2011 Missionary Harvest Party

This past summer as my missionary friend, Katie, and I were talking about harvest time while working in the garden together, I thought I would share an idea I had for a missionary family harvest party. We had never held such an event before and I thought it would be lots of fun for the children to have their own gathering to look forward to.

Katie was so excited about the idea that she was all ready to do whatever necessary to make it all happen. The planning had begun! First, we had to decide on a location which did not work out as we had planned. We really wanted to hold the party at our house, but we were not able to finish a room (in the new house) in time nor free up our current house in order to hold it there. As a result, we delayed the party as long as we could and went with plan "B" which was to hold the party in the newly remodeled basement of the Krasnoyarsk Baptist Church.  The weather changed the week of the party and we even had snow fall! 

Katie Northcutt, my friend and fellow party planner.

DECORATIONS

We both had many ideas about how we wanted to decorate and once we began looking for ideas on the internet, we found many more ideas and settled on a few that were our favorites.

"Pumpkin" snack containers made out of painted plastic flower pots.

Scarecrows made out of peanut butter jars
and paper bag pumpkins decorated the kids' tables.

Paper bag leaf vases decorated the window sills.

The adults' table decor.

We planned for the children to be able to dress up and hold a costume contest for best costume in several categories. Katie and I worked to plan our children's costumes hoping that everyone would come to the party dressed up and ready for a fun afternoon. We were so happy to see almost every child in their costumes! We both agreed that we needed to put together a fall background in order to take individual photos of each child dressed in his/her costume. We were able to use some of the corn stalks from our garden, a few pumpkins and squash alongside a scarecrow for our photo session. Below are a few of the photos taken by Katie. (You can see photos of our children in their costumes in the next post.)

Robin Hood

Bob the Builder ( Katie's son)

A bride

Rapunzel

A scarecrow

We even had Goldilocks and the FOUR bears. (one family)

After the parents voted, we gave out awards for the best costumes in four different categories. Here are the photos of the winners in their categories.

An alligator. (Funnest Costume)

 

A bee ( Cutest)

A seamstress (Most Creative)

A present (Most Festive)

If you are noticing the resemblance, the bee and the alligator are sisters and the seamstress and the present are sisters!

Once the photos were taken we had the children change out of their costumes so they could go outside (in the cold) and freeze enjoy some fun and active games. You have to run some of that energy out when you have twenty four children all together for a party!

Sack races

Pass the orange

        

             
                 

Tug-of-war was a big hit! Guess which side won?

Wheelbarrow races!

We also enjoyed guessing games of "how much candy is in the jar" which Katie made to look like jack-o-lanterns. There was a jar for the children to guess as well as one for the adults to guess. Both even had mini Twix and Hershey's chocolate candy bars from the States in them so the winners were very happy with their prizes!

The kids writing down their guesses.

The adults awaiting the announcement of who won the candy jar!

Then it was time for FOOD. The menu for the kids was hot dogs on the grill (by my hubby) with baked beans and chips. The adults enjoyed various hot soups in homemade bread bowls! Katie did a great job baking the bread bowls. The ladies all signed up to bring five different soups including: borscht, potato, chicken vegetable, white chili, and vegetable beef. The soups were perfect for such a chilly and windy day. 

We also planned for plenty of tea and coffee with snacks of nuts, trail mixes, raisins and chips. I was really glad we decided on those cute little pumpkin snack flower pots as the snacks were a favorite while everyone waited for the meal!

Tea and coffee table.

After the food was done the children were all asking about when they could have one of those caramel apples sitting on the dessert table. Since we were ready for the children to be a bit more quiet we thought the time had come to feed them more sugar!

Mini pumpkin pies and caramel apples for dessert!

They did get a bit more quiet as they struggled to chew their caramel apples. For some this was their first caramel apple ever!

While the adults continued to enjoy the fellowship as well as any bites they could sneak of their children's caramel apples mini pumpkin pies for their dessert, we had one more activity planned for the day. We blew up a balloon for every child and put a number inside of each one. The children had to go outside and pop their balloon to retrieve the number and then bring it back inside.

Once all the balloons were popped, we called them by number to come forward and pick a prize from a prize box. Now, if I had more time I would have made this box look like a treasure chest or something more exciting however,...it was only a box. We'll save that for next year!

Looking through the treasure box.

With prizes in hand and caramel all over their faces, the party was over. Everyone was so grateful for all the time and effort put into the event. It really was a blessing to Katie and I to hear how much fun everyone had. 

Many of us were worn out after such a big day!

We were ready for it to all be done and everything to be all packed up, but we definitely look forward to next year's Harvest Party...at MY house! So, what creative ideas for a Harvest Party do you have?