DOTS {Depend on the Savior} -Young Women in Excellence

Last fall, our wards youth and leaders were in the midst of Phoenix Temple Cultural Celebration. Planning & preparing for the celebration occupied every Wednesday night, (plus some Saturdays & Sundays) from September-November 2014. So when it was all said and done mid-November...I was wiped out! However, my presidency & I still needed to plan & execute an Evening of Excellence to recognize our sweet YW and all that they had accomplished in Personal Progress that year.

So...as a presidency, we decided to KEEP IT SIMPLE!! I knew that we wanted our theme for the evening to be "DOTS-DEPEND ON THE SAVIOR." For the year of 2014, We motivated our YW by having them earn DOTS as they worked on their Personal Progress. Each class had a mason jar to fill. As the girls earned their DOTS, they helped fill up their class jar. When the jar was full, the class got to have a fun activity or party of their choosing.

But I wasn't quite sure how we were going to pull this fun motivational activity and our YWIE all together. Oh...and I forgot to mention that at this time...the holiday's were already upon us.

 

As I looked online for ideas, I found this post over at

PEEK-A-BOO PHOTOS

http://www.peekaboophotos.com/evening-in-excellence-personal-progress/

Her ideas and execution of this event were ADORABLE! I LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT IT!!

I especially loved her use of GOLD DOTS, instead of using the value colors. Plus, since we were in the midst of the holidays, gold dots would be festive...and that it was!

As a presidency, we decided to have our YWIE take the place of our traditional Christmas Party. We also decided to keep the evenings program very casual. Once everyone arrived, we had a prayer & the theme, & then let our YW & parents munch & mingle.

We served donut holes & had hot chocolate bar that the YW & parents could munch on, as they walked around admiring the projects that were displayed. It was FABULOUS!! 

I have to give a shout out to my one of our sweet Beehive Advisors, Lindsay Bangart, for making 2 of these AWESOME donut hole trees. They turned out SO. DANG. CUTE!!

 

We kept the decorations VERY SIMPLE! We covered the tables & backdrops with gold polka dot wrapping paper. We used gold & white paper plates on the walls as polka dots.

We added gold Christmas trees & few gold ball ornaments here & there.

(I don't have a picture of it BUT we had taken pictures of the YW & framed them in a gold frame so they could display it with their projects.

After Munching & Mingling for about 20 minutes, we had a brief program.

 

It was a great evening. Simple, yet spiritual and a wonderful way to celebrate our YW and all that they accomplished in 2014.

For the hand out, We made each girl an ornament that had a picture of Christ in it, with snow. They decorated the trees in the front of the room, till the evening was over. They were super cute!!

(Of course, I forgot to take a picture of it).