by: Debbie Dixon

Sister Spotlight

1.. Your full name_________________________________.

2.. Where were you born? Where did you grow up?

3.. How many brothers and sisters do you have? Where do you fit in oldest/youngest?

4.. If you have children, how many? Names and ages. If not at home where are they living now?

5.. What are some of the different places you have lived? Your favorite place? Why?

6.. Your favorite color?

7.. Your favorite food?

8.. What are some things that you enjoy doing? (hobbies, crafts, reading, sewing, cooking, singing, etc..)

9.. Share one of your most embarrassing moments.

10.. Share something about you that no one would know about.

11.. Share a dream that you have, something you would like to do or see some day.

12.. Name a movie or book that best describes you or your life.

13.. What are some of the callings you have had in the church? Which was your favorite? Why?

14.. Who is your favorite Latter-day Prophet and why?

by: Netta

1. To get those sisters on time, instead of 1/2 hour later, we had a Trash to Treasure craft that was free or less than $1.00.

2. We had a “letter a month” for one of the missionaries. We just had sisters jot down a sentence or two and sign their name.

3. The HFPE before me made a cake every Homemaking. If there were sisters that had birthdays in that month, we would have them pick a number (the HFPE already had a number picked), whoever was closest, got the Birthday Cake. When I got in, I continued this idea, but had a friend toll paint something inexpensive.

4. As a VT incentive, we bought inexpensive trinkets/candy and had notes of appreciation, example: a miniature MOUNDS bar with the following note taped to the candy “MOUNDS of thanks for doing your VT” Sisters with 100% got to get a candy. I realize that we aren’t suppose to do this, but it didn’t come out of the budget . . . I paid for it.

5. We had a lot of mini classes (scrap booking, book review, beginning crocheting/knitting, stamping, etc), 1 craft that took some time (usually toll painting, which is expensive), ALWAYS a quilt.

6. We had a Food Chairman, but she was mainly responsible for passing a sign-up sheet around. Either the HFPE leader decided on food or the Food Chairman.

7. My latest idea was having a morning Home, Family and Personal Enrichment meeting.

by: Shiloah Baker

Have everyone that wants to participate, sign up that they would like to go on the Road Rally.

Send around a sign up for sister’s to volunteer to open up their homes and show them things they’ve made, crafted, collect, etc. Then if they’d like, demonstrate how to do one thing.

You as the Enrichment Leader, decide where you’d like to go first, how the car-pool arrangements should go, etc.

Another thing I did was passed out the Homemaking Surveys to everyone. As we go along they fill out what they would like to learn, what they would like to teach, etc. Ideas can be added as they go along the rally.

The night you begin, meet at a certain destination. Then end at the same destination. You can have as many carloads of sisters as you’d like. You can either all go to the same houses at the same time or if you have a large group, split them up and take turns at everyone’s homes. Make sure you all end together at the same home for refreshments.

By: Barbara

Jolly Rancher Night

It is a Jolly Rancher Night. As the sisters come in they each have to take a Jolly Rancher candy out of a jar. Whatever color they get is the color table they have to sit at. Tables will be set up with different colored table clothes.

Refreshments will be served, something simple like ice cream or
strawberry shortcake. There will also be a jar in the middle of each table with different “get to know ya” questions in it. Then sisters can pick a question out of the jar and each sister at the table can answer it.

Penny For Your Story

Collect lots of pennies from different years. Have each sister
choose a penny and then when it is her turn she tells something that
happened in her life that year. If the date is before her time, or
she can’t think of something then she just tells a little about
herself.

Find Someone Like You

Play the game where you have a list of people to find:

* Find someone born in the same state as you
* find someone born in the same month as you, etc.

I Have Never

This one is like musical chairs, one person stands in the middle, everyone else seated. The middle person says, I have never ______.
Anyone who has done ______ gets up and scrambles for a chair while
the person in the middle does the same.

Human Knot

Put women in small groups (not too small!) and they stand in a circle. They grab for any hand and they it is up to them to untangle themselves (if they can).

Teamwork

Another activity that will stress teamwork. I will ask them to line up according to birthday month Jan-Dec, but without speaking.

Feet Off The Ground

For instance, if I get 10 women I will divide into 2 groups of 5.
then i will ask the group to get 10 feet off the ground. They will
finally (hopefully) figure out that I want them to get their feet up
off the ground not get 10 feet in measurement. The Sundays before
use a digital camera to take close up pictures of body
parts like an eye, eyebrow, nose, mouth, finger, ear, foot etc. Then
at the activity they will have to guess who it is.

