Dinner Service Activity

My partner had a baby a few months ago so the girls and I made dinner for her family.  We kept the menu simple in order to be done on time and not have any hiccups.

Each girl, or a team of girls, was assigned a job.  I'll share some of those jobs below.

Main dish-

Six Sisters 20 Minute Skillet Lasagna

 Jobs-
Brown meat
Prepare pasta water
Cook pasta
Measure spices and other ingredients
Stir in pasta sauce
Stir in spices and other ingredients
Add pasta to sauce and meat

Sides-

Garlic bread
Jobs-
Slice bread
Butter bread
Sprinkle with garlic salt and parmesan cheese
Wrap in foil
Broil

Italian Salad-
Jobs-
Prepare lettuce
Cut salami, red onion, Roma tomatoes and black olives
Add parmesan cheese
Add croutons
Add prepared ingredients

*I generally dress the salad upon serving so we just put the desired amount into a small container so the family could dress it as they desired.

Dessert-

Rice Krispie Treats

Jobs-
Measure ingredients
Melt butter (I use a 1/2 cup.  It results in ooey-gooey treats!)
Prepare pan
Stir in cereal
Press into pan

Babysitting Kit Update 2014

from simpleasthatblog.com

A lot of you probably know Rebecca from Simple as That.  I am a fan of hers from a few years ago when I found one of her amazing books on scrapbooking.  Now she makes all of these adorable creations:

  

She contacted me a few weeks ago and asked for permission to use an idea that has already been on here to create some new FREE printables for her AD girls.  Of course, I jumped at the chance!  So, I am happy to feature this adorable, new babysitting kit from her blog.

  

You can find it HERE.  Thanks for sharing your amazing talents with the rest of us, Rebecca!

Secret Sisters

One of the best activities we did this past year was Secret Sisters.  We asked our Relief Society President for the names of some sisters who could use an adopted granddaughter, and each girl was assigned one as her older "sister".  We started off the relationship by making a simple card and dipping a caramel apple for them.  The apples were super easy!  Just follow the instructions on the back of the Kraft caramel bag!  And then to jazz it up a little, and give it the seasonal touch, we dipped it in white chocolate and added some fall sprinkles.

Add a little cellophane bag and some ribbon, and you have a little party on a stick.  I delivered these the next day, so the girls could be "secret" for the duration of the project.  

For phase two, we had the girls make these little cuties at the same activity:

It's just a dressed up roll of toilet paper!  Take a sheet of orange tissue paper, tuck and wrap it around the roll.  Tuck a little piece of green tissue in the top along with a smidge of raffia.  Cut out a jack-o-lantern face from sticky back black felt and PRESTO!  A cute Halloween decor item, and an emergency roll of toilet paper in one!  We delivered these on a different day.

For phase three, we made wreaths similar to this one:

You can find the tutorial HERE.  This was a separate activity night.  It does take a while, and I would suggest having all the fabric cut ahead of time.  We had the girls bring their fabric and we were really pushed to finish them.  These were also delivered secretly.

For the last phase of the project, we had an after church munch and mingle with our secret sisters.  Each girl met her sister and visited with her.  We just had some simple refreshments and played a little icebreaker game.  It was really rewarding for the girls to develop this relationship over a few weeks and be excited to serve someone.  They love to see each other now!  You can use this activity to incorporate several different requirements, and adapt it for the needs of your own group.  I would highly recommend it because it really opened the girls eyes to the lives of others outside their own age group.  

FHE lesson

This activity is super quick and easy...seriously.  We are having a lesson tonight on a recent talk by the prophet.  I chose the Race of Life from the April session of conference this year.  I am going to share with them the main points of Pres. Monson's talk-the plan of salvation, enduring to the end.  Then we will put together our own file folder for family night.  I printed off a lesson plan which can be found here.  I will have the girls draw their own diagram of the PofS and also jot down any other ideas they have that would specifically work for their family.   The rest of the time we will spend making this super simple ornament
found here

image from http://pinterest.com/pin/143481938099107665/

I am making it even easier for the girls by pre-cutting the red paper, cutting a black belt out of sticky-back felt, and using a tiny piece of gold pipe cleaner for the buckle on the belt.  We have 14-16 girls, so it has to be super simple and self-explanatory or we don't get finished in time.  I will post a pic of a finished one later. Have fun!

Tami