Relief Society Enrichment Ideas

Our Birthday Activity

2010-03-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

We had a great RS Birthday Celebration Activity the other night. We met, had dinner, and of course, birthday cake. We also learned about the history of the Relief Society. What I thought was really neat though, is that they went one more step farther. We learned even more!

They asked a lot of different sisters to do research and present on not only the RS history, but also the history of other great organizations that were either started by the RS OR great Relief Society sisters.. Such as:

The Young Women's Organization

The Primary Organization

LDS Social Services
The Humanitarian Program

The First Hospital in Utah - And the first RN who was sent on a "mission" back east to become educated

The Grainery Program

It was really, really neat.

More Birthday Ideas

2010-03-15T18:03:00.001-07:00

Submitted by: Rhonda G - Massachusetts

To celebrate the Relief Society Birthday each of the sisters will be bringing a decorated birthday cake to share for dessert time. We will be slicing up the left-overs and taking them home to our families. We will also be doing a power point presentation of the history of the Relief Society through-out the years. It will be set to music, Sisters In Zion, etc.

Relief Society Birthday Celebration Ideas

2010-01-27T15:08:00.001-08:00

Here are some links that have great ideas for your upcoming "Birthday Celebration" activity...

http://ldslivingmagazine.com/articles/show/1300

A Quiz: http://lds.about.com/library/bl/quiz/blrsquiz.htm

http://mormonshare.com/relief-society/relief-society-birthday-programs.php

http://www.homemaking-cottage.com/index.php/Enrichment-LDS/Full-Themed-Nights/Relief-Society-Birthday-Ideas.html

http://www.ehow.com/way_5254838_relief-society-birthday-meeting-ideas.html

Here is a commemoration video that was posted on lds.org to commemorate the Relief Society. You could use this presentation as part of your meeting for the Birthday Celebration:

http://www.lds.org/pa/rs/home/rsvideo.html?xml=rsvideo_8911.xml

2 Week Meal Plan

2010-01-26T15:13:00.000-08:00

http://lds.about.com/od/visualmusicalaids/a/meal_planning.htm

Sewing Night with YW

2010-01-25T21:56:00.000-08:00

One of our wards is having a sewing and quilting night with their young women. They are making aprons and quilts.

Here is a fun website that offers free patterns for aprons.

http://tipnut.com/free-apron-patterns-tutorials/

2010-01-24T21:26:00.000-08:00

I found this video on You Tube and loved it. Thought I would share:

Choices in Childbirth

2010-01-20T21:32:00.000-08:00

Our next activity is a class entitled "Choices in Childbirth." I am actually teaching it, since educating women is my passion as a Doula.
A lot of women do not realize all of the options they have when in labor. We are taught one basic routine which includes, go to the hosptial, get hooked up to machines, and get an epidural as soon as possible. When these things don't work as planned, then it can be a scary experience.
This class will inform women about the safety of birthing when low risk, the choices and options they have for comfort and medication, resources to find more information, and the fact that education equals power. When you don't know your options, then you don't have any. The more you know, the more you'll be in control, and the better satisfied you will be with your birthing experience.
The outline is as follows:

Choices for Childbirth Outline:

Options for Birthing
a- Hospital
b- Birth Center
c- Home Birth

How to choose a care provider
a- OB/GYNS
b- Midwives
c- Questions to ask

Choice for Birth Preparation
a- Lamaze
b- Hypnobirthing
c- Bradley
d- Birthing from Within
e- Hypnobabies
f- Doulas
g- Monitrices

Reference list
a- Hospitals, OB/GYN, CNM
b- Midwives
c- Birth Centers
d- Doulas
e- Childbirth Classes
f- Lactation Consultants
g- Birth plan sample (benefits of having a birth preferences)

With these videos:
http://www.injoyvideos.com/mothersadvocate/videos.html

More Mini Class Ideas

2010-01-20T21:28:00.000-08:00

Freezer Dinners: People who are interested, sign up and then are put into groups. They meet together and bring ingredients for a dish that can be frozen. They bring enough of the same ingredients for the number of people in their group (say about 5 people.) Then everyone shares their ingredients and makes FIVE meals that they can freeze and pull out on those days when there's just not going to be enough time to cook!

File Folder Games: These can be games for kids for at home, or at church. You can find some fun ideas from preschools, and by googling for ideas. Each person brings enough of their same materials to share with others in their group. Then they all trade and have supplies for different file folder games.

Christmas Music Video

2009-11-30T23:05:00.001-08:00

We might be showing this video at our activity. It is beautifully done!

Creative Super Saturdays!

