Thursday, January 18, 2007
Ward Activities
Okay, so they finally kicked me out of Primary...:( I guess I was actually really ready for the change and I didn't know it. My new calling is to be the activities person. So I was wondering if any of you had a favorite activity in your ward? Or something you wish your ward would do...? Any ideas? I would love any suggestions as to what has worked in your wards and even what hasn't. I know you ladies are all very creative and resourceful...Help me!
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9 comments:
when we lived in austin,we were the first ward to meet in the morning and it was eeeaaarrrrly, so they started having a "MORMON MORNING MUFFIN MUNCH AND MINGLE" every sunday morning. they actually had a good turnout! and really, it's just dang fun to say:) of course there's the traditional talent shows, road shows, stuff like that. our ward here in palestine has an activity once a month with a fairly decent turnout. the last one was a pie and ice cream social...that was yummy. that's all i've got! good luck in your new calling, it will be fun!
mollie, i'm sorry. just kidding. i was activities chair in huntington beach and our bishop wanted an activity every month no matter what. we HAD to be creative. of course living by the beach made it easier - we did a lot of beachy stuff.
we would also have talent nights, cook offs with good prizes (that's the key), we rented jumpers for kiddos, had pool parties (probably not an option in washington), and also did service projects...
good luck!
I'm a fan of ward camp-outs, we camp at the hot springs here. Valentine's dinners and dances are fun, and our ward does a steak and salmon night for adults once a year.
I don't think our ward has the same budget as the Huntington Beach ward, so Disneyland may be out, j/k sher.
I'm not a fan of cheesy, surprising I know, but I don't like the half-baked talent shows, give me something that will move me, or just leave me to my food and company at my table.
Good luck Mollie.
The funnest ward activities we have had are a ward dance complete with kids and all. It is fun to dance with the kids. They had prizes for limbo and dance competitions. They did Dancing through the ages so a little something from every era. The best part was everyone dressed from one of the eras. We had some great John Travolta suits. Another one was everyone created a home movie with a box of props. We had to use all the props in our movie. Then we turned them all in and had a movie night with popcorn and all. It was fun to watch!! There are a lot of creative people out there. My kids still love to watch the movie we made.
I just wrote a ton and then it all errased so now you get the short verson...here are some ideas from the years I was on activities commity.
* Pinewood Derby - do it for the men in the ward, they will act like teenages again. Add food then the women will have something to do while the men act like teenagers.
* Adult only activities - who does yern for a ward activity without the kids?! We always did one in January and made it a white elephant gift exchange - one present was brought back three years in a row - it was awesome.
* October Fest - a fun way to have a harvest/halloween party. We always had it in a member's barn. Cold but always fun.
* We did a fiesta christmas party once - everyone brought enchaladas.
Who knew there were so many different but yummy kinds.
* We did a Army's of Heleman Camp.
Our bishop had challenged us all to read the BOM and so we had a Army themed training camp - lots of work but so much fun. I have the outline for that activity somewhere if you need any ideas.
* Dinner groups are also fun. We changed our groups quarterly.
Mollie just remember this, the activities commity has the chance to take a ward from just being people who live with in a boundry and make them into people who are friends. The commity chair I served under was so good at that.
She never forgot anyone...good luck.
Mollie, you will do great at this calling! It is always so hard for me to switch callings. I guess I just get attached to the kids/girls/etc. Our last ward always had a 4th of July Breakfast, with some Patriotic Songs. That was fun. Also a Chili Cook-off, complete with Karaoke one year, the other year we did Country Line Dancing. I also enjoy Ward Family Dances.
We had a fun family talent show when I lived in Boston and that was great. The one that is a huge turn out here is the bread and soup social. The kids are left at home for this one. Everyone brings soup or bread...obviously, and some people bring a muffin tin to put small samples for themselves in each tin. Another one that was fun was a pancake breakfast for 4th or 24th of July, but before the breakfast whoever wanted to met at the church and ran a couple miles. The route was mapped out and the ward all cheered for everyone as they returned to the church. The Elder's even ran with us! Good luck on your new calling!
Ladies, you are all so brilliant! Thank you for all the wonderful ideas! I plan to use as many of them as I can! Sherrie, what kind of prizes did you award? Our ward has had a couple contests, but they never give prizes and I think that is a great idea!
mollie, i usually went with the theme of the night and had the prize go a long with that. for instance when we had our chili cook-off our 1st prize was a gift certificate to chili's. (you can get different amounts so it's not like you have to spend tons of money on it)
another one was the halloween party - best dressed for adults got a certificate for a local halloween shop. people love getting certificates i found...of course who wouldn't? i just tried to tie it into the theme of the event.
also it's all about the advertising too! get your flyers out there soon and make them pretty and people will come. also advertise if you have prizes and what they are. people are easily enticed when they are going to possibly get a prize. we also divided up the ward directory the night before between the committee and called everyone in the ward to remind them. this worked really well cause a lot of the time people either forget or loose the flyer.
also our bishop was really good at continually encouraging people to come - and also asking them to invite non-members or less actives. these people are usually more willing to come to a party then to church.
it's a great opportunity to unite the ward and it was really fun, a bit stressful, but fun!
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