December Relief Society Christmas Party

The Christmas Party is one of our best attended activities.  

We had it at Susan's house and it was perfect!! Her home was so lovely decorated I couldn't get over it.  There were even motion detector bells that played music as you walked up the front door!

Whenever we have an activity at someone's home, the start time is changed to 7pm-- so it's more convenient for the family that's hosting.  

Around 7:15 many sisters had arrived, so we had a Opening Prayer (blessing the food-- we had a big sign up and sisters brought the refreshments, the committee made punch and provided the paper products).

We had a musical number on the piano with 2 gals singing a beautiful Duet.  Then I announced the craft in the kitchen and wished everyone a Merry Christmas to socialize and make their craft for the rest of the evening.

We made ornaments similar to this:

source

 It was delightful and christmasy and a wonderful evening! Thanks to Susan and Robert opening their home for everyone!!

November Relief Society Midweek Meeting: Around the World

Who doesn't love talking about their trips??!  

In my ward we  always have refreshments first:-)

The plan for the activity is as follows:

6:30 Bless Refreshments/Socializing

7pm Start Program.

It works out perfectly, since not everyone can make it at 6:30, so the program is at 7pm.  When we used to have refreshments at the end, people would have to leave and miss them, so it just made sense to start them off at the beginning.

at 7pm we have an opening song to start off the program portion of the night.  

We decorated with a big map and some flag banners around the room.   The map was great to reference where all the ladies had been.  We set up a table on the side of the room (not pictured) for ladies to display their travel items on.

Part 1: Speaker for 10 min
We started out the evening with a sister who was a returned missionary from Chicago Spanish speaking mission and she talked about her experience on a mission and loving the people she served.

Part 2: Sharing Time
Then each sister that brought an item from a trip to display had 3-5 minutes to tell everyone about their item (or items!)  It was a very fun night, and people were able to get to know each other better and fellowshipping went on after hearing an insight into everyone's lives.  Our president even brought her scrapbook and shared when she just happened to be in the right place at the right time, about 10 steps away from the Queen of England!

We had a couple sisters sign up to bring refreshments.
Lots of fun and bonding was had that night.

October Stake Relief Society Activity

Oh boy! My favorite is when the stake has a women's activity and we don't have one at the ward level!  Before I knew what the stake activity was, I wanted to let the sisters know on the bulletin board what was coming up so I made this flyer:

September Relief Society Broadcast

In lieu of a regular midweek meeting, we focus on the General Relief Society Meeting.  We get together at the church 1/2 hour before the broadcast for treats and socializing and then watch the broadcast together.   I know you can watch it at home, but some sisters still like coming out to the church, and you have a super easy activity that only requires refreshments and a bishopric member to set up the projector & equipment.

August Relief Society Midweek Meeting "Spa Night"

August! I was on vacation for this activity, so I wasn't in charge and can't remember what they did but I made this flyer:

July Midweek Meeting - Ice Cream Social

This has become an annual activity-- our Bishop has a fabulous garden and backyard so we've had a  activity at his house each summer.  We forego any formal program and simply have an opening prayer (you could add a musical number if you wanted) and socialize:-)

June Midweek Meeting "A Night at the Movies"

We used this idea here and just regurgitated it for our ward.

All the gals did a great job, but in hindsight, 3 speakers was a rather long time, so I'd recommend sticking with my 3 Step Program and only having 1 speaker.

Here's the Poster we  put in the church foyer:

Here's the flyer, you can get a blank one here.

We had that great Chicago Mix popcorn from costco in cute little popcorn boxes from oriental trading, and Robin had some great hot dog baskets with paper for the hot dogs.

Funny pic of everyone in Deb's backyard!

May Midweek Meeting "Quilt Day"

In my ward we  always have refreshments first:-)

The plan for the activity is as follows:

6:30 Bless Refreshments/Socializing

7pm Start Program.

It works out perfectly, since not everyone can make it at 6:30, so the program is at 7pm.  When we used to have refreshments at the end, people would have to leave and miss them, so it just made sense to start them off at the beginning.

at 7pm we have an opening song to start off the program portion of the night.  

Part 1:  Speaker for 10 min on the history of quilting.

Part 2: Sisters that brought a quilt to display got a few minutes to talk about the quilt they brought and who made it etc.

Part 3: I should have added a minute to win it or short game here!

We had about 15 sisters come out for the night.  I realize quilting may not interest everyone, but the sisters who came really enjoyed it. Having a variety of activities is the key:-)

April Midweek Activity "An Answered Prayer"

Testimony Tales got rave reviews from the sisters! One of the best and simplest activities!

The flyer pretty much explains it all. There was no assigned speaker.

You could do this 2 ways:

 We sat in 2 circles (based on time-- so each sister had 5 minutes) and went around the circle as each sister shared their conversion story.  I really liked having small circles (about 7 in each group) because there was more conversation going on as the smaller groups were more intimate.  (we've done 1 large group another time-- since some sisters felt like they wanted to hear everyone's story-- which was great too-- but I liked the smaller groups because I felt like there was more conversing with each other and more friendship making going on, rather than everyone else be silent while one person had the floor if you know what I mean:-) both ways work great, so I'd say pick what works best for your goals, attendance and timeframe.   

March Relief Society Birthday

Since it was on St. Patricks day this year we had a bit of a green theme.

Another Relief Society Birthday Dinner:

We've got the next 2 months of activities framed and the flyers out on the tables.  After we ate (catered food from a local place-- much easier to pick it up, and we had some of the high priests serve the ladies) and had a speaker, we played a game back in those circled chairs for the fun.  ( I may have skipped out after decorating to go to Dayton to watch BYU play in the NCAA game;)

February Midweek Meeting Love is gleaming in the air

Here's the February Activity Flyer
We had planned for 3 speakers on the topics on the flyer (but I would recommend just sticking with 1 per my 2016 3 part meeting plan).

January Midweek Meeting "Testimony Tales"

Testimony Tales got rave reviews from the sisters! One of the best and simplest activities!

The flyer pretty much explains it all. There was no assigned speaker.

 We sat in 2 circles (based on time-- so each sister had 5 minutes) and went around the circle as each sister shared their conversion story.  I really liked having small circles (about 7 in each group) because there was more conversation going on as the smaller groups were more intimate.  (we've done 1 large group another time-- since some sisters felt like they wanted to hear everyone's story-- which was great too-- but I liked the smaller groups because I felt like there was more conversing with each other and more friendship making going on, rather than everyone else be silent while one person had the floor if you know what I mean:-) both ways work great, so I'd say pick what works best for your goals, attendance and timeframe.   I think we had some lemon bars and other goodies for treats, maybe cheesecake?