We had a "Girl On Fire" theme, with the our girl's being on fire with the spirit of their Heavenly Father. The theme turned out to take on a life of it's own (as often happens with these ventures) but here are a few of the details.
We had all the girls bring a dark t-shirt, and we we had stencils and cardstock for them to cut out and use as negatives on their shirts. A little bit of bleach....and you are done....
Make sure to put cardboard in the shirt, and lay it flat- this will keep the bleach from soaking through to the other side. Girls cut out their names, used swirls and butterflies, and really made their shirts amazing.
This is the front of my t-shirt and the back of my hoodie. I made these without the cute swirly stencils, so the girls could see them before we started, but once the girls saw each other's shirts they really got into this project. It was a huge success. If you know someone with a Cricket cutting machine you could do amazing things with this- just go light on the bleach, lay them in the sun as you spray, and if you carefully lift your stencils they can be used again and again (let them dry a bit in between uses).
For more detailed step by step instructions on bleaching, I refer you to fellow blogger and crafty inspo site Burlap and Denim. (Her shirts are so cute- I am impressed!)
We also used vinyl stickers with the mockingjay logo and young women's logo and decorated our 'lanterns'. With the stickers on (you can also wrap twine, cut tape, or cover any other way you desire), we sprayed a light coat of spray paint on the jar. When you remove the stickers and vinyl, the paint reveals the 'etched' looking designs.
We added a battery powered tea light candle, and with some bent wire they were good to go. The girls carried these out every night, brought them to night devotionals and testimony meeting, and used them in their tents. We didn't have to worry about fire anywhere, and they looked amazing in the dark.
One of our crafts was soda tab bracelets. Again, the girls went crazy once they figured out what to do with the craft (I recommend having at least 3 or 4 leaders trained before you go- it isn't hard, but needs to be done right for the bracelet to lay correctly.)
I am not going to give you a tutorial here, but you can watch several great ones on You Tube or go to ehow.com for step by steps. Just make a few before hand and be prepared to help them start and finish them off. Even our Beehives just adored these and made several while at the craft table. Start saving tabs now!!! (hint: Progresso soup tabs are large, and they make a great end tab so the other end can toggle through it- so easy to put on and off!)
We also had a Hunger Games style activity, with a Tracker Jacker station (teams with colored stickers that were the stings when stuck on eachother) a battle station (pool noodles or other funny swords can be used) and races for bread, etc.
In the secret sister mailboxes (a shoe organizer hung at our pavillon) I gave the following goodies: this little parachute themed note containing glow sticks for them to wear at night
And a little extra treat
One night we had a 10 Virgin faith walk, based on the script and painting by Gayla Prince. This was especially effective in the dark night, through the trees and brush. (The girls made their lanterns that day and were actually given their tea lights by the first virgin). It was awesome to have them come to the 'feast' in the middle of the hills and place their lights at the portrait of Christ. After we were done they enjoyed the fruit and french bread loaves at the table. It was a great night.
We had a picture night and devotional on local temple grounds, and our campground was by a lake, so on our final night we closed by singing late into the night with our lanterns on the dock. It was an amazing camp..... and I hope these ideas can help someone else out there!
-UPDATE-
I am no computer wiz, so officially adding files completely boggles my brain. I am adding photos here, all in just a jpeg format. My hope is that you can click on the picture and at least save it, then insert into your document (I use Microsoft Publisher) and go from there. The sponsor envelope I used on legal size envelopes, then added the glow sticks. Good luck- hope it helps!