2009-11-11T22:24:00.001-08:00

Since it seems we have been receiving cousel to steer away from big activities that cost money for the sisters, we have a ward in our stake who decided to be creative with their super saturdays.
One ward is doing a Humanitarain Aid day. They are getting together at 9 amto do lots of projects, sewing, quilting, etc, then at 11, they will have a small luncheon.

Another ward is doing an "Emergency Prepardness" Super Saturday. They have gathered ideas for first aid kits, etc for those who are interested, and they will meet to put everything together, followed by a small luncheon also.

Plans for our Christmas Activity

2009-11-11T22:21:00.000-08:00

We are having a nice dinner, a small musical program and then we are putting together gift baskets for the widows and elderly in our ward. Everyone that is able, will bring some items to put in the basket. We recommend fruit, homemade breads, jams, jellies, nuts, candies, etc. We've actually done this a few times, and the sisters really think it is a great activity.

A Small Video

2009-08-15T16:06:00.000-07:00

We showed this little video at one of our Enrichment Meetings. We had gathered items from the Church's Humanitarian Center to make for orphans. They have blankets, nightgowns, toys, etc that you can take to work on, and bring back when you are done. Then they send them to orphanages all over the world. We started off our night with this activity, to put things into perspective. I don't think there was a dry eye. It was really neat...

Learn about your Town/State History

2009-08-01T22:24:00.000-07:00

One ward in our stake took tours of museums and other places of interest to learn more about the town's history. They said that they had such a neat time learning about the place that they lived and things that they had never known.

Mini Class on Homeopathic Remedies

2009-07-23T20:47:00.000-07:00

We are excited to have a guest presenter come in and give a mini class on homeopathic remedies. Did you know that you can lower a fever by adding 1/4 teaspoon of GINGER to a cup of warm water, and drinking it? Add a little bit of cayenne pepper and it will really do the trick. The philosophy is if you warm your insides you body will say, "Oh, I'm warm enough now," and will start cooling down. Interesting, huh?

Mini Class on Wheat

2009-07-23T20:44:00.000-07:00

Did you know that there are so many other things you can do with your wheat? Not just bread!

You can sprout it and it can be a fresh vegatable in a time of need
You can crack it
You don't need a wheat grinder
It can be a meat substitute

At least I didn't know these things. So we are going to have a mini class where an "expert" in our ward is going to teach us how you can cook it like rice and add it to your spaghetti sauce, your hamburger patties, your salads..etc. Who knew? We are excited

The Casserole Dish

2009-05-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

We are going to have an enrichment meeting focused around the casserole dish!

First we will etch our names into our dishes...no more tape or markers on the bottom of OUR pans!

Supplies-

Glass
dish
Contact paper
Craft knife
Etching Cream
Gloves
Glass cleaner
Graphite paper
Stylus or pencil
Paper towel
Old paint brush

1.Create a design you want. I typed our last name in the font and font size I wanted on my computer and printed it out. I also used little clip art pictures around our name.

2. Cut a piece of contact paper at least 1″ bigger around the edges than your design. Place the contact paper on your dish where you want the design.

3. Place your printed design over the contact paper where you want it and place the graphite paper between your design and the contact paper and trace around the letters or design using a stylus or pencil. (If your contact paper is on the outside on the bottom of your dish you will want to transfer your name backwards, so when you are looking at it from the inside its not backwards. That is how I did mine.)

4. Using a craft knife cut the contact paper on the lines you traced. Once you are done remove the contact paper where you want it etched, leaving the rest on.

5. Make sure all the edges where you cut are down really good, then spray glass cleaner on a paper towel and gently clean the surface of your dish where you will be etching.

6. Put your gloves on and shake the etching cream bottle good. Using an old paint brush put the etching cream on generously where you want to etch. Let it sit for a minute, Then I take the etching cream off with my brush and put it back in the bottle, so it lasts longer.

7. Then under warm rinse the rest of the cream off and then take the contact paper off and you have your wonderful design!

THEN, we will have recipes for a breakfast dish, lunch dish, and dinner dish.

We will end with casserole sampling. The sisters in our ward signed up to bring their favorite casseroles to share. We are providing the punch and cookies.

****If you know someone who does vinyl lettering, they can make a stencil of everyone's last name! I'd of course offer to pay them, but it shouldn't be that expensive per name. I'm sure that the sisters probably wouldn't mind paying a dollar or so, for their name either. Anyway, if you find someone who does vinyl lettering, just have the print out the name in a mirror image. It works fantastic and it's so EASY! You just stick it on, then put the cream on top, clean it, and peel it off. It's beautiful!

