Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Young Women

Thought I would share with you what we did last night at our YWIE.  Our theme was, "Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Young Women".  (This was a "take" on the book, "Everything I Needed to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten"

Speaker - A sister who earned her medallion 17 years ago.  She spoke about how the YW programmed and it's values have influenced her life.

Dress - The YW dressed in school-girl attire.  They wore skirts with blouses.  Some put their hair in pig-tails and wore glasses.  The leaders dressed up too.

Decorations - We decorated the room to look like a classroom.  We even had a reading corner with carpet squares, a chair and some books.

Refreshments - Apples w/ carmel dip and chocolate popcorn.  Originally, our plan was to provide a cafeteria-type meal.  We were going to buy the lunch trays at Smart-n-Final and put the refreshments on that.  We even thought about asking some of the older sisters to come in an serve the girls like the lunch ladies do at school - complete with a hairnet and everything!  I think our class assigned to do the snacks thought it was too much, but I think it would have been fantastic!

Gift - (School Survival Kit) (This is something that I got off of this site in the archives.  I changed it to suit our purposes for the evening.) Each YW was given a kit.  I bought some small white lunch bags at Wal-Mart and then found a font called "Penmanship" 
which I found on the internet at One Scrappy Site.  I typed their name with this font onto cardstock and then glued it onto the bag.  Each kit contained the following items.  I typed this up on some cardstock and labeled it "School Survival Kit Legend": 

Rubberband - Be flexible.  Things may not always go as you have planned, but they will work out in the end if you have faith.
Eraser - Everyone makes mistakes.  Be forgiving. (includingyourself)
Notebook - Make a record of your life by writing in your journal often. 
Ruler - Are you measuring up to your potential?
Pencil/Lead - Be led by the Spirit.
Paperclip - Cleave to good friends and friends who are good.
Glue - Stick to your standards.
Pencil Sharpener - Sharpen your skills, not your tongue.
Magnet - Be attractive:  Dress modestly.
Crayon - Draw near to your Heavenly Father through prayer.
Bookmark - Read your scriptures daily. 
Candy - Sweets for the sweet.  Always know that we love you!

Display - Each YW displayed their value project or experience in such a cute way.  Do you remember the papers that our children write on in school when they are young?  It is the paper that has room at the top to draw a picture and then the lines at the bottom to write a story or describe the picture.  Well, our YW drew a picture of their project and then wrote about it on those papers.  They were various sizes.  Some were 8 1/2 x 11 and then some went on up to poster board size.  We let the YW decide how large to make it. 
Those who wanted to display their project who able to do that also.

It was a simple program that was a lot of fun.  Our parents were thrilled with it and the YW really enjoyed it.