The first one was a Candy Bar game. Everyone sits in chairs that
are forming a circle. I walked around to all the sisters with my
big bag full of different kinds of candy bars. They chose one and
hid it under their clothes. After everyone had a candy bar they all
brought them out from hiding for about 30 seconds so everyone could
see how had what. I had a pair of over sized dice, I gave them to
one sister who was our starting point of a round. She rolls the
dice in front of her if she gets 7 or doubles of any kind she can
ask any sister for their candy bar, only if she can remember exactly
what kind she has. If she guesses wrong she doesn’t get it and the
other sister does not show her what she really had. The game goes
on to the next sister and around as many times as you would like. I
think we went around 2 or 3 times because we had such a big group.
If a sister has more than one candy bar and another sister can
remember all that she has after rolling a 7 or doubles she can take
all that she has.

by: Stacy (taterhopp)

I’m the Midweek Enrichment Leader in our ward. We’ve got about 20 groups going currently. We have 3 different FHE groups right now. I just sent a sign-up sheet around to see who would be interested in packet swaps and the response was wonderful.

We’ve got about 10-12 sisters in each group. Everybody makes the same packet for each member of the group, then they get together and exchange each other’s packets and at the end of the evening, they each have 10-12 different themed packets. Here’s the instruction sheet I give each member. I ask one sister in each group to be the “group leader”. She’s in charge of getting everybody together initially, then setting a time limit to get packets done, keeping tabs on progress, then getting everybody back together to exchange packets. It works out really well.

“FHE Packets”
Packet Contents:

1. The group leader keeps a list of people and packet theme they are working on, so as not to duplicate.

2. Family Home Evening packets must contain song, scripture, lesson, story, pictures, game and treat idea.

3. The entire packet should go in a 10″x 13″ manila clasp envelope with the name of the lesson on the top of the outside. Also put your name on the bottom so we know who made it.

4. Any copies of games, pictures, etc, must be on cardstock and laminated! The cardstock can be white or colored, and you may do any coloring with markers, pencils or crayons. It must then be laminated to preserve and protect the paper.

5. You must also enclose a black and white original of the lesson and ideas
so if we want to make more copies in the future we have the original to do so.

6. Any material to be used (i.e., string, buttons, Popsicle sticks) that can
be enclosed in the folder should be included so that the whole packet is ready to open and use. If there are materials that cannot be put in the folder (i.e., a tennis shoe, a glass of water, food) a list should be made on the outside of the folder of the materials needed to be added for the packet to be complete.

Lesson Ideas:

Christmas Tithing Laws
Thanksgiving Priesthood Blessings Gratitude
Mother’s Day Being a Peacemaker Charity
Father’s Day Follow the Prophet Faith
Easter Word of Wisdom Kindness
4th of July Lehi’s Vision Modesty
24th of July Opposition in all things Sharing
Gift of Holy Ghost Missionary Work Caring
Articles of Faith, 0ne per person The Second Coming Scriptures
10 Commandments, one per person The Sabbath Day Cooperation
Family Preparedness Music Appreciation Testimonies
Prophets Stories from the B of M, pick one Honesty
Book of Mormon Heroes The Sacrament Happiness
David & Goliath Love at Home Reverence
Making Choices Loving our Neighbors Hard Work
Daniel & Lion’s Den Building Self-Esteem Example
1st Vision Courageous Pioneers Integrity
Prodigal Son Forgiveness Cleanliness
2,000 Warriors Obedience _____________
Anti-Nephi Lehies Prayer _____________
Service Jesus is Heavenly Father’s Son _____________
Baptism First Aid _____________
Abinadi Families _____________
Temple Marriage I Am A Child of God _____________
Manners Being Responsible _____________

There are other little “extras” that we can include in our Home, Family and Personal Enrichment Meetings to help enrich the lives of the sisters.

We also spotlight a food storage item each month for HFPE. We usually have a display and a 5 minute pep talk on food storage. We also have a coupon exchange. We all put in out extra coupons on a table and you take what you will use. We keep a box for the missionaries, so sisters can drop extra household items in them and we give to all the missionaries. Some sisters bring shampoo, towels, soap, tuna. whatever

We also help sponsor a local food bank so we keep a box for it and sisters bring different items for it. We have a yearly baby shower at women’s conference for HAM. Last year, just 3 days after our baby shower. A lady came into HAM with a 4 day old baby. She had nothing for the baby. Because of our gifts, HAM (Hobby Area Ministries-a group of 23 local churches) was able to outfit the baby and food.

