Activity Days Recognition Night: Bloom Where You're Planted

(Note: I'm posting in depth about this event because I Googled for Recognition Night ideas and found almost nothing. I know others will search for the same thing, so I hope this can be helpful!)

In my church, I have the opportunity to work with the 8-9 year old girls in a program called Activity Days. We meet twice a month for an hour each time and the girls get to learn all kinds of fun new things. I absolutely love it! Turns out I like an awful lot of the same things that eight- and nine-year-old girls do. (Exhibit A)

 Once a year we are supposed to hold a Recognition Night. The other leaders and I chose the theme "Bloom Where You're Planted," a lesson that's definitely important for girls of that age to learn.

For centerpieces on our round tables, I used all of my colorful vintage flower pots, with the dirt + dead plants replaced by floral foam. The girls helped make paper lollies that looked like flowers. They were truly easy enough for 8-year-olds to manage successfully (although the adults manned the glue guns). We poked the dowel 'stems' of the flowers into the foam, then hid the top with a handful of that shredded paper gift filler stuff in bright colors. The tables themselves were covered with round white cloths, then we used my collection of vintage floral tablecloths to add some color! Each flowerpot was also placed atop one of my bright-colored vintage doilies that belonged to my dear Gram.

The tables looked so cute and colorful and really brightened up our seriously drab gym/cultural hall. I waited until scrapbook paper was 6/$1 at Michael's so this was a very inexpensive decoration, as you can get two flowers from each sheet of paper. That means it took only 13.5 sheets of paper to make our 27 flowers! In addition to the paper, I used one package of floral foam bricks, and two packages of 3/16" dowels.

For the refreshments, the other leaders made cute cupcake toppers by rolling out jellied fruit slices (you could also use large gumdrops, which we couldn't find) and cutting them with flower-shaped cookie cutters. I wasn't able to help make them, but the girl in charge assured me it's a really easy project and the results are so cute! We used my collection of cake plates and a few silver trays to display the cupcakes.

A few weeks ahead of time, we requested that the parents give us a baby picture of each girl. I used my Cricut and more 6/$1 scrapbook paper and cut large flowers, then used photo corners to adhere the pictures to each one (that way the photos could be returned undamaged.) Each flower was numbered and the girls and parents could guess which baby picture belonged to which girl. We also asked the parents to prepare a SHORT (1.5 minute) thing to say about a way their daughter has bloomed where she has been planted.

For our program, we first had the Primary President give a few short remarks about what it means to bloom where you're planted. Next, we called the girls and their parents up one by one by plucking one of the baby pictures from the wall. The parent gave their remarks, and then we applauded each girl and gave her a necklace. The necklaces were made of metal flower charms strung on white satin ribbon. After we heard about half of the girls, we sang the song "Little Purple Pansies" from the Children's Songbook. The lyrics are absolutely perfect for the theme of blooming where you're planted, and also importantly, the song is SHORT! We then heard about the other half of the girls (we have 22 total so it was necessary to split them up), and then the Bishop closed the meeting with a few remarks of his own.

We gave the girls the opportunity to bring a few items to display on tables in the back of the room. Most participated and it was fun to learn more about each one by seeing what they'd brought to represent themselves. We also invited all of the girls to take home one of the paper flowers and they all posed for a group photo that we can display next year at Recognition Night!

I think the event went really well. The parents and girls seemed to enjoy themselves. It was so great to hear the parents speak publicly about their daughters' good qualities, and I hope the girls remember that! I loved how the decorations looked, and I'm always thrilled when I get the chance to use some of my vintage collections for an event like this because then I totally feel justified in having them. :D