Saturday, March 21, 2009

"Purse" Enrichment

It's about that time again. We had our Relief Society birthday enrichment on March 4th. Sorry it has taken this long to get this event posted.

Since the Christmas enrichment was such a success, I was having a really hard time figuring out what I could do that would top it or at least match it. I was searching online and found a few ideas and this is what we decided to do.

The whole theme of the night was around purses, ya know Home Family and "Purse"onal Enrichment. I wanted to do a purse for the invite, so I went online and found the cutest pattern. It was one of the more difficult and time consuming invitations but in my opinion when you have a cute invite it makes people more excited and more willing to attend. I wouldn't have been able to make 100 of these without Tommy's help. He did all the measuring and marking and I did all the scoring. Then my committee came over and helped fold and glue them together. Here are some pictures of us putting the invitations together.

Inside of the purse we put a little piece of paper with all of the info. Here is what is looked like.


We decided since it was the birthday party to set up 12 different tables. One for each month of the year. The sisters in the ward signed up to decorate a table. This was such a good idea because then others got to help and they were all so different. Here are the pictures of each table.



For dinner we decided to serve chicken salad sandwiches and let the sisters bring salads and chips. The food was delicious.

I didn't have an on time drawing this time, but I did notice that so many people were on time or even came early. WAY TO GO sisters! So the sisters came in and sat at the table of the month of their birthday. If that table was full they could sit wherever the wanted. This was a great idea because it forced people to sit and talk to people they probably wouldn't normally talk to.

After the sisters ate we had a weigh in. The sisters were told to bring their purses. I didn't tell them anything else. I had a scale and the sisters lined up and wrote their name and how much their purse weighed. I gave a free car wash at Super Sonic to the sister with the heaviest purse. The girl that won had a purse that weighed 17.5 pounds. Can you even imagine lugging that around all day!!

After the weigh in our RS president spoke about the different "purses" we carry throughout our lives. She talked about how the different purses that we carry reflect our responsibilities in this life. She talked about how sometimes we don't like the purses that we have to carry and we want to trade it in for something new. She did a great job. She wrote a cute story that she shared at the end. She is amazing and really started the night off right.
Once she was done talking we played a game with the ladies purses. I would call out an object and the first sister to show me that object from their purse got a little piece of candy. I told the sisters that they shouldn't eat their candy because their would be a grand prize for the person with the most candy at the end of the game. This was hilarious. One of the things that I asked for a calculator. A sister in the back pulled out a huge calculator. I am talking desk size. It was so funny.

After that game we played a game of RS Jeopardy. This was by far my favorite part of the night. I explained the rules and handed out the buzzers for each team. We just had 4 tables of sisters group together to be one team. There were 3 teams just like there are 3 different contestants in Jeopardy.
The categories were Hymns Significant to RS, General Relief Society Trivia, Visiting Teaching, Know your RS Presidency, and two categories were Know your RS Sisters. I found some of the questions online and asked for help from members of the ward for the other categories.

We had each team come up with a team name and my friend Kristin was the score keeper. We started the game and I was surprised at how knowledgeable the sisters were. I really thought that I had some tough questions. As the game continued things really started to heat up. I had sisters yelling at me that they buzzed in first. We had teams yelling at other teams that they were first. Whoever said that RS sisters aren't competitive were wrong. I saw different sides of sisters that I had never seen before.
About halfway through the teams were demanding we stop and give a current score. I felt bad for Kristin because she was doing her best to give each team their points but didn't have time to add them up. So I told the sisters we would take a short commercial break to give the teams an accurate score. I was under the impression the sisters could just visit for a minute. Before I knew it the Primary President, another sister in the ward and me were singing the Mormon rap. If you haven't ever heard this it is hilarious and fit perfect with our night. This song came out ages ago but I grew up listening to it. I heard that someone videoed it but I haven't seen it. Wish I had it for the blog.
After we got the scores totaled we had a few more questions then it was time for final Jeopardy. We gave each team a piece of paper to say how much they were going to wager. Then we gave the final Jeopardy question. Boyd whistled the tune for us. I thought it would take them awhile to come up with their answer but once again I underestimated them. It seriously was the funnest and funniest moment yet at any of my enrichments. If anyone wants a copy of the game I am willing to share. I would love to see others use it. Just email me and I will send it right your way.
At the end we all sang Happy Birthday to the Relief Society and ate homemade gourmet cupcakes. You got that right. The night before enrichment I got together with a sister from the ward and her most willing and helpful daughter-in-law and made about 75 cupcakes. They were delicious and were way better then a piece of cake.

YUMMY!

At the end of the night I gave this song to the sisters to tie everything all together. Someone has taken the words from Count Your Many Blessings and made it into Count Your Many Purses. Way cute! If you click on it you can see the words.


All in all this was another great enrichment. I am off the hook again until the summer. If anyone has done anything fun in their wards please share I am always looking for great ideas!

40 comments:

Suzanne said...

Holly you do an awesome job every activity! I totally thought that you guys bought those yummy cupcakes! Who made them with you?

Pays said...

Seriously, how do you find the time to do all of that?! You are awesome! What a great activity. Now I want one of those cupcakes. They look like heaven!

Unknown said...

OH, how KAH-UTE!!!!! This was a fun activity and the sista's were outta control!

mj said...

you re a clever and crazy girl! nice work...it sounds like such a fun activity..no wonder you were a little burned out!

Jedda said...

Seriously STUNNING! My Mom did a purse enrichment too and she said it was one of her favorites. Great ideas-I want a cupcake!

Carrie said...

I loved this Enrichment. It was sooo fun to get to know some things about the sisters I didn't know before in Jeopardy.

Erin M said...

