I will tell you about our successful Branch Activity that we had in February. I called it "Turning Hearts" and then the activities that I planned made a great acronym of FAMILY

F - Family Heritage Potluck (People signed up to bring a dish from a country that they have heritage from) I had them sign up in advance with the county name and the family name - some used names other than they are currently known by and I made cardstock tags with the flag of the country, their surname, and the title of the country of origin with several blank lines below so they could write a little history about the family dish. All participated and wrote something on their tag except me - I ran out of time and didn't get it done, but it made it very interesting as you went through the food line to understand the tradition or history behind a dish.

A - Ancestor Story and coloring contest - this was for the Primary children and they brought short stories and pictures that they had drawn about their ancestor. - It could be about any of their ancestors except their parents or siblings.

M - Must see presentation and skit on family history - We did the "Do you have my name" skit and then I had a key note speaker speak about family history - It was amazing he is so energetic and enthusiastic about family history you can't help catch the bug yourself.

I - Individual show and tell displays - This is for the adults and we had a room full of quilts, dishes, pictures, huge genealogy displays, and so many other family heirlooms that people brought and displayed with a short paragraph describing the articles on display and their
history.

L - Learn and Play "Someone in Time" - This was our gathering activity, I start the regular activity 15 minutes later (I plan it this way to allow for late people) and here I compiled names of famous people with a brief description of their accomplishments and then I used address labels to stick them to the person's back. They had to ask other people questions about the person on their back until they were able to guess correctly. For the junior primary I just printed on the address labels names from the Bible and Book of Mormon that they should know by now. Upon guessing correctly they could return and get a piece of candy. This was exceptionally popular and I had many repeat guessers who still wanted to continue playing after we started eating.

Y - YM/YW Pedigree Chart competition - Here I challenged the YW and the YM to a competition between the two auxiliaries and they had to bring their pedigree chart (depending on the requirements for Personal Progress or Duty To God).  I also said that they would get bonus points for bringing in Temple Ready Names prepared by the youth so that it covered the Priests Duty To God also. I did say that it would be based on percentages since we have twice as many girls as boys out here.

S - Sr Primary Pedigree Chart competition - It's boys versus the girls once again. I gave the winning group an ice cream sundae party at their next activity and the ones that had actually brought their pedigree charts got as many toppings as they wanted since they had
done the challenge, then for the other ones attending they had to name an ancestor first and last name for each topping that they wanted. I added the S after I originally started so I know that Familys is not the proper way to pluralize the word, but it worked for our activity.

In the multipurpose room we had the dinner. In the Relief Society room we had the Individual displays and right next door in the YW room we had the pedigree chart competition and the story competition displayed. In the chapel we had the skit and presentation and at the end of the presentation I announced the winners of the pedigree chart competition and had the story winner come up and read her story about her ancestor who wrote one of the hymns in our hymnbook. We also had special sign up sheets located outside our Family History Center to sign up for classes, in home instruction, and to refer people to the gift of family history program. I am pretty sure that our usage of the family history center has pretty much doubled during February.

It was fun and has sparked the desire to do family history for many who have always wanted to, but just didn't have the time or know how to begin. They have adapted their classes and hours open to accommodate people who want to use the center. It has been very rewarding for all involved.

For decorations, of course I used hearts being February and all and I put hot pink table cloths on long tables and then ran a red velvet 4" ribbon down the center (on Christmas clearance for 1.00 for 60' at JoAnn's) then I had white Styrofoam hearts that I had painted white and put iridescent glitter on left over from a tree of life activity with the Young Women the year before that I tiered and then put a stone block that I got at the dollar store that had engraved quotes about families on all four sides and a home on the top side of the block.

I pulled roses off their stems from my artificial flower tote box and stuck them in the Styrofoam hearts with toothpicks, then replaced the roses back on their stems after the activity for use again in their bunches. Then I made candy hearts using 2 candy canes left over from Christmas and just hot glued them together and laid them on the ribbon on each side of a conversation heart box that I wrapped in pink paper and had tied red helium heart balloons to, one on each end of the tables. It looked very nice and fit the turning hearts to family theme that I was using.