The first day our daily theme was opening ceremonies, and the pillow treat for that day was based on the Olympic motto – Faster, Higher, Stronger. I used this tutorial and a metal stamping set I purchased from Pick Your Plum to make the girls gold medal necklaces with the words, “Faster, Higher, Stronger,” and the Olympic logo on them. I attached the necklaces to a card that explained the Olympic motto and asked them to, “Be faster than anyone else to help out,” “Lift their girls higher with their example and enthusiasm,” and “Build their testimonies stronger than ever before.” I wish I’d had a little more practice with the metal engraving but other than that, I pretty much love how these turned out. And it was so fun for me to see the girls wearing the necklaces and/or charms throughout the week.
The second day’s theme was get a good start. I created a notecard for the girls to remind them to make goals for the week, to write them down, and to turn those goals into gold throughout the week. I taped the notecards inside of a journal and gave each girl a journal and pen to go with it.
The third day’s theme was daily practice and training. I picked up some actual treats for the girls and put them into a bag, wrapped up and tied with a note about doing things each and every day even when they didn’t feel like it. Inside the bag, each of the treats had a little corny tag reminding the girls to keep going. Things like, “sometimes it’s hard to start something new, stick with it and it’ll get easier,” taped to a glow stick, and “from the mouth of Dory the fish, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming,” taped to a bag of fish.
The fourth day’s theme was getting back up when you fall down, and I created a Come Unto Christ Cup for the girls. That in itself is a post of its own, so make sure to check back tomorrow for all of the details.
The final day’s theme was keep your eye on the target. I created a little handout for the girls using one of the quotes from Noelle Pikus-Pace’s talk at SNAP, “Where you look is where you’ll go,” and reminded the girls to choose their goals and keep their eyes on the target at all times. With the handout, I included a little arrow charm and on the back I taped a Target gift card. Since it was the last night, I stayed up until about 4AM writing personal notes to the girls (on cute arrow cards!) thanking them for all of their hard work and just put the handout inside the card. You could easily just use the handout, or the handout with the charm, but I wanted to do something special for the girls because they did such a fantastic job, and I thought the combination of the handout, letter, and gift card did just that.
If you like any of these ideas, I’ve included free printable versions of these handouts below. There’s also a generic girl version as well if you’d like something not for YCLs specifically.
Download the Free Printables
If you’re ready to download the free printables to use this idea, simply click the button below or click here.
Libby says
You are amazing! Thanks for sharing your ideas!
Shel says
I love these! Thank you! You are truly UH-mazing!! I have been planning to use them for month! 🙂 Which font did you use on the Daily Practice Handout? Thanks again!! What we do without talented people like you who have time to not only make these, but also to share them for copiers like me!! XO
BritniV says
Shel, I used the font Noteworthy for the daily practices handouts.
Joy says
Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful ideas and printables. I am the assistant over YCLs and we have the same theme! Looking forward to giving these great pillow treats to the girls next week. Thanks!!!
NataLee Wagstaff says
Love, Love, Love your ideas!!! Thank you for sharing all your hard work! I am struggling with ideas for the opening and closing ceremonies. Would you mind sharing the specifics and outline of what you did?
Thanks,
NataLee
BritniV says
For opening each of the levels were assigned a country and we had them design a flag together (during a pre-camp or earlier that day) and run in and do a little song that was dedicated to their country. We then introduced our overall theme and briefly talked about the conference talk about what you’ll do with your 4 minutes and how it tied to our overall theme of Coming to Christ.
For closing ceremonies, we had each group run through and sing their quick song again (they used it as roll call all week) and then handed out awards and certificates, nothing fancy. Both were pretty casual affairs!