Indoor Garden Party
(A Mother/Daughter Night)
by Christy Etter / ga11102007

Pre-Activity - The girls all made hats (decorated straw hats with flowers, ribbons, and embellishments) in their separate classes for themselves and their moms or female companions for the future activity.  Cute invitations were sent to young women and moms that asked them to wear dresses or skirts and their hats to the activity.

Preparations - Decorating the cultural hall.  I had some pieces of white picket fence that I used and decorated with lots of fake trees and flower arrangements from the church's closets. Young Women leaders all brought flower arrangements from home too. I set up the fences and trees mainly at the door the Young Women and guests would be coming through to make it look like they were entering a backyard garden. There was a small table with a lamp on it because the lighting was dim in the whole hall. On the table was the homemade scrapbook for the Young Women and guests to sign in.  Pictures of the evening were going to be added after the activity to record the evening.  Also, there were paper flower corsages for each guest to pin on.

 At an opposite corner was a photo set up for a nice picture of mom and girls. It was two panels of lattice decorated with flowers and vines and a garden bench for the adult to sit on and the Young Women stood behind with hands on mom's shoulders. 

A circle of chairs was set up in another corner, a seat for each guest and a YW leader had placed a small table of cute guessing jars in the center as an attention activity. The winners would be announced later in the evening. Everyone was led to that area after having their picture taken.

There was a small set for the skit that would be performed later. A mock dresser made from the Sunday school podium and a mirror from home and a hat and coat stand for some hats and a feather boa.  Some other props from the book too. The skit is actually the picture book story Miss Fannie's Hat by Jan Karon.  A  much older lady wants to do something to help the church make some repair improvements but what can she do. She sells her most prized hat and donates the money to help the church and is a wonderful example to those around her. You may be able to find the story at your local library or a used copy at Amazon.  Also there was a food table in an opposite corner.

Activity - After all have had picture taken and are seated in the circle, one YW leader welcomes all, a prayer is said and the leader begins to lead a "chant" that she wants all to do. She demonstrates how holding hands to the ceiling and lowering while saying "O wha tagoo siam" over and over. The girls and mothers are told once you have figured it out, sit down but do not reveal the secret. After about 5 minutes or so if anyone is standing ask them to sit and explain to all that we have been chanting "Oh what a goose I am". They laugh and say how funny - and then another leader comes up and briefly speaks about how fun that was and a brief five minute talk about being good examples to others. She then leads the actors to start the skit.  She is the narrator and reads the storybook while the actors act it out.  (we asked some older women and men from the ward and they gladly accepted). Very touching and cute.  A closing prayer is given with a blessing on the refreshments.

Refreshments - The leaders made wonderful refreshments. Dainty sandwiches, crust-less of coarse...mini quiches, homemade butter mints, and hat shaped cookies.  You could use cookie cutters on sandwiches and fun molds for mints. We had punch as well and the centerpiece was a couple of hatboxes with a small feather boa draped around. PRECIOUS!!