By now, I'm sure most of you are planning, or have just had, your ward's New Beginnings night (ours
Did you do things differently this year because of changes to the Personal Progress program materials?
Was it on a Sunday, a Mutual night, or a different night?
Where was it held? (cultural hall, chapel, some other room or offsite)
What was the evening's theme, schedule, or highlight?
How much did you spend on it?
Share with us what worked well, what didn't, what you'd file away to remember for next year. Go.
Our New Beginnings was the same ol thing.
ReplyDeleteWe set up in the RS room, the other ward then had to set up in the cultural hall (bad building coordinator).
Here's where the typical kicks in.
We had to then tear down and move to the Primary room, the other ward (RS dinner) had to tear down and move all their tables into the RS room.
Why? Because as usual, Scouts playing basketball trumps what ever anyone else has planned.
Just like it did when I was a youth working out of the 1977 PP book.
We had ours in our gym on mutual night. Our theme was a jungle theme-turned out realy cute. We introduced the girls turning 12 next year and found out that we need to start introducing the girls that turned 12 last year. (we had done this because the previous presidency had done it this way) We had a laurel interview a newbie for everyone to get to know them. Also we had the mothers of the young women write an ecouraging letter to them-which we handed out to them that evening. We tried to borrow as much as we could for decorations and used coupons to keep our cost down.
ReplyDeleteWe had the best NB we've ever had! It was a skit from opening prayer to closing, no speakers, not a word from leaders. The YW did it all. Props, backdrops, wardrobe, rehearsals. I always hated doing skits, so we just didn't do them. Big mistake! I should have asked the YW what they liked to do, since it turns out they LOVE to do skits.
ReplyDeleteOur YW in Excellence was the first time we turned an event over entirely to the YW, and it was an enormous success. Doing it again for NB didn't disappoint.
It was so eye opening to see mutual attendance go through the roof when we held practices for NB. By stepping back and letting our YW take over (like we should be doing with everything in YW, anyway) we were blessed with both fabulous programs and YW full of enthusiasm and confidence. I am sold!
We handed out the new PP books right after NB. Other than that, we have started plugging it on our YW blog, and Facebook page the second news came out that it was changing. We have also been cheerleading it on Sundays. We had intended to do an entire segment at NB on the new program, but time did not permit and the YW decided that is what they would rather cut.
My advice, ask the girls what they want to do, then let them do it. It will be better than you can even imagine.
ours is this coming Sunday - 2 of my daughters are in YW, and they are complaining something about a puppet play that they have to put on -will let you know afterwards how it goes
ReplyDeleteOurs has still not happened and I am not even sure there are plans yet except "to do." Ours is normally done instead of the normal YW meeting on Weds night.
ReplyDeleteThis will be my first NB that I'm in charge of, so I'm a little bit nervous.
ReplyDeleteWe're taking the theme for the year, "Be strong and of a good courage..." and building a theme around it about running a race.
We have a whole new presidency, so we're pretty much just going to each take a few minutes to testify about the program. The 1st counselor will talk about the theme of the night, and then I'll talk about my own experiences with YW. For our first trip out, we're trying to keep things as simple as possible.
I love reading about Janet's NB. My girls would not react the same way, but I'm always thrilled when something works. Way to lead, Janet!
Ours is held in the place of mutual. It will be the first week in March. We have traditionally been in the RS room. Our theme will be "stand in holy places" with an emphasis on "be strong & stand" We will have Laurels do a spotlight on the beehives. We'll also probably show some excerpts from the New Year DVD.
ReplyDeleteI know this is an old post, but just thought I'd throw my 2 cents out there since I'm in a pretty unique situation.
ReplyDeleteI am a counselor-less YW president in a very small branch in rural Illinois. I only have 1 young woman (and 2 incoming for 2012).
We are going to hold our NB immediately after our branch potluck, which occurs right after church on Sunday (our geographic boundaries are huge and it's too far to drive to have people come back Sunday night...and we don't have Mutual).
We meet in a rented building and have 1 room that functions as our chapel, cultural hall, and adult classroom. That's where we'll have our program. :)
I'm thinking of using this talk by Elder Nelson as our theme: Daughters of Zion.
http://lds.org/new-era/1985/11-ee/daughters-of-zion?lang=eng
I'd love any input from others on how to structure a program for such a small group. Obviously, there will not be any skits or musical numbers (unless my YW wants to do a solo!). Suggestions?? Thanks in advance. :)
Jenn- let's give your question its own post and see if we get some ideas from the readers, thanks for asking and thanks for caring for that "one" in your stewardship with such love and attention to detail!
ReplyDelete