Halloween Ball

Who: All Adults
Objective: Mingle, have fun, fellowship, missionary
Budget: $25

Flyer:

Set-Up: We basically had each member of the committee bring whatever Halloween decorations they had, and we made the room look really cute.

Special Instructions: We had an area on the stage for picture taking. A member of our bishopric is in a band, and he was able to talk his band in coming to play for free, so always a plus! So that we wouldn't end up with all sugary treats, I asked the committee members to bring items such as fruit/veggie trays, cheeses, cocktail meatballs, etc. It worked out great, and they were happy to do it. One of the gals on our committee made some "certificate" awards on her computer, and she and her hubby nominated people at the end of the night for best costumes. She also had found some little Halloween trinkets at the dollar store to give away for the prizes.

Turn-Out: After the wards split and were realigned, our number of elderly increased while our number of younger couples decreased. So, we invited the 6th ward to join us. We had a great time and about 60 people came.

We came in under budget, as the cost for the root beer extract, sugar and dry ice was $10; the printing of the pictures were $7, and the prizes were $5.



Here are a few pics of some of the costumes...

Progressive Picnic Potluck

Who: All Adults 18+
Objective: Mingle, Fellowship, Missionary efforts, Fun! etc.
Budget: $40 for paper products
Flyer:
Set-Up: I had arranged for a few houses to host a dinner course in their backyard. "Appetizers/Salads", "Casseroles/Main Dish/Rolls" and "Dessert". (If you don't have enough homes with a big backyard, you can always meet back at the church for dessert.) I had sign up sheets for potluck items circulating 2-3 weeks ahead of time.

Special Instructions:The plan was to meet at the church and then to go together to the various homes for each meal course. However....

Turn-Out:...It ended up raining. So, we had everyone bring their dishes to the church, and we had an indoor picnic. We did not set up tables. We set up chairs for those that did not bring blankets or camp chairs. The rain kept people away, as there was some confusion as to whether or not we were still going to have it. But it was fun to have a small group. It felt like a dinner group and we were able to have some great conversation.

Hawaiian Dinner Cruise (Or Not)?

Who: Adults, 18+
Objective: FriendSHIPping, fellowSHIPping, missionary efforts, unity, etc.
Budget: $125
Flyer: (I don't have the original flyer, but here is what it said)

Ahoy all adults!

Come aboard the S.S. Fellow-Ship and join us for a

Hawaiian Dinner Cruise.

May 9th,

Board at 6:30pm, from the East Dock

Feel free to wear your Aloha! attire

It'd be a shame to miss this one on "porpoise"!

*brought to you by Save Our Souls (S.O.S.) Cruiselines

Set-Up: The cultural hall was set up and decorated for a Mexican Fiesta. Doors were kept closed. The chapel overflow area was set up to resemble the inside of a river boat. I had arranged ahead of time for a few of the YW to dress in Hawaiian wear to welcome each guest with a lei. I had arranged for one man with a nice "radio voice" to be our "captain" and had given him a script ahead of time, and I also had some Hawaiian music on CD to play on the overhead speakers.

Special Instructions: Prior to and during the welcome of the "passengers", no one that is in on the secret is to let on that this is anything but a "Hawaiian Dinner Cruise". Have the Hawaiian music playing on the speakers until you have enough "passengers" arrive to get started. After the opening prayer, Our “captain” gives his on-board announcements, welcoming them aboard the SS Fellowship, and tells them to sit back, relax and enjoy the ride, and that soon we will be docking for a wonderful Hawaiian Dinner. The “stewardesses” (YW) brought a cart through with Tahitian Treat drinks (aka Ginger ale & Fruit Punch). After the drinks were passed out, the captain then made the announcement that due to a tropical storm, we'd have to reroute and he advised them that we'd be docking on the Mexican Riviera. But not to fear, he had radioed ahead and our Mexican Fiesta will be ready! Then we had everyone exit through the “emergency exit” – which was the curtain/partition. We had a taco bar set up along with fruit salad. We already had Hawaiian and Mexican decorations from previous activities, so we just used those to decorate the various areas accordingly.

Turn-Out:We had about 65 people sign up, so I planned for 100 tacos, cuz I figured some would eat two. We still had foil and foil pans left over from Christmas, so I didn’t have to buy any of those. We used them to heat up the tortilla shells and pulled them from the oven as needed.

We bought 10 pkgs small flour tortilla shells (“taco” size, not “burrito” size), 12 lbs ground beef, 12 packets dry “taco seasoning” mix, 6 small cans refried beans, 3 heads lettuce – shredded, 3 medium/large onions, 4 cans dice tomatoes drained, 5 cans sliced black olives, 1 lg tub of sour cream, 7 bags (14 C) shredded cheese, 1 bottle of red hot chili pepper sauce, 1 large thing of salsa, 2 bags tortilla chips. For the fruit salad I bought 7 big cans of fruit cocktail, 3 boxes instant vanilla pudding. I just emptied all of the fruit juice into a big salad bowl and then added the instant pudding mix in with a wire whisk. I let the pudding sit in the fridge about 10 minutes, the folded the fruit in, covered it tightly with plastic wrap and let chill until dinner.

Total in attendance: about 55

Because of Cinco De Mayo being so close I got all of the food on sale, and ended up spending $112. We already had plenty of paper products in our storage closet, so I did not have to get any of that stuff.

Oh - and you can get all sorts of "scene setter" like the one here.  Just google "Cruise Ship Scene Setters".

Sock Hockey

Who: Adults
Objective: Sportsmanship, mingle,
Budget: $20 for chips, salsa and nacho cheese.
Flyer:

Set-Up: Outlined goals with duct tape on the floors and walls of opposite ends of gym.

Special Instructions: Split up into teams, and using a balled up pair of white socks, played Hockey. We used very simple rules. Try to get the sock into your team's goal. We played until everyone was tired. We had a non-player keep score, while another was "referee" (basically, dropped the "puck" and then told us if it went out of bounds, etc.)

Turn-Out: The weather wasn't so great, and there ended up being a big community event that night in which we had to compete, so there was only a handful of people (15 or so) that came. Nonetheless, it was still fun.

Jigsaw Jamboree

Who: All adults, 18+
Objective: To mingle and get to know one another
Budget: $0 (used plates and napkins we already had on hand)
Flyer:
Set-Up: There were 5 round tables set up, each containing 1-500 piece puzzle.

How-To-Play: Players are invited to sit at a table, and told not to begin their puzzle until the sound of the bell (which I held in my hand). Players are also instructed that it is a competition and the first table to complete their puzzle wins. However, there is a catch. Anytime the bell is sounded, players must get up from the table and switch to a new table. It does not matter which table they move to, as long as they move. The bell is sounded at random intervals.

We did this in January as our kick-off activity. Everyone loved it and it was fun because you never knew when you would have to get up. I was worried that 500 pieces would be too overwhelming. Surprisingly enough, it was not. Once the first table finished, the other tables did not want to quit. They wanted to continue until all of the puzzles were finished. We have a good mix of young couples and elderly, so this was something that all were able to enjoy without trying to explain too many rules (like if we would have played Scattergories or something).

Turn-Out: We had about 25 people come, which was actually perfect. It would have probably gotten a little too crowded with more than 5 or 6 bustling around each puzzle.