Activity Day Invitations

The activity day (church girls group ages 8-11) leader before me started passing out a cute little invitation to each girl on the Sunday before activity day.  The girls really looked forward to it, were excited to attend, and seemed to remember better.  So, I've continued her tradition.  Sometimes it is a very simple printed note, other times I play with my scrapbooking supplies and make it fancy.

I  must clarify that we have a very small primary (children's group like Sunday School) in our ward (congregation).  We will get our sixth activity day girl next month.  So, it doesn't take very much time to make invitations and those kinds of things.  I have a craft room literally overflowing with supplies for a huge variety of projects so I am able to "shop" there for what we need to do most projects.  Not to mention that grabbing six frames at dollar tree is not going to break the bank.  So, budgeting for activities is not too much of an issue.  I realize that some of you activity day leaders have a huge challenge in this area.  My sister's ward has 40 activity day girls-that has got to be some kind of record!  I just don't want people to see what works for my tiny group and think that they should be doing the same for their large bunch- not so!

I've found some fun ideas and inspiration online and hope to be able to share some of what works for me- but for pete's sake- go easy on yourself.  We just do the best we can with the situation we've got :o)

In January of each year I make a schedule of the activity days for the year.  I glue a magnet on the back and send it home with the parents of the girls to put on the refrigerator.  All activity days are held at my house which is a million times easier then hauling all of the needed supplies to the church (I tried it- so much nicer to do at home).  We have our activity days on Tuesdays from 5-6 p.m.

For the less active girls I use the mail.  I send her the yearly calendar and invite her to attend.  Mid year I sometimes send a little care package to these same girls.  I include a "miss you note" signed by all the girls, a calendar of the upcoming activity days for the next few months, and one of the projects that we have completed (hair clips or something little) to get the girl excited about how much fun activity days can be.

These are just a few simple tips that have worked for me- hope they work for you!