pictures are from the websites I got the ideas from.

My camera still no-workey.

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* We added a fourth character- a ghost.
It was just painted white with black eyes and a black mouth.

 

 

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At first I thought the theme was a bit of a stretch and that people wouldn't get it. Yet, the more I planned it, the more I was excited for it. So, my conclusion... it turned out really fun and I wouldn't have changed a thing!!!!

**** Oh, I almost forgot! And with the number of women we had make these crafts, the cost for each craft only cost $6.25 each! So that is a steal of a deal for a fun and festive decoration!! : )

Relief Society Activity: Family Home Evening Throughout the Seasons of Life

for June's Relief Society activity, we wanted to focus on strengthening the family-particularly through family home evening. im fairly new to our ward, so i wasn't sure of the needs of our women. i felt a little overwhelmed, and wasn't sure where to start. my husband was sweet enough to remind me to pray. DUH! one night, the thought of "seasons" popped into my head. and it just got the ball rolling! i was so thankful to have the inspiration on our theme, "FHE throughout the seasons of life." it all just worked out perfectly. we had 4 stations: the spring station (newlyweds/young couples without children/young singles), summer station (families with young children), fall station (families with teens), and winter station (empty nesters/older couples/ singles).

we had the chairs in the center of the gym with the 4 seasonal tables/stations surrounding them. in two of the corners, we had a punch table with a FHE quote that i loved, as well as a FHE resource table. as we traveled throughout the "seasons of life," the women just turned their chairs to face the next table. it was a lot easier to do it that way than to have 30 chairs at each station or to have the women carry their chairs from station to station.

 

i asked two women to help at each station. one to make a treat to share (either favorite FHE treat or favorite corresponding seasonal treat) and one to give some tips, ideas, advice, ect.

 

it was a very budget friendly activity, since we had four women bring treats and i took care of the punch. we also used seasonal decorations from my storage, my in-laws, my relief society advisor (1st or 2nd counselor?), and the relief society closet. we also just used some fabric we had in the r.s. closet for table cloths. so the only things i purchased were the posterboard to make signs, sherbet, and soda. you can definately go all out for this kind activity, the sky is really the limit. i had visions of sugar plums dancing in my head! but, we had a budget goal of spending <$30, and i think it worked out wonderfully!!

 

so, here's a glimpse of our fun night!

 

 punch table- as you can tell, i got nervous i was running out of room for the quote lol.

we started off with the spring station.

 moved to summer...

 then fall...

 At the fall station, the speaker decided to incorporate a fun game into her station-since games are a good way to teach your teens. she did the good ol' shaving cream and cheese ball game!

 (by the fall station, chairs weren't as neat as they were at the beginning. PLUS it looks like there weren't very many women. BUT, there were several people standing to the sides. we had 26 women show up! from what i heard, that is an awesome attendance number!)

lastly, the winter station.

i had so much fun planning this activity! it was great getting to know more of the women, as well as share ideas to help strengthen our families. a big thanks to all of the wonderful women who helped and who came! : )