*Other nights that sisters have shared linked from Sally J Ross’s night.

We had our “Survivor Night” last Thursday. Both my HFPE leader and I have had a couple of crazy weeks, so we weren’t able to advertise a lot. We ended up just doing a poster, with the theme, date and time. I also had wanted to do a candy flyer the Sunday before, I had thought of putting a few gummy worms in a bag and adding a little tag that said: “Worm” your way on over to HFPE, date, time etc.
I also had thought of doing a song parody to either “Rescue Aid Society” (from the Rescuers Disney Movie) or “I Will Survive” (a song from the 80’s). So those are some ideas that maybe someone else could use. We just did posters and flyers the week of HFPE, but we still had 22 ladies there, which is about our average #”s and very good for summer! I guess sometimes ya got it, and sometimes ya don’t! We just do the best we can each month.

Here’s the details of our actual night:

As the ladies came in, we directed them to the overflow area behind the chapel. We had chairs set up in there to resemble an airplane. Two long rows, two chairs wide with an aisle down the middle. As they boarded the plane, they were handed a small bag of trail mix and a colored band. We had our VT message on board the plane, (our HFPE teacher wasn’t there, so we skipped the lesson). We were going to ham this up a little more (the flight thing), but again, ended up just simplifying it. I just adlibbed a little bit i.e.: I thanked our flight attendants for all their work (my HFPE leader & committee and the food committee).
After we landed, we instructed the sisters to depart from the plane. They had to discard any remaining trail mix, they couldn’t take it on the island with them. Here again, we were going to decorate with trees and “boulders” made from brown paper bags, but ended up just setting up the different relays, with no decorating whatsoever. Know what? No one seemed to mind. I think that when we do the best we can, it is always good enough!

As they entered the island (cultural hall) they were instructed to gather together in tribes (two teams). Each tribe was asked to come up with a name for themselves. It took a little coaxing for them to warm up to this, but we eventually got everyone whooping and hollering! Now, on to the challenges:

Challenge # 1: Food Challenge

My HFPE leader cut tons of pictures of food out of magazines and the newspaper. She laminated these. We laid these face down on a table. Two additional tables were set up with nine paper plates on each table. The challenge was for each team to assemble 3 days worth of nutritious meals. First team finished was the winner of the round. Each team was able to choose 30 food cards from the table, and could take back and choose new cards 5 times.
We originally set a time limit for this, but just ended up doing first team finished as the winner. It took them less than 5 minutes.

Other ideas would be to give each team a bag of ingredients that they must use to assemble a main dish (or dessert, or whatever) that will cook during the rest of the challenges, and then be judged on appearance, taste and smell.

The second part of this challenge was for each team to make and eat 3 peanut butter sandwiches. First team finished was the winner. Originally, the rule was just for the 3 people who made the sandwiches to eat them, but I have to say that the ladies whined and complained about every single rule to every single challenge! (All be it good naturedly and mostly just for fun to harass me I think!) So, either be firm with your rules, or be prepared to be flexible!

Challenge #2: Ironing Challenge
We had two ironing boards and irons set up. Each team had to press 3 shirts. First team finished was the winner of that round.
(This was so funny! One team was very meticulous, one team was very fast!)

Challenge # 3: Budgeting Challenge
Each team was given a bag of M&M’s (I used the large bags, and it was way too much, so just use the small bags). Each color of candy represented a different dollar amount, this color code was typed up and handed to each team. Each team also had a list of monthly expenses with a 10 point surprise bonus if they figured out what the bonus was for (for paying tithing, which was not listed on the expense sheet~ but both teams figured it out!). Each team had to determine how much money they had, and then pay as many bills as they could. The team who paid the most bills was the winner. We gave a 5 minute time limit, but again, it was too much. I would cut it down to 1 minute, or just do first team finished wins (plus you have to figure in the bonus somehow).

Challenge #4: Memory challenge
Each team was given 5 minutes (too long again, I would do 1-2 minutes) to list as many items as they could remember from the trail mix handed out on the flight. General answers were worth 1 point, specific answers were worth 2. Team with the most points is the winner.

