Mother Daughter "Part of a Wonderful Bunch" Activity

This Mother daughter Activity was one of my favorites! The Theme was centered around the Family Proclamation, titled "Part of a Wonderful Bunch!" We first had a prep activity the week before the actual activity where the girls made invitations, made letters, and were filmed for their part of a movie we made, "A-Z in the Family Proclamation." You can find a copy of the ABC quotes for the family proclamation at www.beinglds.blogspot.com Both Mothers and daughters read a part of the proclamation with their letter and then I pieced it together to one movie and we showed the film on the evening of our activity. It was fun but took some work!
We also asked each girl to tell us a famous "quote" or "saying" their mother uses often. Some of the answers included "this place is a pig sty!", and "believe in possibilities". I wish I could remember more. We had the girls guess who said what the night of the activity.

Here's a look at the invitation. I do not have this to share with you as it was a cut out used by another leader not on the computer. The girls cut it out and put it together. the stem opened up and read...

A family doesn't "leaf" you hanging on a vine
with a Mothers love you'll always be fine

Families "cling" together and help each other.
making you feel close to one another.

If you come to our party, I have a hunch
you'll "proclaim" you are part of a wonderful bunch!

and of course then we had the date, time, and place

This stand of grapes greeted our Mothers and daughters as they entered the cultural hall where our party was at.
When they first arrived we had a few tables set up in the back where we had a craft project for the girls to make with their Moms. They started it by painting a 4x6"wood block black and letting it dry while we waited for everyone to get there.
directions...
At the end of the activity, the girls finished their craft by adding this saying we printed on cardstock, distressed with some stamp ink, and made into a sticker. All they had to do was peel and stick.
A little ribbon was added to the top to finish it off. You can download the quote HERE
The Mothers/daughters were asked to bring a food dish special to their family to share. This table was set up to hold all the yummy food items.
We gave them these cards to label their special food. Unfortunately I don't have a copy to share but it would be easy to make your own!
here are a few things the girls brought to share...
Favorite treats, Christmas eve dishes, braided bread their grandmother made, homemade salsas from their gardens, and foods that are a tradition were things that showed up at our table.
It was a great mix of food we enjoyed. Notice the letters behind the table...They are the letters the girls made for the movie we made and the part of the proclamation they read. We used them to decorate too!

We used this decorated wall to take a picture of each mother and daughter together.

These balloons were our table centerpiece.
These were the place settings. All going along with our Grape theme.
I loved the little touch of candy grapes tied to the forks. All the party supplies came from Party Land.

A glance at the decorated room. To my right in the back was the craft table and to the left was the food table. We had the projector set up in the center for our special movie presentation.
So a run down of the activity went like this...
Girls arrived, put their food on the table and painted a wood block
Then they got their picture taken with their mom and had a seat
Next we had our opening prayer, shared the family proclamation movie we made(lots of giggles watching ourselves speak!)
Then we ate dinner
After eating for a bit and visiting we played our game of famous quotes and tried to guess which mother said what?!?
Next we talked about families and motherhood and shared a special Mormon message from Stephanie Nielsen about Motherhood which you can find here. I was able to download it for free from ITunes to my computer and then project it on the screen for everyone to see.
Lastly we had a prayer and then the girls finished their craft project to take home.

We also had a packet for each family to take home that included the family Proclamation and a FHE Lesson about the Family Proclamation which you can find on www.beinglds.blogspot.com
Both the ABC quotes we used for the movie and the packet can be found and downloaded for free through this site. Be sure to leave her a comment of appreciation!

It really is wonderful to be part of a bunch!

I hope you enjoy these ideas for your next Mother/Daughter Activity!

Kristen :)