Monday, June 18, 2012

Girl on Fire - Young Womens Girls Camp

Stopping in for a post that others can reference easily- I have had a few people ask for details about our girl's camp this year- and it turned out great.

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).


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!


6 comments:

Lee said...

Bravo!! It looks amazing! You guys rocked it out, for sure. Those girls will never for get it.

Keeley Farrell said...

This is such a fantastic ideas! I think I will try to use the theme for Personal Progress! Thanks!

Becca C. said...

Interesting idea! But doesn't this go through some copyright law?

ramsam said...

Hi Becca! (sorry, I don't have an e-mail). Not sure if you're referring to the saying, the pin graphic, the fire graphic, or all of the above. As far as the saying/bird in circle graphics go, you will find that there are different versions all over that are being used in lots of ways. We avoided any copyright images like things from the movie posters or Hunger Games website. We actually used another graphic that one of our girls designed using religious symbols in the circle with a bird, and that was really well received also. The church lets you re-use images as long as it os for religious purposes and not to be sold. (while making programs for our ward I had to research this heavily), and again, as with all the images in general, none were made to sell, just for personal use. I just posted these pictures for ideas, but you can buy pre-made t-shirts with similar graphics already burned in off Etsy. I can not answer for them if selling the images are okay.
If you have ever helped with camp before you have probably seen such themes as "American Idol" "Survivor" or even Disney themes, so pulling from pop culture is really popular and not done to infringe on exact image. Most wards sort of 'design' there own, just drawing off the theme for inspiration. Hope that helps!

Jen Reil said...

I google image searched "sweet tooth" and the Eat Cake post on your blog popped up. I love it!

Everyday Moments said...

We are using this theme this year. I love it! Do you have any other ideas you could share that you guys used? What did you guys do for camp kick off?