Fireside Presentations

2009-04-20T22:16:00.000-07:00

This group of sisters hosts an amazing fireside/enrichment night! Check them out at http://www.mercyrivermusic.com/.

Six S Night

2009-04-17T22:15:00.000-07:00

We recently had an enrichment night that we called "Six S Night" and stood for "Soup, Salad, and Sweets with Sisters in Sweats doing Service." We served simple soups and salads and then spent the night sewing humanitarian school kit bags (but you could work on any service project for your area.) We decorated very simply to keep the focus on service and displayed quotes on service printed nicely and framed as centerpieces. We offered a prize for the craziest pair of sweats and had tons of fun sewing and chatting. We finished with a simple dessert and a few words on service and how it blesses us individually. This was one of our most successful enrichment nights to date.

Thanks, Kayrena!

Free Cooking Event Tomorrow!

2009-03-17T17:57:00.000-07:00

I am posting this late, but maybe you could email to see if you can still go. It's worth a try!

Confessions of a Chocoholic Cook

is a free cooking event in which community members will be taught simple but tasty chocolate recipes from author and cook Deanna Buxton.
The event will be held on Wednesday, March 18th at the SCERA lobby (745 S.State St., Orem, UT) and will begin at 7 p.m.
Some of the recipes that will be taught and demonstrated include ChocolatePancakes with Grandma's Syrup, Snickers Salad, ³My Most Favorite Cake² andFudge Cookies.
The event¹s recipes are based on the book Worldwide Ward Cookbook, whichfeatures recipes from all over the world.
Confessions of a Chocoholic Cook is open to the general public, but thosewho want to attend must RSVP by March 16 by emailingcovenantpromotions@gmail.com <mailto:covenantpromotions@gmail.com> .
Participants are also encouraged to email their best chocolate/dessertrecipe ahead of time to be included in the recipe-swap table at the event.

Planning

2009-02-17T14:45:00.001-08:00

We are currently planning our Enrichment Meeting for March. As the sisters arrive, we will serve them dinner - a salad bar. We will then start with a video that the church has created for the Relief Society called "Live up to your Priviledges." (See previous post). Then we are showing a short video about the church's humanitarian service. After that, we will start our projects.

Deseret Industries has all sorts of fun things that they make and send out to orphanages, etc. We will be making baby quilts, bibs, toy balls, dolls, file folders, scarves, and hats. We will be sewing some things, but other things do not require it. So everyone, no matter what their knowledge, can participate in serving and creating these projects. We are really excited!

A Short Video on the History of Relief Society

2009-02-06T15:01:00.001-08:00

The church has made a short 10 minute video entitled, "Live up to your Privledges." Click here to go to the website, where you can download the film.

We will be showing this at our next enrichment meeting, when we commemorate the RS Birthday!

Relief Society Birthday Ideas

2009-01-13T21:35:00.000-08:00

This is a WONDERFUL program! You can put it on yourself.. ward or stake level. Jenny Phillips has written many firesides and has made it possible with minus tracks, and narrations, for anyone to perform these firesides.

She has a script, music, and a story specifically for the RS birthday. If you are interested go to:

www.jennyphillips.com
Click on Free Downloads
Sign up for her email list to be notified of more free downloads, by entering in an email.

Click on the tab labled, Leaders
At the top you will see the story, "Parable of the Princesses" and a link that will take you to a pdf file for the RS Birthday script. You can email me with any questions. reliefsociety58@gmail.com

Jenny Phillips Firesides

2008-11-28T12:12:00.000-08:00

There is also a fireside group for Jenny Phillips. They do a few firesides a month for relief societies, wards and stakes. She has great programs for all ages! Check out her website at http://www.jennyphillips.com/. She is a singer/songwriter for Deseret Book.

RS Birthday Celebration with a Progressive Dinner

2008-11-20T22:52:00.000-08:00

Progressive Birthday Celebration
Bountiful 58th Ward

For our Relief Society Birthday party we had a progressive dinner in the church. We had three different sections set up for food.

The first was salad. In this area sisters sat at tables according to the month they were born in. Some tables had a couple of months.

The second was the main dish. In this room the sisters sat at tables with their birth year on it. Each table had random years on it (about 9 different years). Then towards the end of the meal we had a concentration game with questions about Relief Society.

The third room was the dessert. We had the sisters bring a baby picture of themselves and collected the pictures at the beginning of the evening. We numbered each one and taped them on the wall of the third room. Then while the sisters ate their dessert (cookies, brownies) they tried to guess who the picture was of and write it down. Then when everyone was finished guessing we went around and had people guess then tell the correct person.

