{ Mormon Share } Multi-ward YW craft night & clothes swap Mutual Activity

By JOLLY ROGERS

Tonight was our 2nd Annual All-girls Activity with a neighboring ward (who shares our building). So fun! Read about last year’s swap activity on my post here

This year the YW President in the other ward suggested that we do something like a craft night (mini-Super Saturday type event), followed by our popular YW clothes swap. Not every girl is into crafts, but I think we did a good job of providing craft projects that can be given as gifts for birthdays or holidays – so at least they could have that as a motivation. I’ve tried to emphasis that even if you don’t want such-and-such craft for yourself, you can make it for your mom/sister/friend/grandma and then you’ll have a free gift to give!

Unlike most Super Saturday activities, however, we provided all the supplies and there is no charge (comes from our budgets). We picked simple, low cost crafts of course.

CRAFTS:
Each ward provided 1 craft for all of the girls to do (supplies, instruction, etc). We didn’t have any sign-ups, we just made sure we had enough for everyone if all the girls showed up (plus a few extras)

Our ward’s contribution was “Hand Scrub” in a jar

I tried to get donations of free baby food jars, but when I didn’t get any offers, I went to Dollar Tree to try to find something that would work. They had various jars with lids, but I didn’t find anything even remotely cute (I also didn’t really want to pay $1/jar anyhow). Next I stopped at Big Lots, where they had the larger sized baby food jars selling for 33 cents each. So basically, it was cheaper to buy jars with something in them – 1/3 the price! I bought all 1 flavor (applesauce) and my younger kids (not babies, but applesauce fans) have been eating the contents for days.

I removed the labels, cleaned the jars, and then ran them (and the lids) through the dishwasher to make sure that I had fully cleaned & sanitized them. This may have been overkill, but I didn’t want leftover food in a jar getting moldy later.

I spray-painted all of the lids gold (I think this is my 4th recent project in a row involving the same can of gold paint, so it was a good $5 investment). This took a couple of coats – you don’t want to see the writing & expiration dates from the baby food peeking through the gold if you’re giving this as a gift. I didn’t move the lids during this process, I just sprayed the tops first. Dried. Sprayed from one side. Dried. Sprayed from the other side. Dried. Easy. Always do this outside or in the garage, though – too fumey for in the house!

I found scented body lotion at both Dollar Tree and Big Lots. You might not find these exact brands/flavors, but scented lotion is a regular staple at both stores and the price is right (they were $1 each at both stores). SMELL BEFORE YOU BUY, some of the scents they sell for $1 could peel your eyeballs….you’re not always going to get high quality for $1. I always avoid the perfume and/or flowery scents, which tend to be WAY over the top. Lotion versions of food smells (orange, vanilla, almond, plum, etc) are almost always good smelling and way less nauseating. Your whole cultural hall is going to wreak of the stuff!

I selected Mango/Mandarin and Coconut. You could use any “smell” but I recommend food-related scents.

We had girls and leaders there to help, but instructions were still a must. Here are the instructions that I made on my computer using a word document and a canning jar clipart I found with a google search. I drew in some labels & a “lotion line” to make it easier to visualize.

I also made these labels using the free photo editing & design website Picmonkey (I am not affiliated with Picmonkey, but I use them almost every day)

The other ward’s craft was adorable headbands- I didn’t get a lot of photos of them and I don’t have the instructions, but I found pin that describes how to make them!

(click on photo of the headband)

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THE SWAP:

While the girls crafted (with help from a few leaders), the other leaders sorted the donated clothes by size to make searching easier.

I would guess we had over 200 items donated (mostly from the girls, but some from the leaders & other ward/stake members). Last year there were some complaints there wasn’t anything for the larger sized girls, but this year we made sure that there were donations in every size, so that every girl found at least a couple of things she wanted. (I quietly asked around to some local ladies to see if they had any plus-sized clothing to donate anonymously to the cause and several did!). Every girl took home at least 1 shopping bag full of clothes. Some girls went home with MULTIPLE BAGS of clothes.

Our two rules for the swap:

#1- Remember that modesty is the standard – items like tank-tops & low-cut shirts might be available,

but they should be used for layering.

#2- Be kind and charitable to each other. (By the time we got to the actual swapping, they were pretty amped up and most had already pre-staked out the items they wanted. I was afraid that things might get, uh – competitive – so it was for the best to talk to them about Christlike love, lets be courteous, etc. We didn’t have any problems, so I guess it worked!)

After the girls had combed throughout he clothes, the leaders took a look to see if there was anything they wanted. Then the leftovers were bagged up and will be taken to Deseret Industries

Source:: LDS Young Women Activity Ideas and More!