Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Youth Conference

This coming Saturday is the dreaded "Youth Conference" with the church kids that we've been planning for a few months. And when I say "planning for a few months," I mean "knowing that it's coming and finally meeting to talk about it for the very first time last Friday." And by "dreaded" I mean "I'm considering entering into the witness protection program to get out of this situation because I dread it so much."

Ok, an attitude adjustment could go a long way. I know this guys. Why do you always choose times like this to lecture me about my attitude and how slutty my outfits are?

Anyway, for those unfamiliar with the forty volume set of Mormon lingo dictionaries, Youth Conference is a gigantic outing of some sort that takes place with Mormon kids, ages 14-17, every summer within their local congregations. They usually happen over the course of two or three days and include excessive amounts of games and hormones. They're basically exactly like every rumor you've ever heard about fanatical Christian Bible camps in the south except way less condemnation of Harry Potter and more Jello.

Youth conferences often take the form of some kind of camp-out and I have very fond memories of them as a teenager. Never did I realize how much effort and thought has to go into the planning of one of these things until this year.

Apart from having to find a location to accommodate the group and festivities, the leaders must also plan meals, come up with meaningful and fun activities, obtain permission from every single parent, arrange transportation, AND not start callously hating all teenagers in the process. It's basically like being a parent. I think.

And just to put this into perspective, in Palau, we are only doing Youth Conference for one day. No overnight stuff. And we are only planning on having about 25 kids, rather than the hundred-plus we sometimes had when I was a teenager in Utah. I am gaining a new-found respect for my parents' generation who handled all of this stuff fifteen years ago. AND did it without Internet.

Our plan is to head out to this island nearby that has an old lighthouse on the top of a hill. We're going to hike it and then have a barbecue on the beach and play games for the afternoon. We thought it would feel more legitimate if we also had matching t-shirts made for all of the kids, so on Saturday I ventured off to one of the two places in Palau that can print t-shirts.

I asked them whether they would be able to print about thirty t-shirts by Friday.

Guy: Uh. Ok. Place the order.

Eli: Great. And so you can definitely have these done by Friday?

Guy: Uh-oi.

Eli: So you can? I can FOR SURE pick these up next Friday?

Guy: Ok.

Eli: Ok. Great. So we'll do thirty shirts.

Guy: Ok. We will probably have them done . . . I don't know . . . August 5th.

Eli: Huh? I need them for Friday. So you can't do them by Friday?

Guy: Ok.

Eli: I think we're having a communication problem.

Note: This communication problem is common.

Guy: By maybe August 1st.

Eli: Ok. What if I said this was a race and you needed to do them as fast as possible? Then when do you think you could get them done?

Guy: Well not before September, because we just got an order of 2,000 shirts.

I left after this, because there was no way my order of thirty shirts was going to get done if they had an order of 2,000 waiting. But as I walked away, it hit me. TWO. THOUSAND. SHIRTS.

IN PALAU.

Guys. There are 20,000 people in Palau. That order is big enough to clothe 10% of the population. And only like 10,000 of those people even wear shirts because it's SO HOT ALL THE TIME ALWAYS. So it's really more like 20%.

Could you imagine if someone placed an order at your local t-shirt printing business in the United States for thirty million shirts?

What could this order POSSIBLY be for?

Anyway, the whole reason I'm writing today is actually because I'm just looking for some ideas for what I can do with the kids for the afternoon after we have lunch. Basically, we'll be on a beach for about four hours and I need to come up with some fun activities/games that won't require much by way of equipment since we don't have a ton of room on the boat. And if you don't have any good ideas, maybe you can just leave a comment with a terrible idea that you definitely DON'T suggest. Like, "start your own meth lab and sell the product to raise money for weapons." Because sometimes it's helpful to hear what kinds of things we shouldn't be doing.

~It Just Gets Stranger

90 comments:

  1. My kids are attending Youth Conference next week. I hope there will be t-shirts. As far as activities, I wouldn't suggest bungee jumping.

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  2. i definitely wouldn't suggest catching deadly sea snakes to milk for venom. Although it would be a great fund raiser and exciting, and unique, and sustainable... but other than those things it hasn't got a lot going for it.
    Bridg

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  3. What about a scavenger hunt? Break the kids into groups, maybe a little prize for the ones that finish first.

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    1. I do scavenger hunts with my kids here and there, we love 'em. Our typical list consists of:
      Something you think is a treasure
      A stick
      Something green
      A rock
      A chewed leaf
      Something round/smooth/straight/rough
      Three pieces of litter (helps keep our playground clean :D )
      & A seed

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    2. You could expand on that, have them go on a scavenger hunt, then make something with everything that they've found.

