I'm not sure how many people still read this since I never post BUT I thought I'd ask a question to those of you who have hung on :)
Is it mean to do a Ward Christmas party and not invite the kids? I mean, like an "adults only" Christmas dinner?!?
I have just been put in charge of our ward's and I'm clueless. All I know is that we have TONS of unwatched children in our ward and it would be SO MUCH BETTER if I didn't have to deal with having to contain them, or entertain them.
We have a big Halloween Trunk-or-treat each year...can't that be the "kid's celebration" and then Christmas can be the "adults celebration"? I fear I'll offend half my ward if I uninvite the kiddos but just because it's always been a certain way, doesn't mean it's GOT to be done that way this time, right?
Anyway, Christmas always seems to be about the kids...not the adults. Maybe this time it should be about the adults?!?
I don't know the answer...hoping someone can give me some good advice :)
Don't you remember the year we were BIG 9th ward and Kerri Hacking was in charge of the Christmas Party?!? It was the best ever! We had the morning christmas party of donuts and juice where the kids saw santa and got a candy cane, they all thought it was fabulous and SUPER easy. Then, in the evening we did the nice dinner (potluck) and that's when the presidencies in the ward did their skits and Justin made his lovely Youtube debut! I think you can get away with not inviting the kids, I agree that kids make it challenging, but I remember LOVING that year because it was crazy chaos fun for the kids, then a nice night out for us to enjoy as a couple :) GOOD LUCK!
ReplyDeleteHhhhm, that's a tough one to sell. I think Christmas is more about families and a great time to invite neighbors and their kids along. In previous stakes I've been in they've held an adult New Years celebration. We've had problems with parents not watching their children as well, kids running around the building and chapel, damage to rooms etc. I know this isn't your question, but how our ward handled it is that we announced in RS, EQ, YW and Primary that families are to keep their children in the cultural hall, that the church is still the Lord's building and the chapel is a reverant place. We reminded thim this was two fold, not just to show reverance but also for their protection and safety as anyone can walk off the street into the building and snatch a kid (which is one reason the church changed it's policy that kids need to be picked up by a parent from their leaders on Wednesday nights due to a girl getting snatched somwhere in the US). Also, the night of our activity the Bishop, while welcoming the members, also reminded them to keep the kids in the cultural hall. This just can't ever be said enough, why members think the church is a playground and kids should be left unatended is beyond me especially when they attend activities that are for the "family". With that said, we have had many super successfull Christmas parties if you need ideas. The one we did last year (which somewhat fell in my lap and the lap of our RS meeting coordinator, becuase the RS was in charge) turned out so awesome. We tend to do alternate between spiritual and fun each year for our Christmas party. The year before last was more on the spiritual side, this last December we held a Polar Express theme, served breakfast for dinner and everyone including adults came in pajamas, it was so AWESOME! I've got pictures if you need some. We tied a bit of the message of Christ in to it as well. We also had one of the YM dress up as the conductor and we were shocked at how excited the kids got when they saw him (he read them the Polar express story and you couldn't even hear a peep out of 100 kids) it was like he was some famous person or something to them. Soooo funny! We also had the YM dress up as the chefs to serve hot cocoa and the YW helped escort the kids from the stage (the Primary kids put on a super special nativity song) to the part where the conductor would read to them. Interestingly enough we had a super huge positive response from the adults on how much they themselves enjoyed it. Personally I was tickled that the adults and youth jumped on board with the pajama idea and it was sooooo funny to see the types of jammies people had (we did state that the jammies needed to be modest which they all were). We served bacon, eggs, pancakes,and ham, several toppings,OJ, and Milk, and we had a pretty cool desart donut hot cocoa bar (can you say sugar overload! ha, ha, actually it worked out just great). Anyway, I am curious what route you go. If you need any ideas let me know and I can pull from last year or the previous years. Anyway, to answer your question, yes I still read your blog, and regarding the Christmas party I would recommend keeping it family oriented.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm a jerk, but I've loved the adult only parties done by our ward and we have been talking about getting another one put together. Loved the one we did with dinner and a dance-that one was so much fun!
ReplyDelete