Relief Society Enrichment Ideas

I thought I would share what our ward is doing for Enrichment and hopefully ya'll will share what has worked well in your women. I love swapping ideas!

Quarterly Enrichment Meetings:

These are the big, all-out ones that we provide child care for and it almost always involves delicious food. We try to get all the women to come to these.

1. Birthday Dinner celebrating RS B-day. We did this potluck on Earth Day and did it as green as possible. We asked our Stake RS president to give a short talk. We also played a 60 Second Social game where we had each sister ask the other a few questions (from a list we provided). After a minute, one side would rotate down so they ended up talking to 1/2 the ladies there. It was so much fun! It was hard getting the ladies to stop talking and move on down the line. Then for dessert we had a variety but it had to include green lime Jell-O in it. :)

2. Service Auction. I'm excited to bring this back again. Sisters come with homemade crafts or goodies OR they can auction off services such as babysitting, cleaning, lessons, etc. Then there is a list of ways to earn points such as 10 pts for visiting teaching this month, 5 pts for every child you've had, etc. They tally their points then use them to buy things up for auction. We're going to try to get an older but fast-talking gentleman to come be our official auctioneer. Last time we served food storage desserts & appetizers like pinto bean fudge and fruit smoothies from canned fruit and powdered milk.

3. Humanitarian Project. I've spoken about it before but White Elegance has AMAZING prices that can't be beat on their Humanitarian kits that you can assemble and turn back in to them or to the Humanitarian Center. Not sure which one we'll do yet.

4. Progressive Dinner. My mother's ward did this and women carpooled together. I started it in my ward when I was Enrichment Leader and it's stuck around. It's potluck and you separate into groups then go to one house for appetizers, another for main course, another for salads. RS provides rolls and paper goods and a short Christmas program at the end with dessert served and a small gift is given.

Enrichment Activity Groups:

These are smaller groups of women who would like to meet together on a regular basis and is headed up by someone who will organize it and tell people what, when and where.

1. Temple 1st Tuesday of each month 10am session. Babysitting swap available.

2. Book Club 1st Thursday of each month at 7pm. Preferrably books by General Authorities. Some books we've done are: Sheri Dew's book "God Wants a Powerful People", Beverly Campbell's book "Eve and the Choice Made in the Garden of Eden", Ferrell's book "The Peacegiver", Truman Madsen's "The Temple: Where Heaven Meets Earth"

3. Scrapbooking & Crafting 4th Friday night each month 6:30-9:30pm. Finish up leftover projects and offer one optional project per month: April- Explosion boxes, May- glass etching, June-Quiet Books, no July (Pioneer Day). Sept-Living Christ frame, October - Vinyl FHE board, Nov- large vinyl clock, No Dec (Christmas Day), Jan- jewelry, Feb - fridge photo magnets, Mar- Glass block w/ vinyl, April – pillowcases, May - Capri Sun bags, June – Table Talk ?s in IKEA jar w/ vinyl, no July (Pioneer Day), Aug- Cute Aprons, Sept – Family Memories Game, Oct – flannel rice bags, Nov – vinyl family chore chart, no December (Christmas). Yes, I'm in charge of this group - can you tell? :)

4. Quilting Bee. No cost, donations and helping kids welcome. 2nd Thursdays 7-9pm. Tied quilts are donated to Humanitarian Center. FYI, cheapest place I've found to get stuff is Walmart. Flat sheet for the backing, high loft batting and a top fabric that has a pattern so I don't have to mark it.

5. Cooking/Food Storage. Summer canning (such as making jam), Rotation/Room Ideas, 72 hour kits, etc. Held quarterly.

6. Single Sisters Group – They come up with ideas for the single sisters in our ward such as lunch dates, movie nights, going to a museum or art show, etc..

7. Summer Walking every Tuesday and Thursday 9-10pm around the neighborhood.

8. Summer Hiking Friday mornings with kids, easy hikes. This one's also mine. Email me if you'd like the list of locations or you can google it for your area. I love living in Utah! The kids have so much fun in the great outdoors and it's even funner doing it with other kids.