We held our leadership just a couple of weeks ago. Our presidency (I'm 1st C) traveled to Utah for the YW Open House - loved it BTW!

We had been impressed prior to going to not make any plans in stone as we felt we would find there what our YW leaders need. Thus we used the courtroom idea which we saw at the YW Open House.

Our invitations were subpoenas. Since my husband used to be a police officer I had access to real subpoenas - which I duplicated and modified to invite the leaders. When I handed them to a ward leader (for each whole yw board) I told her that she "was served". That really made it fun.

Our decorations were like a courtroom. Our Stake YW Pres. was the judge - including black robe and gavel!

We used yw in our own stake as the defendants - telling examples of when they "stood as witnesses". Of course they were all found guilty. Which was a good thing - remember.

Our handouts were quilted heart shaped pins made up of strips of fabric sewn together - then cut in heart shapes and decoratively hand stitched around the edges. Another was a small clear plastic container with 7 small spools inside - each wrapped with a value color material to look like thread is on it. The last was bagged mints made in the yw molds. Actually they were made of white chocolate.

For refreshments we served bread and water (get it - like jail in the old days) There were an assortment of breads - banana, regular, apple cinnamon, etc.

It went very well and many commented on how much they liked it. Some may even use it for their New Beginnings - which is what we were hoping for - to be a resource for them.

~Linda~
Port Orchard, WA