Challenge # 5:
First Aid Challenge:
Each team was given several different injury scenarios. Each member of the team choose one scenario ( I typed these up on slips of paper and just handed each team member a slip). Each member was to read their slip, they were the victim to be treated, and then the rest of the team members had to identify what wound or injury they were treating. Then, they used 1st Aid Items that were supplied (each team had a box full of stuff to use) to treat the victim. Here’s the funny part. Each victim was then transported to the “hospital” via a wheelchair. They had to be pushed from one end of the cultural hall to the other and back again. We also supplied first aid manuals (actually YW camp manuals) for each team. This was a riot! By this time, they could have cared less about rules! They didn’t even let me finish explaining what they were supposed to do! They had a blast and everyone was laughing and having a good time!

We then assembled together again for the tribal council. Both teams tied (really), so we handed out the prized for 1st and 2nd place to everyone. 1st place was hidden “Treasures” candy bars. 2nd place was mini Snickers candy bars.

Our food committee prepared refreshments along the lines of “Surviving Summer with kids”. They served: Slice and bake cookies that looked like watermelon slices, a yogurt and peanut butter dip with bananas, celery, and granola bars to dip, blue Jell-O with Swedish Fish, colorful cubes punch, and brownies served from a child’s dump truck. We also had home made fruit pops made by our ward’s food specialist (she is a school teacher and does a taster’s table for us each month~ she teaches foods at the Jr. High).

We also gave a Surviving Summer and the ABC’s of Beating Summer Boredom handout. Finally, I typed up all the evenings activities into a FHE format and called it Family Home Evening~ Survivor Style. I included suggestions to go with other topics. Our topic was Homemaking Skills, but it could also go along with Preparedness, Missionary Prep, or a lesson for children preparing to leave home for the first time. I included a short discussion for the lesson, added some scriptures and and opening and closing song and a recipe for cake mix cookies to serve for refreshments. Several ladies loved the FHE idea and are excited to try it out on their own families.

All in all, it turned out to be a fun night. The sisters sat and chatted for quite a while afterward (which is always a nice end to the evening.) There were still sisters chatting in the parking lot when I left! I don’t know about the blue Jell-O with the Swedish fish though! Kids love it, but I don’t think any of the mom’s were too thrilled with it! LOL

~Valerie Jackson in Utah

We did our HFPE night, on “Survivor” Again like everyone else we combined and added a few of our own! Here’s ours:

Invitations- Simple made on the Computer and handed out 1 week early, Phone calls made for head count and reminders, (For us this always boosts our attendance!)

Decorations-
Went from really elaborate in our minds to ending up with a small fire made with logs, red cellophane and white Christmas lights in the Primary floor.
We taped two flashlights to two Tiki torches and then taped them to our judges table.
We used two small tiki torches for each team (We called them Families!)

Challenge Phase
We just had 2 families (teams) red & Blue They renamed themselves the Blue Belles And Red Hot Sisters! OK so they are a nutty group! But who else would you like to spend eternity with?

Our Bishop was one of our judges and this was used to teach as well, but they still wanted to use a tourniquet on a head wound!!!!!! (Sometimes I feel like I am failing miserably!) My husband was the judge for the other team. We did the Flash Flood & Tornado Scenarios since we live in the Midwest and these are realities for us!!

Food Challenge
This was in 3 parts our first counselor was the judge for this!
each team picked one person to try one thing They were all on one long table and covered with baskets
1- Applesauce/pinto bean cake
2-Pinto bean fudge
3-South African Honey Bush Tea (Not really tea, an herbal drink) Tastes great!

Tribal (Family) Counsel
Put the 16 questions on strips of paper and placed them on a jar. The Bishop his first councilor & my husband were the judges. Each Family was give one of these kids party noise makers to buzz in the answer! This was a riot! Never realized how competitive our sisters were! Ok, maybe I did and just didn’t want to admit it!!!

The score was so close only 2 points different!

The really neat thing about it was when we announced that we were Canning next month they wanted to know if they could can in there families!!!!! Too Funny!

- Melinda S. Ema
In Il. Across from St. Louis