In one of our meetings recently we were talking about the concerns we had for our YW. One that came up was the short shorts that seem to come out when summer comes. We decided to address this issue with a Standards night before the summer came and it felt like we were pointing fingers.
Lucky for me I had the next available combined activity coming up. So I put together our
High Heels High Standards Night.
I had been racking my brain for a theme to use so that I could make this fun and I came across the "High Heels High Standards" over at Sisters In Zion. Also there they had posted pictures of these high heel cupcakes that I had also seen on Pinterest and wanted to use.
I went with a boutique feel for the evening and loved how it all came together.
This is the invitation that I created that I gave the girls the Sunday before.
Sets the tone for the whole night don't ya think?
I had each girl bring their favorite pair of high heels to the activity. I was going to use them as display and to incorporate into the lesson I was giving.
I had my good friend who is a whiz at cakes come over the night before to help me do them. I absolutely LOVE how they turned out and now that I've made them will totally be doing them again (I've got more color and design combos I want to try).
Once upon a time I wanted to do my laundry room in pink and black with a Parisian/fashion them going on so I happened to have a few things on hand that I could use.
I set up five classroom tables and on each table put a box of some kind because I wanted to display the girl's shoes that they brought. Each table was a little different.
Their favors to take home were those little shopping bags on the classroom tables. Inside I put one of those glass slippers you get in the wedding section at the craft store with some Hot Tamalies. The tag on the front said "Modest is Hottest".
I wish I would have gotten some pictures with the girl's shoes on these tables but alas, the night got away from me.
In the center of the room I set up a long table for the high heel cupcakes.
Here are a few shots of the whole room.
To start off I asked a few of the girls to tell us why the shoe they brought was their favorite and how they felt when they wore it. Then I picked up a shoe (which happened to be a zebra print in sequins) and asked them to tell me about the person who would wear this shoe. Things like fun, confident, attitude, stylish all came out and then we asked who's shoe it was and if all those words described that person, which they did. I then related that what we wear tells others about who we are and explained that we were going to be focusing on modesty for the evening.
During the course of the program we went over the guidelines in the For Strength of Youth book and talked about those. I also wanted to emphasize the "why" we have been asked to dress modestly so we talked about their divine role and used some great quotes from the apostles.
I had gathered some magazines and asked them to find the modestly dressed women in them and we taped them up on the board and pointed out that sometimes it may not be easy to find the modest clothing out there but if we look hard enough we can always find it.
I also found a You Tube video that was titled "A guys view on modesty" that we played at the end. And to make it a little more personal for them I had two Priests in our ward write letters (because they had their own activity going on) about their thoughts on modesty.
I ended with this quote (and it being days later that I'm doing this post cannot remember who it is that said it, so if you know please let me know so I can give credit)
"In the classic fairy tale, Cinderella wore a magnificent gown to the royal ball. Even her slippers reflected the significance of the evening! It would have been unthinkable for her to come in her working clothes. In fact, no one arrived at the ball dressed in inappropriate, casual clothing. They were all elegantly dressed for the occasion."
I then explained that our life here on earth is our "ball". At this ball we can even find our Prince Charming, and that we need to be appropriately dressed for the occasion.
It was a great evening and I hope the girls had their testimonies of modesty strengthened from it.
