Relief Society Christmas Party "Kringle Mingle"

At this christmas party, after a quick prayer with a blessing on the refreshments--

Part 1: We played Name that Tune,  there was a clue that was read, and the ladies got to guess the title of the christmas song, each winner got a small bag of hershey kisses tied up with a ribbon.

Part 2:  We had a reading of 7 characters who were part of the Birth of Jesus' story, the inn keeper, Mary, shepherds, etc.  To be honest, 7 characters were too long, it lasted about 30-40 minutes! If I did it again I would have only picked 3 of the characters to be read, and I assigned one sister per reading, they were around 1-2 pages each.

We had a lot of sisters sign up to bring food.  I printed out 3 copies of this sign up sheet, so I could take one to the primary and YW.


The more spots numbered on the sign up sheet, the more people feel willing to sign up;)  At least that's my philosophy.  Plus there's usually at least one person who signs up and can't end up making it to the activity, so having an abundance avoids having a last minute scramble when someone cancels on refreshments.

 

<3 these ladies!

November 2014 Relief Society Midweek Activity Grateful Gala

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.
10min speaker on the Beattitudes (I think? My memory!)

Part 2.
Each sister was able to share something they were grateful for.

Part 3.  Big craft, decorating the cover of a composition notebook to become a Gratitude Journal.

Closing prayer.

September Relief Society Midweek Meeting- Organize Your Life

This Activity was what I like to call a trifecta.  We had 3 speakers.  In hindsight I would stick to one speaker, and follow my new (2016) format of 1 10 min speaker (about how the Lord's house is house of order, etc. for the spiritual aspect), followed by each sister sharing an organizing tip they do at their home, then have a game.  

With 3 speakers it was very important to tell people they have less time than they actually have because people tend to go over, 10 min each would've been fine.  Because honestly, unless it's 1 speaker that's really good that talks for 20 min, there doesn't provide much "fellowshipping" time among the sisters.
My emphasis on "fellowshipping/friend shipping" is based on what President Hinckley said every new member needs -- a calling, a friend & (something else I can't remember.) I've always felt like my ward is my family wherever I'm at,  and midweek meetings might be the only time some sisters have to get to know newly moved in sisters or just sisters you don't know well, since there's practically no time to visit on Sunday.   So that's my 2 cents on the subject:-)

March Relief Society Birthday "Something Extraordinary"

Setting up!

Here's the invitations:

Here's the conducting sheet/program:

Mid Setting Up:

The centerpieces were old spaghetti jars that I spray painted and rubbed gold rub n buff on. Then I got a few packs of star paper plates from the dollar store, taped them onto skewers I had, added some raffia and put them in the jars as centerpieces.  The fabric and beads and battery operated tea lights I had in my decorating stash.

 I printed these silhouettes out at costco that I downloaded free here.

 We had Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner.

My favorite sister missionaries and I putting together little bags of fudge for the sisters to take home:

January Relief Society Midweek Meeting- Talent Night

January always needs to be an easy activity after the big holiday!  See the flyer below:

We had a speaker for 10 minutes talk about the parable of the talents and her own talents.  Then each sister got 3 min or so to talk about the item they brought and their talent.  It was great to feel the spirit, and fellowship each sister and get to know them better based on what they shared. As always refreshments were served first at 6:30 with socializing, and the program started at 7pm with an opening song. Simple, Spiritual & Memorable!