Primary "Drive-In" Activity

We had a really fun Primary Activity at church recently. One of our teachers had given me this idea and I pitched it to the counselor over this activity and she thought it sounded great too! Off we went...

To start off, I checked Pinterest for ideas to make cardboard cars and there were TONS of fun ideas. I let the primary families know about a month ahead of time and sent out an e-mail with some photos so they had PLENTY of time to help their kids make the cars at home. 

I was in charge of the concessions area. I have been in charge many times before, for the school plays. I used my candy machine that my handy husband made for me for Willy Wonka years ago. It's been stuffed behind one of my kids beds for years that I almost forgot about it! It takes a lot of candy to fill, but it is so fun. 

I printed a free "concessions" banner I found on-line added a few striped tablecloths and popcorn machine and we were in buisness! 

 My co-planner, Janay and her husband, Mel built this AMAZING Car Wash for the kids to drive their cars through. It was so fun! 

We have a projector, so we projected the movie up onto the wall. We piped the sound into the speakers so it was nice and loud. The kids sat through the whole thing! I think the fact that the sound was pretty loud helped because they felt they were in a theater. We also turned most of the lights off. 

It was a very succesful party that required some of pre-planning and set-up but was so easy during. We just sat with the kids, re-filled some candy and popcorn and enjoyed the movie!

YW Scripture Ribbon/Awards Shadowbox

Do your young women use their scripture ribbons and organizer?  

In 2010 when it was first announced I thought the ribbons were a wonderful idea.  And the girls were excited about them.  A beautiful way to mark our scriptures.  We noticed over the years that excitement turned to "Oh, I've earned another scripture ribbon and am not sure what to do with it."  We found that even though we encouraged our girls to use their paper scriptures and ribbon markers, they (we) often chose to use our cell phones and specifically the LDS Scripture Library online. 

As I was helping my daughter prepare for her Young Women in Excellence display I came across all of the beautiful ribbons and thought they represented so much work.  I couldn't let them go unnoticed.  I decided much like the many awards, ribbons, medals the boys earn while in the Scouting program and often displayed at their Eagle Court of Honor, we could do the same by displaying Kate's many awards, medals and especially the 8 ribbons representing the completion of each Value Experience and Project. 

Kate's happy little face at the completion of several years of achieving her goals.

Her shadowbox is a great reminder of those years and also an encouragement to continue to move forward with new goals and new experiences.

This charm bracelet was created by our Personal Progress leader in hopes to encourage our young women to actively participate each month and then report when they had accomplished a goal in the Value they were working on.  Each charm represents a value experience or project that was completed.  The girls love them! 

The lockets and torch symbol have special significance and act as reminders throughout Kate's young women years.

I bought the shadowbox at Hobby Lobby 50% off.

The YW Value signs were purchased at Deseret Book.

We also created this for her YW display.

Produce Jars and Cherries-Happy 4th of July

Schools out.  Summer is in full swing.  Fruit is back in season and Independence Day celebrations are heating up.  And then I ran across these Farm Fresh Produce jars.  Perfect.

I visit a few ladies in my neighborhood every month.  These ladies have become close friends and I look forward to our visits.  I try and think of ways to let them know I think about them after our visits too.  I thought they might enjoy a little jar decorated for the 4th of July, filled with plump, juicy cherries.

I found these jars at TaiPan on clearance for $2.00.  I love the texture and look of the produce jars.  The metal flags were found at Hobby Lobby.  The cherries?  From our local grocer.

It feels like summer.  And that makes me happy.

Graduation Gift Card with Diploma Dollar Bills

Have you mailed out all your graduation gift cards?  If not, here's your quick fix.

Actually one of the easiest grad gifts I've ever done, except for maybe the Sees graduation hat filled with chocolates!  Yum.

Thanks kiki and company!

Free graduation card templete found here

I added the graphic to my favorite chevron print.  Then added a personal message.

Ready to go, almost.

Punch two tiny holes (see template).  Insert skinny black ribbon through holes.  Curl up a $20.00 bill (or $1, $5, $10 or $100!) and tie the black ribbon to the card.  

My dollar bill was a little larger than the kiki picture because my card was a 5x7...I would assume just a bit smaller than the one kiki created.

Address the envelope.  Done!

Nice presentation, little or no stress, and something every graduate will appreciate.

Love clever ideas!  Thanks again kiki and company.  Will there be a 2017 card coming soon?

YW Recipe Binder-Good Works #2

I remember as a newly graduated young adult going off to college wondering how I was going to feed myself.  My mom was the best cook ever and had encouraged me to learn a few things in the kitchen, but I never quite made the time to take it seriously.  

I also remember standing in my college apartment kitchen thinking, "I really don't know how and what to cook for dinner!"  Some of the meals that my roommates and I concocted were seriously funny and probably very unhealthy. (Ahh to be young again!)

After weeks of low energy and unappealing food, I finally realized that it was important to fix and eat healthy meals.  My mother would have never said, "Told you so!"  But I knew it was true.

Next trip home I started gathering recipes from my mom's famous "blue recipe binder."  They were all the family favorites.  There were a few of those recipes that required a little better skill set than I had, but over the years I've learned many of the little secrets to success.  Practice makes Perfect, right?

My past inabilities inspired this young women's activity.  My thought was to help our young women get a jump start on learning and collecting great recipes for their future.   

  

This activity was EASY to organize and FUN to participate in.

All of the materials for the binder were found at the Dollar Store.  One binder, set of dividers and recipe clip=less than $3.00

Weekly menu plan template

Java Cupcake conversion chart template

All printed materials came from free templates online.

Template for Lauren McKinsey recipe binder templates

Once the recipe binders were complete, we treated the young women to a chef inspired evening of Italian Chicken Stir-Fry.

The binder included the recipe for the stir-fry and a place to take notes as they participated in learning how to make the delicious dish.

The young women were encouraged to take their binders home and start adding their favorite recipes to it.  They were also encouraged to continue working on the requirements to pass off the PP-Value Experience-Good Works #2.

I'm sure some of these binders will sit unused in their cedar chests until they strike out on their own and are faced with that same dilemma I had, "What shall I make for dinner?"  And then they will think of their mothers and leaders who came up with this brilliant idea of future planning and an amazing recipe binder!