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    3. Or make them do a people scavenger hunt (I don't know how well they know each other) and do like
      someone who can turn a cartwheel
      someone who's been out of the country
      someone with three sisters
      someone who likes Justin Beiber
      and the like.

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    4. Well being a teenager myself, no offence, but scavenger hunts are LAME. Those are best for younger kids. People scavenger hunt can be a cool icebreaker because your have to know about a lot of people in usually a short amount of time. However, these guys probably already know each other pretty well and fill in the blanks themselves... Perhaps ultimate Frisbee. Or if your there late capture the flag in the dark with glow sticks can be fun (unless you have really rough kids playing-one year we had someone break a leg...still not sure how that happened)

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  4. I love youth conference! I got a shirt for mine. And one for girls camp. And now i'm going to trek, tomorrow actually. Excited!

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    1. Drink water as if your life depends on it, it will! We had 18 girls from our Stake need IVs because they were so dehydrated. Go with an open heart and write everything down when you come back. It'll be one of the best things you ever do!

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    2. However if your worried about peeing on a tree which can be awful as a girl on treck, just drink some water continually throughout walking. Don't chug all at once because you've been holding out. THAT will cause problems. But well if you have to pee a lot, find a good friend.

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  5. How about a nature scavenger hunt: http://www.thetaylor-house.com/2012/05/16/is-this-thing-on.html

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  6. If you google YoungLife games you can find a bunch of games for high schoolers that, although they can be kinda nutty, are a ton of fun!

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  7. Sharpies and rubbing alcohol to make your own shirt for the afternoon as a summation of how AWESOME it was.

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    1. YES! I was going to say the same thing. Give them a pile of sharpies and new shirt and let them go crazy. You can even put a "gospel message" with it... each person has to write something they admire about that person on the other person's shirt... and sign their name.

      So for you, I would write..... Completely AWESOME, so inspiring, Love, Katie

      I'd dot my "i" with a heart and you would KNOW that I loved you.

      Enjoy! SUPER IDEA

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    2. It is a great idea to have them make their own T-Shirts!

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    3. Or tie-dying t-shirts may also be a fun idea, if those resources are available!

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    4. I suggest if you go the tie-dye route to put the dye in spray bottles. It leaves a cool effect on the shirt with a LOT LESS mess!! You'll also need a clothes line to hang the shirts while you spray them. We did this at Girl Scout camp when I was a kid. It's a lot of fun. Be sure to use a Sharpie to write the kid's name on the inside before you spray so they know which shirt is theirs after it dries.

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  8. All out war against Leotrix and his "hood rats" (get it?)!

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    1. hahaha! I get it. Hooded rats... teehee (at least I hope we're talking about the same thing)

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  9. Can you get 30 white tee shirts? You could always have the kids tie dye them, or throw some sharpies out, and have them decorate thier own tee shirts, and count it as an activity AND solve the tee shirt problem. Could also hold a contest for "Best Tee Shirt", too, and make it the official logo or something.

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  10. I don't suggest playing Hunger Games with the kids and only bringing back the body of the ultimate victor. Even though that would be really entertaining.

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    1. The ultimate victor doesn't die, though.

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    2. That's actually funny cause this weekend we had a 'Hunger Games' party. We circled up around the cornucopia (a pool filled with water balloons and squirt guns) and killed each other with water! I made it to the final four....then the mutts (everyone who was already out) got me. It was super fun!

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  11. Aim low, I say. Teenagers hate everything anyway. You should do the crappiest activities you can think of. Teach them really sloppy magic tricks. Bring coloring books and crayons. Play a rousing game of "who can be quiet the longest".

    Also, I'm actively holding in all my really inappropriate suggestions right here. You're welcome, Eli's mom :)

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    Replies
    1. This had better be in the category of terrible ideas.

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  12. You could split them into teams and do " The Amazing Race" type activities. I have all of the activities- let me know if you're interested

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  13. A great game to pass the time is Hide & Seek. Have them hide and count to 200 (in slovic). The seek part is, of course, optional.

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    1. ha, I may end up doing that with my youth group ;)

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    2. or the opposite, Ghost in the Graveyard, where one person hides and everyone else looks for them. When you find them, you hide with them until only one is left or they give up. You can cram alot of people under a billard table

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  14. LDS Fear Factor? http://somesweettalkinggirl.blogspot.com/2012/09/fear-factor.html
    Maybe island kids are already jaded, but who doesn't love a gross-out game?

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    1. Actually, my kids did a fear factor at one of their YM/YW activities and loved it... personally I would've hated it, but it's gone down as one of their favorite things ever.

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    2. Corrine, thanks for the link! Those are some great activities!

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  15. Tie Dye tee shirts would be fun, a swimming race maybe? or a who dunnit murder mystery in the lighthouse?

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  16. Well, you're going to be on the beach, so I see no reason not to have a sand castle building competition. But, instead of calling them "sand castles" call them "sand temples." Then it would be a sand temple building competition and the team that builds the best sand temple gets a prize! :)

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  17. Ultimate Frisbee, Capture the flag

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  18. Play the real life Hunger Games!

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  19. buy some white shirts and tie dye them, duh. definitely no swimming races (hello, sea snakes). play tag, QofC can be "it" ( make it interesting, you see). oh, hey just got a brilliant idea... over here I see ads all the time now for "run or dye" events (5k races and such). how about just pass out the white t shirts and bring paint filled water balloons to throw, there by creating a fun diy tie dye event.

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    1. You can also "make" your own logo shirts. My family did this for a recent family reunion. When we were finished, we all signed the back of each others shirts. All you need are fabric markers and white t-shirts.

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    2. You could also play bags (as it's called in Chicago). It would be pretty easy for someone to make the boards and the bean bags.

      http://www.americancornhole.org/cornhole-rules.shtml

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    3. We call it cornhole, which is infinitely funnier

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  20. Pants Off Dance Off!

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  21. Minute to Win it games are always fun and teenagers love them. You can google it to get a ton of ideas.

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  22. Maybe a combination of a physical and mental activity? Like having to throw a bean sack into different holes and then having to answer a question about religion or morals? There could be a points system for how many throws it took to go into a hole, and teams to make it more interesting.

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  23. Human foosball is always fun. Kickball is always a blast and doubles as a good way to break down someone's ego. Do a giant puzzle. Make the kids sing songs around the campfire. Pretend to have a dramatic accident and test them on their first aid skills. (This happened to us at girls camp one year, one of the youth leaders started pretending to choke to test us on the first aid we had learned that day. I'm still traumatized.)

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  24. Ultimate Frisbee on the beach is always a hit. Stuff a few volley balls into a pack and you can easily entertain teenagers for hours that way. Or just let them wander into the jungle to make out. Either one.

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  25. hi I'm ben long time reader first time commenter. you should make somthing like the death race in america (www.youmaydie.com) lots of impossible things to do. that only prayer can help them get through though (and each other) I feel like a week should get you the building permits and build the obstacles in time.

    cheers,
    NEB

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  26. Two games that everyone loves are "Mafia" (goes by other names too; basically you all sit in a circle, a few people are Mafia and the rest are townspeople, no one knows who anyone else is, the rounds go in days and nights. Every day the group votes out one person they think is Mafia; this leads to a huge amount of accusation, suspicion, and protestations of innocence as the group tries to figure out who is fooling whom. Every night the group puts their heads down and

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    1. But obviously you would call it Gadianton Robbers.

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  27. ...(continued from above) the mafia sit up and silently choose a towns person to "kill" who is then out of the game. Obviously the object for the mafia is to kill all the townspeople before they all get discovered and voted out. It is soooo fun. The other game you could play is that one where everyone has a name taped to their forehead and they have to figure out who they are by asking everyone else yes/no questions.

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    1. I played this one year at Girls Camp and absolutely loved it!

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  28. I like the team building/working together type of activities. The human knot: everyone stands in a circle, shoulder to shoulder. Everyone puts their hands in the circle and takes hold of someone else's hand. then they have to 'untangle' themselves without letting go of hands.
    break into teams, have marshmallows, toothpicks, straws, gum, etc and give them 5-10 minutes to build a tower, who ever has the tallest wins.
    All the ideas above are great too, I'm impressed with all of the suggestions.

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  29. If you're looking for something without much needed space, I recommend the Screaming Viking, a.k.a. Bibbity bibbity bop. You can find instructions online and sometimes it's really fun to come up with variations yourselves. I did it last night with my FHE group and after the typical first ten minute confusion, everyone had a blast.

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  30. Blindfolded dodgeball. It's kinda like dodgeball (ok, EXACTLY like dodgeball), but the kids throwing the balls are blindfolded, and they have a "seeing" partner who tells them where to walk and when to throw. I may or may not have played this often in my English class in college. Don't ask me what that has to do with English. I'm still trying to figure out the answer to that myself.

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  31. Don't
    1). set up a kissing booth.
    2). Make them play that game where they have to pass an orange from neck to neck with no hands.
    3). Do that thing where you fall backwards off a pick nick table, it NEVER ends well.

