Hillbilly Harvest Hoedown & Chili Cookoff!

Who: All ages
Objective: Mingle, Fellowship, cooking skills, etc.
Budget: $20, for oyster crackers ("chicken feed") and butter
Flyer:


Set-Up: We decorated the tables with mason jars and old soup cans that were filled with sunflowers. We had some country style decor set up on the stage as well. (Tasteful) Redneck jokes were blown up onto poster boards and tacked up to the walls around the room.

Special Instructions: We had sign-ups ahead of time. People could either sign up to enter chili in the cook-off, bring rolls, or something for the "Roadkill Dessert Bar".

Turn-Out: We had about 65 people come.

We had little 3 oz cups set out so people could sample the chili as they went through the line. Then they could fill their bowl up with the one they wanted to eat. There were plenty of rolls, and our Roadkill dessert bar was a hoot. I had little place cards and pens so they could write down the name of their "roadkill dessert". We had "tire tread", "runned-over raccoon", "squashed frogs", and I can't remember all of them.

We had each crockpot of soup labeled with numbers, and there were empty mason jars lined up across the stage, that had corresponding numbers. When they came through the line to get their chili, they were also given a black bean. Then, they cast their vote for the best chili by placing their black bean in the corresponding jar. It was a quick and easy way to "visually" judge who had the best chili. It also was cute as it went along with our theme.

We had ice water in a metal tub that was labeled "waterin hole" and people could help themselves to water. The oyster crackers were served in a cardboard box (lined with plastic) and marked "Chicken Feed" in Hillbilly Handwriting.

Once everyone got through the line, we had a girl in our ward do some fiddling for us. She was excited to do it and had been practising for weeks. She played about 4 or 5 numbers and the audience loved it. Then we had a girl from the activity committee teach an easy line dance and practically everyone joined in.

Finally, we awarded a few prizes for the chili as well as for the best roadkill dessert, and we also gave an award for the best-dressed hillbilly.

We had "redneck" teeth from walmart for the outfit, and for the food winners we had a dish towel with chili peppers on them.

Everyone loved it and seemed to have a great time! Here are a few pics from my camera phone...

King of Hearts UN-Pageant

Who: Everyone, All Ages
Objective: Promote camaraderie & family fun.
Budget: $100 (for dipping chocolate)
Flyer:

Set-Up: Starting 2-3 weeks ahead of time, we put nomination boxes in the foyer. We told everyone to nominate their favorite "King" ages 16+. We had a good number of nominations. I also sent around a sign-up sheet in RS for the chocolate dipping bar. We had people sign up to bring: cake bits, pretzels, marshmallows, orange slices, strawberries, pineapple chunks, apples slices, bananas, graham crackers, gummi bears, wafers, shortbread cookies, macaroons, and anything else you could think of to dip in chocolate.

Activity: On the night of the activity, we drew names from the nomination box and called up 6 contestants. The contestants competed in various (see below), and in between segments we had “messages from our sponsors”. These were little 30 second “commercials” put on by some of the youth. They were hilarious. Following the competitions we allowed voting. There were paper sacks which were numbered 1-6 that corresponded with the numbers we had pinned to the contestants. As each person came to the activity, they were given a small tab of paper. These were their voting tabs. So, they simply put their tab into the bag of the person they voted for. But we told them instead of voting for the BEST king, they were to vote for the WORST king, since it was an UN-Pageant. This made it even more fun. We had 2 members of the committee tally the votes.

The winner was “crowned” with a crown, which was made and donated by a committee member. They were also given a trophy that was found at a thrift store for about 50 cents. The little kids enjoyed the coloring table (set up in the back with photocopied "Valentine Coloring Pages") which kept them busy. Everyone loved the chocolate fountain. We had left over chocolate which we will use as chocolate sauce for next months activity.

Events/Competition: I was the "pageant host" and asked another member of the ward to provide the "pageant music". He played some on the piano and some on CD, and made it apropos to the competition event. Ahead of time I wrote out a script of what I would be saying and gave the music person a copy so he could coordinate. I also recruited 3-4 YW who came dressed in formal gowns to be the "Vanna Whites" and assist on stage.

Areas of competition were:

• Sportsmanship - Jousting (skateboards & pool noodles)
• Physical Fitness - Hymnbook Weights Challenge
• Coordination - Dance Competition (30 second moves)
• Intellect & Quick-Thinking - Interview Question

Turn-Out: We had about 100 people come and everyone said it was a lot of fun.

Here are the contestants right after being called up on stage.