Young Women / Young Men Winter Ball

This year, the Stake Young Women Presidency hosted the Winter Ball for the youth in our stake (ages 14 through 18). It was held Saturday, February 14. This dance is the only formal church dance of the year...our version of Prom. Because of this, we were instructed to make this the most special dance of the year. Okay...we are women...we can go above and beyond very easily. Here is how we complied to our instructions:

THEME: Dancing with the Stars...Starring You!

DECORATIONS: We went all out...we decorated the cultural hall like a wedding reception, complete with Christmas trees with white lights set up in many different locations around the room, white icicle lights down the walls and across the stage, silver and gold stars on the tables and around the walls, several hundred yards of tulle, mini decorated Christmas trees for table centerpieces, fifteen long tables with enough chairs set up for 132 people (and each chair had a pretty white chair back), more white lights down the middle of those tables, tons of glitter, and of course the disco ball to throw "stars" around the room during the dance.

DINNER: Roast beef, mashed potatoes, brown gravy, salad, steamed vegetables, Costco rolls, and for dessert Costco Cake (I LOVE COSTCO!!! They have the BEST cakes and rolls...and they are really inexpensive!!)

SNACKS DURING DANCE: Lemonade, cookies, pretzels, and left over Costco Cake.

On Friday before the dance, we began decorating the cultural hall. We continued through Saturday morning and afternoon. We were all a little nervous about how many people would show up, because it was Valentine's day and people may have different plans. But on Friday when we were setting up, a young man came to the church building all decked out in formal wear...he got the days wrong and came a day early. It was neat to see the excitement in his eyes, but the disappointment the dance was not that day.

We worked long and hard cooking and decorating, but all the work paid off when nearly 100 youth arrived and about 30 leaders with their spouses showed up as well. This was one of the largest turnouts in years. Everyone was dressed to the T's. Some young men even wore tuxedos. It was really neat to see mostly all the girls in modest dresses...and some were ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!! I wish I had the body to fit in some of those big skirts and fitted tops. :o)

The dinner was a huge success too. They came expecting spaghetti, but got roast beef and potatoes. Usually, we have the high council, bishopric members, and stake presidency members serve the food to the youth, but this year we wanted them to have a nice Valentines dinner with their spouses, so we invited some of the Beehives (girls ages 12 and 13) from around the stake to be the servers. Those girls were really good and efficient, and they were able to see a little of the dance and (of course) the dinner so they could get excited for when they turn 14 and can go to one themselves.

I wish I would have thought to take pictures of the event...but I was working so hard in the kitchen and helping supervise the Beehives that I didn't even think about pictures until everything was over and we were taking down the decorations. Oh well. Next time I'll be more on top of that!

But I was really pleased at how everything turned out. It was a successful evening for the youth and the leaders.