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  32. Have them play out major scenes from star wars
    -faith

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  33. Your blog has continually brought laugher and joy into my life! I'm leaving on a mission tomorrow to Brazil and I'm gonna go through Stranger withdrawls!! I'll be back in 18 months and I can't wait to have days of make-up reading to do!!

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  34. One of my favorites to make YSAs play at FHE (you're welcome for more Mormon lingo to confuse the masses) is a game called Giants, Wizards, and Dwarfs. It's like large-scale rock, paper, scissors meets red-rover. It's hilarious to watch "grown adults" (and I must use that term loosely) get way into it. I assume teenagers would be even MORE fun to watch. Lots of laughs to be had.

    Instructions: You draw 3 lines in the sand, about 10 feet apart from eachother. The two outer lines are "safety zones" that the losers must run past without being tagged. The center line is the "draw" line. Both teams are given a few second to huddle and determine their sign, approach the draw line, and present their best, most animated, giant/wizard/dwarf. The losers of the draw must run behind their safety line before being tagged by the winners of the draw. Any tagged persons join the winning team.

    Signs:
    Giants -- Must stand up tall with their arms over their heads and make a "roar" noise.
    Wizards -- Must take a fencing stance with wand hand out in front, and I usually make them yell a Harry Potter Spell.
    Dwarfs -- Must squat down and pull their ears up making a high pitched "Eeeee" sound.

    Who beats what:

    Giants beat Dwarfs
    Dwarfs beat Wizards
    Wizards beat Giants

    Good luck, have fun, never die!
    -Marilyn

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  35. An obstacle course may be fun on the beach! They can do it in teams or individually, and there can be prizes at the end!

    In high school I was goaded into playing "beat stick", which is a memory game where you get hit with a duck-tape stick if you are too slow. I would NOT suggest that. Worst idea ever.

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  36. At a leadership camp I went to, they had this activity called "warm fuzzies". You attach a piece of paper onto the back of someones shirt and everyone goes around writing on other peoples papers what they like about each other and it can only be nice things. Then at the end of the game everyone gets to look at their own sheet and read all the nice things everyone had to say about them.

    Also any minute to win it games are fun. The cookie one is my favourite. it's a race between x-number of people, the cookie starts out flat on their forehead and they have to get it down into their mouths without using their hands. Fun AND you get a cookie at the end. Winnnn.

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  37. Break them into teams of 5* and have a sand castle building contest. Make a prize worth winning so they actually try/feel bad for losing. It's cheap, easy and fosters friendships (in theory). It also can be tied into gospel topics like, building up the kingdom of God, building on a sure foundation, service, teamwork etc...

    *= Predetermine the groups before hand to get as many crushes as possible on the same team together. It will automatically make it seem like the best YC ever.

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  38. Have you ever heard of lighthouse lookout? It's like Dutch blitz but with giant cards and you play it on the ground in groups. Our youth always liked that. Or dare base, ten sticks, kings base, chain tag, red rover. Relay races, pin the tail on the donkey... Ha just making sure your still reading.

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  39. One time we have a marshmallow battle with the kids that went along with the Nephite and Lamanite battles. I feel like you wouldn't have marshmallows in Palau. Water balloons? You probably don't have those either. Just don't use swords, and most definitely don't go all Ammon on anyone and smite off any arms. Good Luck!

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  40. Bring a watermelon covered in shortening, put it in the water, and have them play watermelon football It's seriously so fun! I played it last year at youth conference and have been dying to play it again.

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  41. If you don't mind getting messy, have a whipped cream fight! For games, you could play hook up tag or dodgeball.

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  42. Kissing Rugby. It's a great game to bring people out of their shells and break the ice.
    Really though, I've played it in Institute choir and at an EFY type thing (no lips, just face). It can get pretty violent though.

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  43. get a bunch of white t-shirts and tye dye them with the kids....i did that in a school outing as our "souvenir" and it was pretty fun...lets them put their own personality in it as well, maybe even take markers so they can each sign them like a year book :)

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  44. if you get shirts, these are obviously the best ones to get
    http://www.etsy.com/listing/154537442/ask-me-about-my-cat-tee-aqua-kitty-shirt

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  45. You could separate them into groups and have them go around the island for about 4 hours looking for The First Eye. When they get back and say that no one could find it, you could explain to them that they didn't find it because The First Eye lives in each of their hearts. That would set it up perfectly for you to teach them about the holy ghost right after. In all seriousness, I used to feel the same way when I had to prepare an activity for my Faith in God girls, but it always ended up going great and I miss those experiences so much now. I realized that I worried more and prepared less than I should have. Good luck.

