The Poinsettia Inn – Christmas Party
How to have a successful Christmas Ladies Fellowship.
Decide on a location for the event. Decide on a name for the event with theme. My mom and I organized a Christmas Ladies Fellowship at our church. We named the Christmas Ladies Fellowship, The Poinsettia Inn, needless to say we garnished the event with poinsettias. My mom wanted the event to feel as much like a restaurant as she could. The idea of creating a restaurant came from reading the book Frank and Ernest, a book that contains creative dinner speak. We decided to have a team of six ladies. We met weekly at the church until it was closer to the time of the fellowship then, we met daily the week of the event. It was helpful to meet at the church, since that was the location of the event, everything would already be there.
Decide on whether or not to have a sign up sheet. Decide on music and/or a special speaker. Decide on decoration. Determine what will be on the menu. We choose not to have a sign up sheet for the event and just go based on the previous year’s numbers. The evening started in the designated ladies’ fellowship room not only filling it with guests but also with singing of Christmas songs. Each guest was given a prepared mini-hymn book for the occasion and a page designated to poinsettia facts. Then the special speaker at the event was the pastor’s wife. We moved from the ladies’ fellowship room to the church gym. The church gym looked nothing like a gym. The gym’s florescent lights were off, rope lighting was the light of the evening. Floating candles enhanced the light at the dinner tables. The dinner was free of charge, we had an inexpensive menu taking advantage of a wholesale club membership as well as food offered at lower prices around the Christmas season. We had an expense account that was designated for the Christmas fellowship, so in return an offering was taken to cover the expenses for future events.
Decide if anyone would share crafts or special memories. One of the lady’s shared a fond memory of her mom and her making snow flakes out of paper with scissors. So the lady organized a story in lieu of the memory and then handed out handmade snowflakes, a nice accent to a winter event. Christmas trees were decorated with our hand made poinsettia ornaments. Each lady was able to take an ornament home and hang it on their home Christmas tree to remember the evening of fun and fellowship.
Decide on how to recognize and honor the ladies who helped to make the evening a remarkable event. To recognize the ladies that prepared the event we wrote a Christmas jingle to sing while walking up to the front of the audience. Upon arriving at the front, we were given a present as a thank you for the time and dedication to make the evening a success.
Hope this view of the evening will help you to have a successful evening as well.