The sisters loved sitting with new people at each place and getting to know more people. They also loved seeing each other as babies or young children and there were lots of laughs.

Upcoming Christmas Program

2008-11-20T22:50:00.000-08:00

We are having a nice dinner in the gym, and then we will move to the chapel for a program. This is the program I put together. I got all the music from defordmusic.com.

Christmas Program Rough Draft

Christmas Program Final

Narrator: As quoted from The Living Christ, we read “As we commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ two millennia ago, we offer our testimony of the reality of His matchless life and the infinite virtue of His great atoning sacrifice. None other has had so profound an influence upon all who have lived and will yet live upon the earth…

“We solemnly testify that His life, which is central to all human history, neither began in Bethlehem nor concluded on Calvary. He was the Firstborn of the Father, the Only Begotten Son in the flesh, the Redeemer of the world…

“His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son.”

Video: Hallelujah Chorus

Narrator: Jesus Christ IS our King of King and Lord of Lords. He is also our Elder Brother who has made our Father’s Plan of Salvation possible. It is now the time of year when we get to celebrate and commemorate His life. The entire Christian world now moves into the happiest season of the year. We open the Bible to Luke’s account of one of the greatest events in history and we hear again what the shepherds heard: For unto you is born this day in the City of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

In the most humble of surroundings, the most precious infant in all history was born. This Child, was “The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” To Mary and Joseph that night, so many years ago, his blessed name was simply, Wonderful. Let us rejoice as we reflect on this sacred event that was Christ’s birth.

Song: O Holy Night

Story: God Bless Your Way

Narrator: President Hinckley said: It is proper during this season when we commemorate His birth that we remember the Lord Jesus Christ in reverence and with love. He has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. He has brought meaning to our mortal existence. He has given us the gift of eternal life. He was and is the Son of God, who was “made flesh, and dwelt among us.

In Second Nephi, it was foretold, “The Messiah cometh in the fullness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall”. (2 Nephi 2:26)

Without Him, without His atoning sacrifice, we could not be saved. He is our Redeemer.

Song: O Come O Come Emmanuel – Group of RS Sisters

Narrator: Our prophet, President Monson said, “With the birth of the babe in Bethlehem, there emerged a great endowment, a power stronger than weapons, a wealth more lasting than the coins of Caesar. This child was to be the King of kings and Lord of lords, the promised Messiah—even Jesus Christ, the Son of God. –
There is no better time than now, this very Christmas season, for all of us to rededicate ourselves to the principles taught by Jesus the Christ. It is the time to love the Lord our God with all our heart—and our neighbors as ourselves. It is well to remember that he who gives money gives much, he who gives time gives more, but he who gives of himself gives all.

Video: Anya’s Bell

Narrator: “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”

When all is said and done, when all of history is examined, when the deepest depths of the human mind have been explored, nothing is so wonderful, so majestic, so tremendous as this act of grace. The Son of the Almighty, He who had condescended to come to earth as a babe born in Bethlehem, gave His life in ignominy and pain so that all of the sons and daughters of God of all generations of time, every one of whom must die, might walk again and live eternally. He did for us what none of us could do for ourselves- President Hinckley

So think of Him this Christmas season. He was born, and He lives now. Think of Him and all that He has done for us. He came from the most humble of circumstances and yet He is our King, our Lord, and our Savior.

Song: What Child is This?

Video: Nativity

Narrator: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” 2 Nephi 19:6

As President Hinckley said, “ I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the eternal, Living God. None so great has ever walked the earth. None other has made a comparable sacrifice or granted a comparable blessing. He is the savior and the Redeemer of the world. I believe in Him. I declare His divinity without equivocation or compromise. I love Him. I speak His name in reverence and wonder. I worship Him and I worship His Father, in the spirit and in truth. I thank Him and kneel before His wounded feet and hands and side, amazed at the love He offers me. God be thanked for the gift of His Son, the Redeemer of the world, the Savior of mankind, the Prince of Life and Peace, the Holy One.

Congregation sings the first verse of “Silent Night.”

More Info:
For the Hallelujah Chorus, I just did a slideshow of pictures of Christ put to the Tabernacle Choir singing the song.
As for the Nativity, I used the one put out by the church...the most recent one. Here is an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icilgwdHiZg
The video of Anya's Bell is inside of this book: http://deseretbook.com/item/4964370/A_Christmas_Bell_for_Anya
The story "God Bless Your Way" is inside of this book: http://deseretbook.com/item/4988541/God_Bless_Your_Way (I shortened it a little bit.)