Jaren and I were lucky enough to be told we were driving our youth to Standards Night in Shreveport, LA (about an hour away) last night. Since the stake is so spread out, it's hard for them to have dances and stake youth activities very often. They decided to have a 6 hour event that started at 3:00 in the afternoon. This was the spiritual Standards Night portion. They then fed the kids "dinner" which the kids LOVED because it was a huge waffle bar that also included bacon and hash browns. Then the dance started...
I never really loved going to stake dances as a youth because they just weren't fun. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one that felt that way. Well, last night was the most fun I have EVER had at a youth dance! I do think that was partly because I got to dance with my sweetie all night long! :) The leaders really made this a fun dance though. The DJ was awesome playing all current music with some exceptions like "YMCA" and "Cotton-Eye Joe" that are a youth dance tradition. I never really liked it when the DJ played a bunch of popular '80s songs at the dances.
Here are some of the things that made it really fun for the youth and leaders. A Wii was set up with Just Dance 3 and a large screen and projector. They had everyone participate dancing along for about 4-5 songs throughout the night. When the DJ played "All the Single Ladies", the stake president's wife threw out a bunch of ring pops. We had a couple of good swing songs, some hoedown and the thing the youth loved the most were the many, many line dances. The stake president's wife was up on stage leading the line dances or getting group dance activities going.
I was told by the stake YW president that at one dance they tied string across the room above the dance floor then held the end of a toilet paper roll and sent it flying over the string. The youth would then grab it and throw it back over creating this huge toilet paper canopy. The youth also toilet papered themselves and each other. If I am ever in a calling that has a say in the planning of youth dances, I will definitely use many of these ideas! Jaren and I were completely sweaty, out of breath and aching by the end of the night! Maybe next time there is a stake youth dance, we'll just volunteer to drive instead of being told. :)
The only downer was how late we got home after dropping youth off (11:00 pm) and how tired we were the next morning for church. It was worth it though!
3 comments:
Sounds so fun! Adam and I never realized how much we love dancing until pretty recently. It's so fun! Where are the pictures?
Emily! Wish you were still here! We sure could use you helping out with the ward roadshow. I'm the chair and your sweet mom has offered to be my assistant! Love her. It would be so fun to have you a part of it. And I think if you want to read while Jaren is gone....Great! You are using your mind and learning or enjoying. It's all good. Enjoy your time and do volunteer to help the youth. You are good at it. I also love those fun ideas. :)
Wow. They really know how to do a stake youth dance. The ones here are pretty... bad. That sounds like the most amazing time!! I'm so glad you guys got to go and party it up!
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