At camp this week, our stake YW presidency surprised the girls and leaders with a skit in which one of them kept forgetting to bring her scriptures, pray, and write in her journal. Another one gave her a pair of pajama bottoms to help her remember . . . P=Prayer, J=Journal, and S=Scriptures. Then each of the girls also received a prayer to help them remember. The girls loved it! Some of them wore their PJ's day and night for the whole week!

Here is an idea I came across in a book I have.... The Value Focus is Divine Nature.  The activity is called "Sweet Dreams"
Basically, invite a motivational speaker to come and talk to the young women about believing in themselves. Suggest that she help them to visualize what they can become, to dream their own dreams and to realize their potential as daughters of God.  When the young women arrive, visit and relax. Pass around treats like popcorn, m&m's. When everyone is comfortable, introduce the speaker and have her talk with them.  After that, have them either write down or share with another young woman or leader what their greatest dreams and hopes for their future are.  This is the suggested invitation:

Wear your pj's and bring a pillow to our "Sweet Dreams" sleep over.
At the activity, your many sleeping dreams will gloriously come alive!

Submitted by: Eileen Daniels edaniels@easystreet.com

Don't Forget Your PJ'S - The first night at camp, the Stake YW'S Presidency does a skit reminding the girls to remember to read the scriptures, write in their journals, and say their prayers nightly. They usually give them some reminder to put on their bunks. This year they gave them a PJ Pal, which was a beanie animal with a tag around the neck that said' "Don't forget your Pj's". The girls went nuts over these.  Here is the poem to go with the beanie PJ'S Pal:

I'm your little PJ'S Pal, I'll sit here on your bed.
I'm just a little reminder, to make sure your prayers are said.
I'll sit here and look so cute, and when the day is through,
You'll see me and remember you have journal writing to do.
And just before you climb in bed, and close your eyes so tight,
I'll be there to remind you, to read your scriptures tonight.

 
We usually do things that go along with our theme. This year for example our theme is Heroes of the Heart. We are making capes for each of the girls ($1+ per girl and will give them a pin to go with each of the daily themes and major activities to pin on their cape.

In past years we have given friendship necklaces, or bracelets with charms. Oriental Trading Company has great stuff for cheap prices. We also always check the dollar stores. Many times we end up making the pins or beads out of wood cutouts. We also give an item for our PJ'S. Last year we gave a pillowcase we purchase through a wholesale source and had "Don't forget your PJ"S" printed on it.

I was PJS Man last year at girls camp! He had a super heroes theme, so I dressed up in a superman costume. We changed the chest shield to PJS. The first night at camp we did a really cute skit with all of the stake leaders. Everyone but me was did kind of a rap to the instrumental version of "Wild Thing". The rap was about all the things you do at night "and if you do three things at night your life will turn out right". Then the leaders would take turns saying things like, "I brush my hair 100 times before I go to bed." "I lay out all my clothes for the next day". "I call my boyfriend every night right before I go to bed". Then the music Theme from Superman would come on and I would come running in from behind the amphitheater and tell them how wrong they were and what PJ'S stood for. Then I would run off, and the leaders would go on with their rap and the skit basically repeated itself only with the leaders giving other lame ideas of what you do before you go to be at night. It concluded with PJ'S Man teaching the leaders the importance of PJ'S, and I gave the girls a tote bag with PJ'S Man on the outside so the could keep their scriptures and their journal hanging on their bedpost or nearby. Then the next night at the end of our campfire program, my music came on and I came running in to check and see if the stake leaders had learned their lesson and make sure they were teaching correct principles. I brought them a scripture bookmark. I didn't come the third night, but on the fourth night, which was visitors night, I came and brought them a button with PJ'S man on it. The girls went wild over this. It was so much fun and I know they will never forget it! Good luck with whatever you do.

Lisa Dahl dahllisa@yahoo.com

Ginger Ginger424@aol.com

Just wanted to share what a great PJ'S night we had this past week. It was a combined YW activity and the Sunday before we handed out invitations telling them when and where and to bring their scriptures, journals and wear their pajamas. We held the activity at a leaders home as to not embarrass the girls at the church if any YM were there.

We started with prayer and then we had made ahead of time, small 12 X 12 posters with a YW value, the value thought, and the scripture that goes with the value on it. Each poster was the value color.

We then gave the girls the YW value stickers I had previously ordered and as we read the scripture we put the sticker in our scriptures. We then had everyone share a journal entry who wanted to.

Some of the leaders shared journal entries from their YW days such as first dates and so on which really helped the girls realize that we all went through similar pressures just like they do. We ended with a yummy dessert. The night went really well and it was both fun and uplifting. I encourage anyone else to try this activity.