That was probably the FUNNEST enrichment night I have ever been to! We'll have to freshen up our Mormon Rap routine for the talent show next year. One of the Stake leaders came up to me after and said, "I've known Ben since he was little and he seems like such a quiet guy. I had no idea his wife was so energetic." Oops:)

Dawn said...

You are SO creative...I need to come around and just soak up your left over creative energy!

Chelsi said...

You are sooo awesome at your calling! Another awesome activity!

Don and Amy Bennion said...

Incredible, Holly! I hope I get your calling someday just so I can copy all your ideas! I would love a copy of that game if you don't mind. dabennions@gmail.com. Sounds like an incredible night.
Amy

HayLee said...

Haha. this is so funny. My ward had a purse party for the relief society birthday too. what are the chances. We also had cupcakes, and instead of weighing are purses they would say items and we would put them on the table if we had them. I had 18 items, the person who won had 20. anyway, we are doing good. I actually just had emergency surgery. I had an ectopic/abdominal pregnancy and it was a pretty close call. But I am here. Looks like the curse still remains, but hey at least I got prego. I'll have to give you the full shpill sometime. We miss you guys, and ya you do need to update more often!

Derick and Becky said...

This is such a great idea! If I am ever on enrichment committee, I am calling you for help!

Natalie said...

When I get called to Enrichment, I'm totally copying. K?

malleygirl said...

I so miss our old ward!! It looks like you guys have so much fun!!

Mama Lora said...

I really want to do this Jepardy game at our Purs-onal R.S. Birthday. Your ideas are great ! Please send it to me asap Thanks a TON!!! lora9295@gmail.com

SCRAPPNMOM said...

I love your ideas. We are going to use many of them for this years RS birthday party. Just wondering if you remember the name of the site where you found the paper purse pattern? I am looking for a cute but easy paper purse. Thanks a ton!

julie said...

I would love to get your jeopardy game questions! So fun and creative. I would love to get directions for the purse invitations as well!!! kjfreeze@verizon.net

Natalie Buchkovich said...

I am doing this purse idea this year for our Relief Society in a small branch in the inner city Philadelphia. I found your blog and would love to get a copy of your RS Jeopardy game, please email it to nataliewe@gmail.com. Thank you so much for being willing to share you wonderful ideas, and hard work.

Amy said...

Soooo cute!! I am doing a purse theme enrichment next month and would LOVE your jeopardy game and any other great helps for the night that you may have.
My email is amyapeterson@hotmail.com. Thank you so much!

Baseball Fan said...

What a cute idea! I would love to have your Jeopardy questions. Thanks for sharing!! My email address is baseballfan@sfcn.org.

stampinmomofsix said...

I would love to have a copy of the questions. This sounds like a fun night! My e-mail is graverclan@comcast.net

Tami said...

I'm planning our RS birthday party and we wanted to do a jeapordy game. If it's not to difficult, I'd love for you to email me the game.

Thanks,
Tami
tkidkam@hotmail.com

Jamie said...

Add me to the list!! I would love to get the questions for Jeopardy too! jj22loos@yahoo.com

Thanks
Jamie

benjohnson said...

SOOO cute!
Can you send me the game pretty please???
Thanks so much,
amyjohnsonpd@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

Such a fun idea. I am in charge of Jeopardy for our wards Birthday Enrichment night as well. I was wondering if I could get more info from you. If you could email me that would be marvelous.

Thanks bunches
Alyssa
braeggermama@gmail.com

Katie said...

I know this post is a few years old but we are doing jeopardy in April for our RS birthday and if you still have it can you please email it to me. Thanks! What a fun night.

katieburke123@gmail.com

Priscilla said...

If you still have the questions for the jeopardy game. Could you please send them to me? Thanks so much.
priscillapaints@yahoo.com

Unknown said...

If you still have the jeopardy questions, I would love a copy
Hkristine13@gmail.com

Jennifer said...

Such great ideas! If possible, could you email me the jeopardy questions? Thanks! Jljsmile@gmail.com

Unknown said...

So cute and exactly what I'm looking for. Can you email me your jepordy questions? Thanks!
Leiburk@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

I love it ! will you please send me a copy of the jeopardy questions. Thank you, Jennifer

Anonymous said...

Oops forgot me email in previous comment. Will you please send me a copy of the jeopardy questions. Thank you!

Jennifer

jmkent243@aol.com

Unknown said...

Your RS "Purse" enrichment sounds awesome. Our ward would like to use some of your ideas. I am hoping that although you did it years ago, you may still be able to email me the Jeopardy game questions categories, questions, etc. My address is: calleenarchibald19@gmail.com
Thank you so very much!

Unknown said...

I love the jeopardy game idea. Could you please send what you have? nancy.ann.carlson@gmail.com

Unknown said...

Hello! I love your cute idea and would love a copy of your questions too. Sounds like you had a super fun night. PS I love the Mormon rap and grew up singing it too. Thanks for sharing. email redrockroe@yahoo.com

Megan Schultz said...

Great idea! May I have a copy of the Jeopardy game questions/categories, and whatever else you did with the game? Thank you!
MegsLAS1@gmail.com

rainer said...

I just just put in as 2nd counselor in the RS and I am over enrichment night! I know your post is old but I was wondering if you still had the jeopardy questions on file. If so I would love them! You can send them to carriecomeondown@msn.com

Thx for the great idea!
Carrie

DRP said...

https://www.todsshoesess.com/keunggulan-pinjam-uang-di-fintech-dan-kiat-menggunakan-aman-memakai-pinjaman-online-terbaik.html

Priexk said...

Do you still have the info on your purse activity?
pennyrieck56@gmail.com

Thank you

CJ 2023 said...

HI, here we are in 2023 and loved your ideas. If still available would you please email me the jeopardy game ideas. thanks. cjherem@gmail.com