    Some game ideas: Donut-eating contest (the donuts would be hanging and they can't use their hands); Have them make their own shirts like some people suggested.. they won't care about how they look and will be excited to write on them whatever they want; create an obstacle course and have them get to a treasure or whatever you want and bring it back (this can be tied to quite a few Gospel principles or it could be a lesson on going through this difficult but fun life with the goal to go back home some day (the treasure could be the gospel that we received at some point in this life)); you could have them make a big poster or banner that would say something like "Palau youth conference 2013" and take some pictures and then put those pics up on the poster; you can use the boat ride time to teach them about noah's ark and crossing the waters (you could teach them that when you obey God, what you look forward to is always better than anything you leave behind); you and the other leaders could do a skit and ridicule yourselves, the kids will love that; water balloon volleyball (it's way fun and easy).
    Don't: get naked; not show up to the activity; worry too much. -Flo

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  46. Do: Ultimate Frisbee. ALWAYS.
    Don't: Have anything that requires less clothing than usual.
    Don't: Invite Leotrix.
    Do: Consider having all the children form a lynching party if Leotrix DOES show up, without your permission.

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  47. Also, consider playing Mafia. It's one of my friend's funnest group games at the moment.

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  48. Amanda is at EFY this week, a Stay-at-home EFY. You just need an EFY session there :-)

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  49. Spin the bottle, but with wax lips ;)

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  50. I didn't read the above comments so I hope i'm not repeating:
    you can play the circle game where everyone draws a circle around them and the overall shape is whimsical- like it doesn't matter where they put their circle, and there is one person in the middle, and one person starts and they run to a circle which kicks that person out and they need to run to another circle before the person in the middle tags them.

    you could also have a person blindfolded and make an obstacle course/ draw images of the outer darkness, great and spacious building etc and have one person telling the blindfolded person where to go- like the gospel/iron rod.

    have an amazing testimony meeting on the beach- that was my favorite at girls camp

    bring paper/pencils and have them each write down their feelings after the testimony meeting

    have them draw a picture of the savior- arts and crafts time!

    in our girls camp next week we as leaders each have a part to read and a sign to hold up in a journey the girls will take in groups. it is about being happy through life and they have to get a reward at each station or maybe go through a "hardship" where they pick up a rock to carry or a jug of water, all while they are holding on to a rope connecting them together. each station there is a sign with a scripture and the leader reads a story or example of that scripture. So you could do this with whatever your theme for conference is, and have different stations that each group goes to with inspiring words and stories to strengthen their testimonies!

    good luck it will be so fun!!

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  51. Tip: Always give the T-shirt place a deadline that is a week ahead of your deadline...next time.

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  52. I loved all the ideas! Makes me wish I were a youth again. Here is one more, we went up to the canyon and were all blind folded and asked to find our way to the middle. We wandered around and the leaders would whisper directions but not to any particular person (peer pressure)then a lady started to sing (you could use any music or instrument) and immediately we all turned and walked toward the sound and asked to sit and listen. They gave a quick lesson about being lost and finding our way back. After that, they called our name and gave us an envelope which was a message from God. We were told to go find our own grove of trees to read them. Come to find out it was a loving letter from our parents.

    I hope you post pictures and tell us how it goes.

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  53. I thought "TWO THOUSAND SHIRTS IN PALAU!?" the second I read it haha.
    You should definitely have a paint fight (fill balloons with paint). You definitely should not make all the teenagers learn how to say "whale" in every language.

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  54. Play either Assassin tag or Zombie Walk. All the fun. No equipment and if you "die" you get to nap on the beach until the game is over.

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  55. You could play "Capture the Flag." I know that's probably lame? But it was one of my favorite activities we ever did at mutual.

    But it might be too hot there to move around quickly. So, just forget I even said this. And start a meth lab.

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  56. Craft contest for Eli's mom blog of course! I can't believe you didn't already think of that.

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    1. Once I heard that June Snapple was planning Youth Conference this year, I decided not to let Fortify go. I don't want her to learn how to pole dance!

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  57. Have everyone build a loom and weave their own shirts.

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  58. You could always play darts and have the targets strapped to the ones who lost at "nose-goes". OOHHHH or you could reenact Jaws!

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  59. How about freeze tag and red rover? I know they are usually games for very young kids, but I remember a group of my friends playing with my much younger siblings when I was babysitting as a teen. We ended up having a blast! It started out a bit awkward yet by the end of the evening we were all laughing and had tapped into our inner child.

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