Hospitality Dare #7 - Host a Party With a Purpose

This is the final day of my participation in the Hospitality Dare. For 7 days I've responded to a dare sent out by Kristin and Krista. See the link at the end of this post for details on how you can take the Hospitality Dare. It's not too late!

Dare #7:   Take a minute to plan a BYOI party (bring your own item).  We have many ideas for you on Kristin's website (think wine & cheese bar, ice cream bar, chili bar, etc.) Yes, the party will take more time than a minute, but this is your GRAND FINALE!  It should be easy since everyone is bringing something. Kristin's post gives the details about hosting a Party With a Purpose!


I love this dare! 

I had already planned a Fall luncheon to get together with my girl friends. To take time to have a little fun and fellowship before the hectic holiday season is upon us. 

The time from Thanksgiving to New Years is always filled with parties and activities but this year in December we're adding in a college graduation for one of my boys. I knew once we hit Thanksgiving I probably wouldn't have time to get all my friends together so this is like our last big hooray!

I printed out a little poem I made up and glued it to the front of the invitation.
 (I'm no poet but I think it gets the point across!)

Celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas and
New Year's Eve can leave us in a tizzy. 
Let's take some time for friends and fun before we
get so busy!

Right before I sent the invitations I received this dare from Kristin and Krista to host a party with a purpose. 

Getting together with friends is a good purpose in itself but I thought I would expand on it a little. 

I decided to offer the ladies a chance to participate in Operation Christmas Child I slipped a little note in the invitation asking each lady to bring a small gift for the shoe boxes. I made it clear this of course was optional but I know each woman invited and I know they'll be happy to contribute. 

We'll take a group picture to add to the shoe boxes. I love the thought of a child somewhere in the world opening the box of goodies and seeing a bunch of smiling women looking back at them! 

I'll be posting about this luncheon and our group project Operation Christmas Child. 

This is the last day of the Hospitality Dare for me. You can still participate on your own. Go to Kristin's blog for details on how to sign up and how to host a party with a purpose!

I dare you!


You can see what I did to meet these dares:

Hospitality Dares and Challenges


Did you take the dare? Let me know in the comments...


Come back on the 18th as I start a short series on how to plan a party.

Hospitality Dare #5 - Give a Small Gift

I'm participating in a Hospitality Dare. For 7 days I'll be posting about the dare and what I did. You can learn about this dare series and sign up by following the link at the end of this post.

I double dog dare you!

Dare #5: Give a small gift today. It could be a jar of homemade jam for your child's teacher, a latte for a coach after practice, or a journal for a friend going through something difficult.   

Every summer I can something from peaches since they are abundant in my area. For the past two summers I've made Vidalia Onion and Peach Relish. It's delicious served with pork or as a dip when poured over cream cheese and served with crackers.

I originally found this recipe in the May 2012 issue of Southern Living. You can find the recipe online by following this link.

Today I pulled several jars from my pantry to give to my fellow teachers in our Children's church. I topped each jar with an unbleached coffee filter secured with twine. 

A simple gift to say I'm thinking about you.

I dare you to take the dare!

Go over to Kirstin Schell's blog for all the detail on how you can sign up for this dare!


You can see what I did to meet these dares:

Hospitality Dares and Challenges

Hospitality Dare #4 - Provide for a Need Today

I'm participating in a Hospitality Dare. For 7 days I'll be posting about how I took the dare and what I did.
See the end of this post for how you can take the hospitality dare.



Dare #4:   Provide for a need today.  Take a bag of rummage to a non-profit, help an elderly person load groceries, take someone home from school who doesn't have a ride, or sacrificially give of your time or resources in some small (or big) way. 


The first day of the dare series I bought a case of beanie weenies, fruit cups and peanut butter crackers. I delivered these food items today to our church for the mini food pantry. We support a large food pantry that serves families in our community but we also keep a small mini pantry at our church.  This mini pantry is used to help people who stop by the church office looking for help.   Many of the people who need help are homeless, living on the streets or camping in the woods behind our church. All items in the bag are ready to eat. The bags also contain hygiene items as well. 

Some of the items in the bag:
Beanie weenies
Vienna sausage
potted meats
fruit cups
pudding cups
baked beans
bottled water and juice
crackers
plastic forks and spoons
Hand wipes 
toothbrush
toothpaste
comb


Every church should keep a food pantry of some type in their facility. It's a great way to give immediate help when someone can't get to the big food pantry right away.

The mini pantry is kept in a closest in one of the Sunday school rooms. Each bag is numbered
so we can keep track of how many have been given out. Since starting the mini pantry 5 years ago
we've given out 877 bags.

You can learn more about the Hospitality Dare by checking out Kirsten's blog post.

I dare you!

Have you accepted the Hospitality Dare? 

Leave me a comment and let me know how it's going!

You can see what I did to meet these dares:

Hospitality Dares and Challenges

Cards for the Troops

I meet with a group of ladies once a month to work on our scrapbooks or a craft project. 

We probably do more eating and talking than actual crafting but we do have a good time:-)

At our annual Christmas tea and cookie exchange we were discussing plans for our group for the New Year. One of the ladies suggested that as a group we take on some type of an outreach. 

We decided to make handmade cards and send them to the soldiers in Afghanistan. (This was very appealing to me since my oldest son has been on two deployments.) The plan was to make Valentine cards that the soldiers could use to send back home to their loved ones. 

Time was running short so we decided to meet in early January and make the cards. They'd then be boxed and mailed to the boyfriend of one of the girls in our group. He agreed to make the cards available to the other soldiers in his unit. (She laughed and said that was one way to be sure to get a Valentine's Day card from her boyfriend!)

We met this past Saturday with the hope of making 30 cards. 

Organized chaos

By the end of the day we'd made 48 cards!

(That's really good considering we had a 6 month old baby visiting and everyone had to take turns loving on him:)

As I worked on my cards I prayed for the soldier who would receive it and for whoever he/she sent it to. I know the other ladies did the same. 

Please remember our soldiers who are faithfully serving our country in places far away and their families at home. 

Patti  

26 Acts of Kindness

NBC's Ann Curry began "26 Acts of Kindness" to honor the memory of the victims of Sandy Hook Elementary school tragedy. You can read about it here and there is also a Facebook page.

The idea is simple. We each need to step out of our comfort zone and do something nice for someone. 

26 kindnesses for 26 people.

(Of course there's no reason we have to stop at 26.)

You can post about it on Facebook or keep it a secret. It's up to you. 

Like Ann Curry said, "Are you in?".

I am!

Patti