Post Recognition Night

So, it has been about 3 weeks since we had our last Activity Days activity which was the recognition night. Now, it didn't go exactly as I had envisioned but it was cute nonetheless. 

It was simple and that alone made its mark. Would I have loved to have had it decked out? Yes, of course! Would I loved to have had more time to plan? Heck yeah but when there is two other leaders schedules to work with it doesn't always happen.

This was the only pic I got of the night, I had a really active somewhat sick toddler with me that night.

Here are the certificates that we used to honor each of our girls:

These were printed two to a page and then printed on gold card stoke which I had left over from my Personal Progress/YW leader days.  You can download them HERE. I will convert them to a PDF in the next few days just in case your Word isn't being nice and opening it. I took the the basic outline from a google search and then added the words to it to make it fit what I was needing. 

Overall it was a great night, out of 21 girls we had 12 show and they had enough things to share and talents to show that it was truly a testament of the Lord's plan for each and everyone of His children. 

A Night of Stars:A Talent Show and Recognition Night

So if you have still been following along with this little blog of mine, then you know already that I am now an Activity Days leader. Now, I am SUPER DUPER excited about this calling and have a TON of great ideas (to which hopefully I will be able to put to good use someday) but I am also at the same time, TERRIFIED of this calling. I always seem to go into a calling after a really good leader, one who all the girls love and adore, gets released. Sigh...wish me luck!

Anyway, as part of the Faith in God program (aka Activity Days), we are to hold some sort of recognition night at least twice a year. Ours, is coming up in September. EEK!!! What was once going to be just a talent show is now going to be what I call our Night of Starts where we will combine our talent show and recognition night all in one.

Now, I have convinced the other leaders to kinda make this a fun night for the girls and do a Red Carpet type of theme. Oh, I should mention, what I see in my head and what I put to this blog may or may not be what comes out in real life as with any calling, I have other leaders I have to work with, small things but we are three very different leaders and all with three very different ways of doing things. 

Back to the Night of Stars. Did I mention that this was a perfect theme to tie in with the activity and recognizing the girls and the great job they have done with their Faith in God? We are wanting to do something similar as to what the YW do for their EinE or Evening in Excellence (see?! this would work perfectly for YWs!). We want the girls to bring things that they have done on display so that the other girls, primary leaders and parents can see.

Pinterest is a magical place and has a lot of really good ideas (some as to which I hope to borrow from and tweak a bit to fit my needs) for this theme. To me, Pinterest is kinda like the new Google- if you have ab idea just search the site and you are bound to find someones take on the same idea. I will post the links at the bottom of this post of the ideas that I plan on using (keep in mind this activity for us doesn't happen til the middle of September).

So here is what I envision our Night of Stars to look like:

* When the girls and their parents walk into the church, I want them to be greeted by gold stars with each of the girls names written on them. This to be done with by placing them one the floor, hanging them from fishing line from the ceiling of the foyer or even taping them on the walls.

*Then they would be greeted by the
"paparazzi" and get their pictures taken in front of some sort of back drop. 

*Next, they would walk into the gym where towards the back of the gym would be tables that would have the girls items displayed. In the middle towards the stage, there would be two sections of chairs divided by some red butcher paper more than likely. This would be our "red  carpet" that would lead up to the stage where the girls would perform or talk about their talents and where us leaders could stand and recognize the each of the girl
s for the job they are doing.

Lastly to the side of the gym would be our table for refreshments because when you meet for something like this, food is always a good way to end the night and allow for a little bit of socializing.

Here are the links to the ideas that I just love:

http://alittlecrafting.blogspot.com/2012/11/shine-night-of-stars.html

http://nogalesfamily.blogspot.com/2015/01/young-womens-in-excellence-2014.html

http://www.partycity.com/category/party+ideas/theme+party/hollywood/red+carpet+party.do

http://karaspartyideas.com/2013/06/red-carpet-10th-birthday-party.html