A Christ Centered Easter Garden Party

-

 When a member of the bishopric sent a message to my husband several weeks ago asking if we both could meet with him, I was mystified. Usually that kind of invite suggests a major calling, but we both currently have stake callings, so that wasn't likely. The call ended up being an invitation to plan the ward Easter party, and they wanted something more Christ focused than bunnies and egg hunts. A week later, we found out that it would be a combined activity with another ward, and that a representative from their ward would assist us. 

I'm not usually a party planner - one of my kids got one birthday party growing up. Thank goodness that Steven loves to plan and organize. He was the one who came up with our overarching theme. In the end, I think the activity turned out really well. Here are some of the features:

The Garden of Eden

This area was a reminder of how the Savior created the world, with an opportunity to create a simple banner that people could bring home and use to decorate for Easter. The banner was made from cardstock, and stencils were provided to help with the lettering. 

The sample banners read "HE IS RISEN"


The Garden of Gethsemane

This area was a reminder of the love that the Savior showed when he atoned for us. To help us also show love for others, this area included a service project that I found on justserve.org. Lifting Hands International is a group based in Utah that provides aid to refugees both in the States and abroad. We made 3x5 cards that said "you are loved" or "sent with love" that this organization could include in the care packages that they give to refugees. I loved this project because it was simple and could be done by people of all ages and abilities!




The Garden of the Empty Tomb

This area was a reminder of Jesus Christ's resurrection. Here, families were given the opportunity to make "Resurrection Eggs". They were given an empty egg carton and 12 plastic eggs, and then put a scripture related to the events of Holy Week into each egg, along with an item to represent it. (See an example here) The eggs could also be numbered and used as a countdown to Easter.

The Garden of Renewal

This garden was where we had the food! People had signed up to bring soups or salads (garden salad) to share. On the tables, we also had papers with a picture of the resurrected Christ, the lyrics to the hymn, "Long Ago, Within a Garden", Easter Trivia, ways Easter is celebrated around the world, and some ideas to encourage table discussions about Easter traditions. 


Decorations

Every party needs decorations, and this was a garden party, so most of the decorations were flowers. We used a variety of colorful plastic table cloths and for centerpieces I put a few silk flowers in a small mason jar and then tied a ribbon around the jar. The garden of Gethsemane had a few olive branches in a jar, and the garden of Eden had a larger arrangement of silk blossoms. We lined the stage with flower arrangements and greenery to add to to garden feel.
Steven didn't take pictures of the flowers at the party, but these are some of the flowers we used for the decorations (that I get to enjoy at home now!)

This activity didn't involve any kind of program or speakers, (we did have background music playing) and so it was very unstructured. People could eat or visit the various gardens and do the activities whenever they chose, or they could just sit at their tables and talk if they preferred. The activities were all things that could be done by all age groups. It was nice that the activity was two wards combined, since our ward is small and mostly older people - and this was spring break for our area and a couple of the families that do have youth were out of town. So we ended up with over 60 people there, instead of the 25 or so that we would have had with just our own ward.

I am very grateful for all those who helped us put this activity together, including the sister from the other ward who made the signs for each garden and completely took charge of the Garden of the Empty Tomb - collecting all the materials, etc. I also appreciate the sister from our ward who offered to help and gladly took charge of organizing the food, doing everything from passing around sign-up sheets in church to setting up and organizing the food tables that day so I didn't have to worry about anything there. My wonderful Relief Society President brought her plants and helped set up, including decorating the stage. I'm also grateful to Peter for being in charge of the music. (I think he used the Church's Easter Music Playlist.) 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Daddy Daughter Dance

-
Image
  My dad passed away a couple weeks ago. He was diagnosed with cancer a while ago. He took medicines and chemotherapy and he was in remission for a while, and then one day he went to the doctor for a checkup and learned that it was back, and throughout his body. He started taking the medicines again, but they made him feel tired and awful and weakened his immune system. In March, my dad got sick with the flu, which turned into pneumonia. The doctors at the hospital didn't know if he was going to survive, and so I and most of my siblings travelled to see him to give him a final hug. Meanwhile, my dad decided that if he was going to die, he wanted to do it in comfort, at home.  He stopped taking the cancer meds that were making him miserable and went home on hospice to sleep in his own bed, where people weren't poking at him and waking him up at all hours of the night. When I arrived and first saw him, he was sitting up in a rocking chair, looking tired, but alive. In the next c...
Read more

A Talk about Gratitude

-
I recently told my bishop that I enjoyed giving talks in Sacrament Meeting, and it is true. I didn't expect, however, that I would get an email from a bishopric member on Thursday last week to say that his talks for Sunday had to leave town, and would I be willing to speak? Here is the talk that I gave on Sunday, May 27th, 2012: For my topic today, I was given a talk which was given by President Monson in 1992, entitled “An Attitude of Gratitude”. In his talk President Monson begins by telling the story of the 10 lepers. I would like to share it with you. In Luke 17 we read: And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” And when he saw them, he said unto them, “Go show yourselves unto the priests.” And it came to pass, that, as they went, ...
Read more

Simple is the Doctrine of Jesus Christ

-
This is a talk I gave today, based on a talk given by President Henry B Eyring in the October 2024 General Conference.  Many, many years ago, there was a man named Alma who started out as a high priest to a wicked king. He heard and believed the words of a brave prophet named Abinadi, and, because he tried to defend that prophet, he was exiled and hunted. He and his followers were conquered, enslaved, and later miraculously saved and led to a land with others who believed in God. He was called to organize the Lord’s church in this land. Somewhere along the way, Alma had a son, who he loved dearly and named after himself. As his son grew up, however, he was led astray. He may have been influenced by his friends (who were the sons of the king and should have known better). He became rebellious, wicked and idolatrous. Eventually, not only did he leave the church himself, but Alma the younger went about seeking to destroy the church of God. Can you imagine the sorrow that his father mu...
Read more