Potpourri Of Ideas For Ladies Socials and Banquets
By Teresa Bohannon and Barbara Westberg

Napkin Folding

Http://interiordec.about.com. Do a Google search on napkin folding and you will be amazed at the great ideas out there for use.

Napkin Rings

Cut 1-1/2″ diameter PVC pipe into 1″ pieces. Sand edges until smooth. Paint. Cover with fabric or glue items to these inexpensive napkin rings.

Cloth Napkins

Purchase at Dollar Stores and Linen Outlet Stores for fifty cents each.

Purchase men’s handkerchiefs and use them for napkins. Dye the handkerchiefs to match the decor.

Purchase old floral handkerchiefs at resale and antique shops. Ladies in your church may have some of these tucked away in a drawer. Fold in half and in half again, gather and tie with ribbon. Let each lady keep hers as a memento of the day.

Flatware

Restaurant suppliers sell spoons, forks, and knifes by the dozen at reasonable prices.

Plates

Buy clear glass plates from antique shops, resale stores, and garage sales. They do not have to match. Garden Ridge Pottery is a good source for clear plates.

Favors

Gold Apples

(Red Christmas apples spray-painted gold). Attach a 3/4″ x 2″ card printed with Proverbs 25:11 to the stem with a ribbon. Tie curly ribbon to the stem. Curl the ribbon and shred it.

Tear Bottles

Use small bottles with lids or corks. Spray the lids gold. Fill the bottles with water. A drop of food coloring may be added for color. Tie curly ribbon to the neck of the bottle, curl, and shred the ribbon. Attach a card 3/4″ x 2″ on which you have written Psalm 56:8 (NASB), “You have taken account of my wandering. Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?” Or the TLB translation, “You have seen me tossing and turning through the night. You have collected all my tears and preserved them in your bottle! You have recorded everyone in your book. ” Attach the card to the neck of the bottle with a ribbon.

Tea Party

Trace a teacup pattern onto a wallpaper scrap that has been folded in half. (Ask for old wallpaper sample books.) Glue the edges together. Insert a tea bag in the top of the cup. Or instead of a tea bag, place a Scripture card or a card with theme of the banquet and the date. (See reproducible art on page 315.)

Teacup Candles

Collect teacups. Purchase wicks, wax, and fragrance at a craft store. Follow the instructions on the wax and pour into the teacups. Inexpensive teacups and saucers, boxed by the dozen, are available at floral supply companies around Mother’s Day.

Easy Favors

Can be made by putting candy in small zipper locked bags and stapling the baggies to printed cards.

Gummy Bears – “You are beary special.”
Hershey Treasures – “You are a treasure.”
Dove’s Promises – “God’s promises are sure.”

Spoonful Of Kisses

Place two Hershey Kisses on a plastic spoon. Wrap tulle around the bowl of the spoon and tie a narrow ribbon around the tulle and the handle.

Wagons And Wheelbarrows

Check for pastel colored wagons and wheelbarrows right after Easter. Use these for centerpieces and favors at banquets with floral and gardening themes.

Diapers And Baby Showers

Fold a 6″ square of flannel in half to form a triangle. The fold should be on the bottom. Bring the side points to the center of the triangle. Bring the lower point to the center, covering the other points. This will form a diaper. Pin the points together with a small gold safety pin. Dip in melted paraffin wax and set on wax paper until dry. Fill with nuts or mints.

You may use felt to make the diaper. Put nuts or mints into small plastic bags or squares of tulle. Tie the tulle with a ribbon and insert into diaper.

Sweetheart Social And Cookie Cutters

Attach a card printed with “You were cut out for each other.”

Make Memories

At every banquet decorate an area for taking pictures. Attendees can bring their cameras, or arrange for an amateur or professional photographer.

Decorating

Tall columns enhance many decors. These may be made from 10″ or larger PVC pipe (purchase at plumbing suppliers). The base for the column is 3″ thick wood with a hole cut through it. The pipe slips into the hole. The top base is also 3″ thick wood, grooved to sit on top of the pipe.

Drape the columns with fabric or ivy garland.

Concrete pouring tubes also make great columns. These come in various diameters and lengths. Purchase from a concrete company (any length) or home improvement store (up to 4′ only). The columns may be painted. For textured columns add texture to paint (home improvement stores) or use stone texture (found near the spray paint).

Centerpieces

Grape Clusters

Slide purple Christmas ornaments into a brown Chenille stem (pipe cleaner) to form a cluster. Twist the ends of the Stem together and attach silk grape or ivy leaves. Place one grape cluster in the center of each table.

Tea Party

Use teapots filled with fresh or silk flowers. Place floating candles in teacups.

When using oblong tables, it is not always necessary to have a centerpiece. Favors can double as table decor. Purchase china cups at garage sales or resale shops. Arrange silk or real flowers in each and Use as favors.

Mother’s Memorial

Fill My Cup

Give each lady a teacup and ask her to fill it for Mother’s Memorial. Ladies bring their filled cups to the banquet or to Sunday school on Mother’s Day. The person with the most money in her cup wins a prize. Of course, the lady who writes a check will have the most, so you may have to give a prize for the largest check and to the lady with the most cash. Teapots are nice gifts for this contest.

Mother Of The Year

Print a form letter on church stationery, explaining that (name) is working to be the Mother of the Year at the First Pentecostal Church. Every dollar given counts as a vote, and the woman with the most votes is the winner. Include an explanation of Mother’s Memorial and the church address so the donation can be mailed to the church. Announce the winner at a Mother-Daughter banquet or on Mother’s Day. Give the winner a bouquet of flowers and a gift engraved, “Mother of the Year, the Church’s name, and the date.” Present second and third place winners with gifts.

Resources For Skits

The Amelia Bedelia series of children’s books by Peggy Parish contains a multitude of ideas that can be easily adapted into skits. The skit “No Place Like Home” on page 65 was adapted from one of these books. One book, The Surprise Shower can be adapted into a skit for a wedding shower. Check these books out at your public library or any bookstore.

Another great resource for skits is Stories That Sneak Up On You by John Duckworth, published by Fleming H. Revell, 1994. This book contains thirty modern-day parables that can easily be adapted into skits or monologues. The idea for the skit, “Sunny Skies,” on page 11 came from “The Man Who Built His House upon a Rock” in this book. If you are into skits, you definitely need this book.

This article “Potpourri Of Ideas For Ladies Banquets” written by Teresa Bohannon and Barbara Westberg is excerpted from Programs For Ladies written by Teresa Bohannon and Barbara Westberg.