-Kaie Potter

I have been a Homemaking Leader for 2 years and I must admit I was a little overwhelmed by this new program! Homemaking in our ward has always been a party! But, as I have prayed and worked on how to go about using the suggested topics and still keep my attendance up I have realized there are several things we can do to keep this program fun AND spiritual.

1) Publicity is Key! — A cute poster, flyer, and invitation as well as an interesting announcement in ALL the Women’s Auxiliaries help a lot. Sell your product! A display is great too! If I ever hear someone say they don’t know what is going on in RS I double my efforts!

2) Have good food! — This may sound silly but, everyone will come for a free meal.

3) Re-think your topics!– If scrapbooking is not part of family history I don’t know what is!

4) Remember your older sisters! — We have created a book club in our ward that is very well attended, especially by the elderly sisters.

5) Crafts are NOT out! — Just make sure they are used to benefit all. We are making small quilts to donate to the Sheriff’s Dept. Teach a new skill with your craft. Learn to use a pattern and sew by making something cute, a doll perhaps. The possibilities are endless.

6) Don’t forget service! — A well hyped (again with the publicity) service project can be one of the best attended meetings ever!

7) Be Positive! — Your attitude will go a long way towards your success.

I’m new in this calling, so I just have a quick question. I am wondering about some of your activities. They sound great, but I am thinking that you must have a different budget than us. I was told by a previous member of the presidency that we have a $25 budget for RS for the year, and we have to buy a turkey for some event in the fall out of that. The RS pres is supposed to be checking on that and getting back to me. I find it hard to believe, but we are in a small branch.

Anyway, where you get the funds for decorating and extras. Do you have a bigger budget? Or a good RS closet? Any ideas would be great.

-Vanessa Lewis

Answers:

I live in a married student ward and our budget is a whopping $12.00/month. We are given a lump sum to split between HFPE and midweek activities, which ends up being $12.00/month for Enrichment night and even less than that for midweek activities (~$8.00/month). So, we rely on the sisters to help us with decorations and extras. For instance, we often have a sign up sheet for sisters to bring things for the tables as well as refreshments. Sometimes, we call our less active sisters to help us out with this so as to get them to come to Enrichment night. We try to make sure different sisters are helping each month…so we don’t make things too tight for anyone all the time. This way, if we can save money throughout the year, then we can provide a nice dinner around Christmas time. It is not easy with such a limited budget, but we make it work.

-Shawnee in SLC

A sister asked how to decorate on a small budget. I have found that the Dollar Store is a great resource! Also, check out your Relief Society or Primary closets, they usually have lots of fun stuff in there to use. The other thing that I have done is buy the clearance stuff after the holiday is over, and save it for the next year, or improvise and use it for another activity. Good Luck!

-Kasey Andruski

In our ward we were REALLY having a hard time getting anyone to help with the children’s class. So we addressed this in announcement time and presented this plan. We have about 30 active participants in HFPE. If each volunteered in teams of two, it would be almost 2 years before they would need to volunteer again. It worked! Sometimes the sisters are prepared to teach the class and no children show up…then they can participate in the regular classes, but we have a more cooperative effort not and it’s wonderful!!!!

-Julianne in AL

Here is what we have found to work for our ward:

We called a sister to be “over” the children’s class. She prepares the lesson, craft/activity, treat and anything else that is to be done that night. She was responsible for either being in the class or finding someone to be in the class.

In our ward per the Bishop we cannot use Priesthood or YW/YM. Somehow it always worked out. We have an older ward with a small small nursery. We usually average between 5-8 kids. So far this has worked for us.

-Christine

“Sooner or later we all quote our mothers.” — Bern Williams

Our September centerpieces were lunch boxes and apples. We had all different kinds of lunches boxes i.e… Hello Kitty, Spiderman, Star Wars, Dragon tales. Just what the moms had at home for their kids. We had tied balloons to them but they can be done without the balloons. It was a fun idea for a back to school theme. You could alternate a basket of apples with lunch boxes ( we just did both on each table) one lunchbox with a few apples on the table.

-Greta Johnson