Frugal Living - April 2014

Our RS activity for this month had a "frugal living" theme.

First there was a potluck dinner, with a hoagie sandwich bar theme. We had a signup sheet go around at church for sandwich toppings, salads, chips and desserts. The RS provided the deli meat, bread, mayo and mustard.

I picked up the deli meat (3 lbs turkey, 3 lbs ham, 2 lbs roast beef) and assembled 2 large trays that looked like this. I also included crab salad that was left over from my sisters wedding.

To make crab salad, I just add mayo to coat the imitation crab and add chopped celery and thinly sliced green onion to taste. It's a no fail recipe.

I bought what I thought was enough deli meat for 30 people. We had about 26 people come to the event and there was plenty of food left over.

I picked up hoagie sandwich rolls from Winco and split them in half before the event. I picked up some smaller whole wheat rolls too. I stored them in the freezer and then let them thaw in the fridge.

I wish I would have got a picture of the buffet table. We had all different kind of toppings. See list below...

Mayo, mustard, meat
olives (2 cans, sliced)
pepperoncinis(1 jar, sliced)
pickled jalapenos (jar, sliced)
pepperjack cheese (1 block, thinly sliced)
cheddar cheese (1 block, thinly sliced)
tomoatoes (7 medium, sliced)
sliced avacados (6, halved, sliced)
onions (2 large onion, thinly sliced, we could have done with less)
Lettuce (1 large bag, shredded)
Pickles (1 large jar, sliced)

I brought some spinach artichoke dip that was left over from my sisters wedding. Here's the recipe.

Lastly, I brought a chocolate peanut butter eclair cake that turned out to be a big hit. Here's the recipe. I used chocolate pudding instead of vanilla when I made it.

After dinner we had messages on three topics

1.) Budgeting
2.) Meal Planning
3) Couponing

There was also a spiritual message on having a frugal attitude.

All of the messages were wonderful. Oh I forgot to mention, that before the event we reached out to the sisters to find out if they knew of any local deals around town. We also invited them to share a crock pot or 5 ingredient or less recipe if they wanted. Those handouts were distributed at the event.

The dinner turned out so great. We did do a little extra work confirming that people who were bringing sandwich toppings would be there, that way all the main sandwich topping, like pickles would be available.

Relief Society Birthday - March 2014

We celebrated the birthday of the Relief Society this month.

Decorating:

We decorated the tables with empty gift bags and balloons to go along with the birthday theme.

We tried to set the tables up around the stage we created for the nights entertainment so that everyone could see.

Dinner:

The Relief Society provided a taco bar dinner. We had people sign up to bring desserts.

Entertainment:

We had 12 sisters play/act out Relief Society Squares, which is a spin on the TV show Hollywood Squares. Here's a quick summery of the game.

9 sisters were asked to dress up and pretend to be past RS presidents.
1 sister, who was very comical, was our game host.
2 sisters were our contestants.

The two contestants took turns choosing which past RS president they wanted the host to ask a question to. The nine sisters pretending to be past RS presidents had the option to tell the truth or make up a false answer when responding. The contestant would then have to decide whether the past RS president was telling the truth or not. That was the funny part.

We had a 9 square tick tac toe board too. The names of the 9 RS presidents were on the poster. Each time they were asked a question their name would be covered up by an X or an O depending on which contestants turn it was.

Another thing we did, was give the sisters who pretended to be past RS presidents a paragraph or two of information on the RS president they were impersonating. They selected highlights from the information and used it to introduce themselves when they came on stage, before the game started.

Here is the trivia and game information we used. We gave the trivia questions and answers to the 9 RS presidents and game host, prior to the game. Note - The trivia is a little outdated. So, one of the questions "who is the current RS president?" needs to be updated.

Here is another picture of the stage we created, since our gym doesn't have one.

I should mention that the idea for this game came from a previous ward where my husband and I attended in Illinois.

Family History - February

Our February RS activity had a "Family History" theme.

Dinner:

We started out the night with a potluck dinner with the theme - family recipe. We gave the sisters a minute to share, if they wanted, what dishes they had brought before eating.

I brought my mom's famous potato salad. Here's the recipe.

 Family History Game:

About 30 or so minutes into the dinner we started our family history game. It was so neat and fun!

Weeks prior to the event, I collected fun facts about peoples family history. Then, at the event, we had a sister read off the fun facts and everyone guessed who's ancestry it was.


Here are a few of the stories I loved.
1.) Someone's ancestor missed their ride on the Titanic, because they were kissing their boyfriend.
2.) Someone's ancestor was working in Spain, fell in love with a Spanish lady and as his boat was leaving for home he jumped ship and swam back to be with her.
3.) Someone's ancestor helped carve the faces of the presidents on Mount Rushmore.
4.) Several people were related to prophets and the early saints.

We gave small chocolate prizes to the sisters who were able to guess who's fun fact was being read. Their were too cinnamon swirl bread prizes too. They were the bonus prizes.

Class:

We ended the night with a 30 minute class on family history, by one of the sisters who's calling in the ward is to be a family history worker/expert.

Decorating:
The tulips are just starting to come on here, so I though it would be fun to decorate the tables with them. We attached family centered quotes to each vase.

 Quotes

1.) The love of a family is life's greatest blessing
2.) Family, Today's little moments become tomorrow's precious memories.
3.) Where life begins...and love never ends, Family.
4.) The roots of a family tree begin with the love of two hearts.
5.) Family is forever

Food Storage / Emergency Prepardness - January's R.S. Activity

This was a really fun activity.

We started out with a potluck dinner with a "Food Storage" theme. The idea was to bring a dish that you had used one or more food storage ingredients to prepare.

We took a minute for everyone to share what dish they brought so we could get food storage ideas.

I brought sushi with artificial crab, cream cheese and cucumber inside.

Here is a tutorial I put together on how to make it.

We set up for dinner and two classes in the cultural hall.

 We thought it would be fun to use jars for vases on the tables, since part of it was a food storage activity.

After the dinner we had the two classes. They were each 30 min long. The first was on food storage. I wish I would have taken a picture of how the sister who taught our class had set up her table. It was really neat. There were all different kinds of jars of fruits, veggies, meats, etc that she had canned and dried.

I learned that veggies usually need to be pressure canned and most fruits can just go through a water bath.

Then we had a 30 minute emergency preparedness class.

November - Holiday Dinner

We started out the night with two service projects.

1.) Making holiday cards to give to hospice
2.) Donating books to youth in need (ages 12-18)

Then, we had a dinner provided by the Relief Society. The activities committee prepared the meal at home and brought it to the church. We had...

ham
brisket
mashed potatoes
gravy
scallop potatoes
salad
corn
rolls

The dessert was potluck style

Prior to the activity, sisters signed up to decorate tables. Here are a few pictures of table settings.

After dinner we had a 30 minute program. First one of the bishops counselors spoke, then there was a musical number, and the bishop was the final speaker.

October - Apple Cider Pressing

We pressed apple cider at a members home for our R.S. harvest activity. Everyone had a job to do. Prior to the activity, people donated apples and jars. We split the cider.

 

Visiting Teaching Gift

This is a gift I put together for one of the ladies I visit teach. I picked some blackberries in our yard and decorated this thank you card box to put them in.