Boogers on the Wall

I was given a new assignment in my church just six days after my baby girl was born last October. I am the coordinator for my LDS ward’s monthly Relief Society activities.

Luckily the October and November activities were already planned when I was called and for December our ward had a family Christmas party that was planned by a special committee.

I didn’t have to really do anything until January.

So why not start off with a bang?

We took a Journey to the land of Oz.

It was busy, it took a lot of work, but thanks to the help of all the women on my activities committee and many more volunteers, we had a great night.

Here’s what we did.

The night was centered around visiting teaching – (we kept this fact a secret however because we didn’t want that to scare away the sisters from coming.)

I made up this vague poster and flier that we handed out to our sisters.

One week we attached Dum-Dum suckers to the handouts and gave them as messages from the “lollipop guild.” The following week we played a recorded message from Oz the great and terrible. He and the Wicked Witch warned the women that they should attend….or else.

The committee and I wrote up a script (you can download that here) where Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Lion take a journey to the Emerald City while following the yellow brick road.

Dorothy started our night off by meeting our Relief Society president who gave her a “map” (Book of Mormon) then sent her on her way. She told her to help the other sisters in the room make it to the Emerald City.

Along her journey she met the Scarecrow who didn’t know what to say, think or do when it came to visiting teaching. He didn’t have the “brains.”

Then they met up with the Tin Man who was stuck in a rut and didn’t have the “heart” to go visiting teaching.

Finally they ran into the Lion who was too scared and didn’t have the “courage” to go visiting teaching.

Of course Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion were greeted by the Wicked Witch a number of times who tried to stop them and get them off the yellow brick road.

We also had three women from the ward (I was lucky enough to be nominated for this job too) speak to each of the three characters as they bumped into them on their journey to the Emerald City. The three women gave all of us in the room a short 5-7 minute talk/breakout session on thoughtful visiting teaching, having the heart to go visiting teaching and not being scared to go. (I spoke on thoughtful visiting teaching. You can read what I said here.)

The women giving the breakout sessions had something to give the characters. The Scarecrow was given a diploma with visiting teaching tips on it:

The Tin Man was given a red marble heart. The Lion was given a gold medal. They were so excited about what they got, they wanted everyone in the room to get one too. So they passed out diplomas, marble hearts and medals to everyone.

We had yellow party bags with the words “Heart Courage Brains” in vinyl on the front that everyone could use to take their goodies home in.

After following the yellow brick road and reading the “map” the quartet made it to the Emerald City – a door on the side of the room that was decorated with green streamers and Christmas lights.

They knocked on the door and were greeted by the relief society president. She let them enter the Emerald City as long as they had earned something on their way. The Wicked Witch tried to enter without having earned anything and couldn’t.

That’s when the Scarecrow gave the relief society president the diploma, the Tin Man gave her the marble heart and the Lion gave her the medal.

Dorothy thought she couldn’t go in because she didn’t earn anything on her way. Then the relief society president pointed out to her that she gained three new friends and helped others. She let her in for developing the skills she already had within her.

At the end, the Wicked Witch took her own journey along the yellow brick road where she followed the “map” and “changed.” She was greeted at the Emerald City by the relief society president who let her into the city.

We set up the room with a mini forest front and center.

Then we put chairs for the audience in a horseshoe/half circle facing the forest. We cut yellow cardstock in half and placed it on the floor in a figure eight making the yellow brick road. It circled both the forest and then the chairs.

We put mini trails of yellow brick road from the foyer into the cultural hall, guiding people into the gym.

In the back of the room we set up two long tables for refreshments. We borrowed these Scarecrow-themed cupcake stands, cut out hearts and Dorothy shoes from a neighboring ward to put our desserts on. Aren’t they amazing?

We also borrowed the yellow brick road and Land of Oz signs from that same ward. (Thank heavens people were nice enough to share with us! I couldn’t have come up with something this cute. They held a Wizard of Oz relief society dinner last year where they helped the Scarecrow find a heart.)

We had Smarties, Jello jiggler hearts and Hershey’s Kisses along with phenomenal mint chocolate chip brownies made by the food director for our committee.

One of our committee members made a Wizard of Oz Spotify playlist that we used as background music. We played the list while people came, then we used it throughout the skit and left it playing while people mingled and ate dessert.

Each character came up with her own costume and they looked amazing. It was so fun to see them in action.

The night was fun and lighthearted. It was a perfect way to kick off our year.

I know other wards have done Wizard of Oz relief society nights. In fact, the inspiration for our activity came from a couple of other women who wrote about similar activities on their blogs.

Feel free to use our ideas and let me know if you have any questions. Also, if you do have your own Wizard of Oz night, I’d love to see pictures!

Here’s one with me in the middle: