November - South Franklin Community Center

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving, we hosted a Thanksgiving party for the kids of South Franklin Community Center!  We had such a great time; thank you to all the volunteers who helped out and all the kids who made it worthwhile!  The thing that made my night was when I heard a boy tell my date, Neil, "This is the best party I've EVER been to!"  Awwwesome!!

We made Thankful Turkeys - The kids had a lot of fun with this.  They have holes at the top so you can write what you are thankful for on a slip of paper and stuff it in the turkey. 

This little girl gave me a construction paper heart that said "Thank you" for helping me make her turkey.  At the end of the night she tugged gently at my shirt, handed it to me with a big smile, and we hugged.  Precious. 

We also made Indian Hats... It was fun to walk around pretending to be Chief!  Probably not politcally correct... dang.

For some reason, a few of the kids thought it would be cool to make Army Turkeys... complete with guns and ammo and everything.  I wish I had taken a picture of those!

Face painting was also a huge success!  We painted each other like Native Americans... again, probably not the most politically correct way to celebrate Thanksgiving, but it was fun nonetheless. :)

Not everyone wanted stuff on their face.  Who can blame this little guy when he has such an angelic face already?

The kids wanted to paint our faces, too!

Tobin... what a good sport for letting the kids go all out on him!

 We also did Cookie Decorating,

 and a Candy-walk!  (like a cake-walk, but with candy.) Somehow we ended up using a Michael Jackson CD instead of our ipod, but the kids loved it so it worked out great!

We also had fun making "Indian Calls,"

Neil was pretty good at it. 

Your friendly neighborhood Service Dates Program Directors had a fun time planning this activity!  Thanks to all the volunteers, and especially South Franklin!! 

Elissa, Amanda, Ashley

October - Orchard Park

Orchard Park Rehabilitation and Healthcare is awesome! They invited us to come help out with their Halloween carnival.  It was so fun to see all the families of the residents running around dressed up and happy.  Here are some fun photos!

I got to help this cute little princess at the "Scary Scramble" table.  I gave her two prizes for finishing the witch, because even I couldn't do it at first! 

 Tobin playing a scary version of tic-tac-toe with some kids... The boy in black got as much candy as he could and stuffed it all in his bullet proof vest. Everywhere he walked he left a trail of candy behind. haha.

 Stephen was in charge of the "Brain and Eyeball Search."  The kids had to stick their hands in the "brains" (pasta) to find a prize!  I should have taken a picture of two little girls dressed as princesses up to their elbows in spaghetti...  not quite princess-like, but oh so darling!

There was also a cake-walk, but for some reason I didn't take a picture of Elissa handing out cupcakes. :(  But overall, it was a fun service activity!

October - Halloween Carnival

At Service Dates, we love to bring smiles to kids' faces!  Our first October activity was a great opportunity to go out into the community and interact with families.  We volunteered at Thanksgiving Point's annual Halloween carnival.  Each couple was put in charge of a booth.  Here are some of them:

Pin the Wart on the Witch!

Ashley and Tyler kept cracking up because their warts wouldn't always stick.  Dang play-do!

Ring Toss!

(This one was basically impossible for the little kids.  ... and me, haha.)

(We are Argentine futbol stars, in case you couldn't tell.)

The BOOling Alley

haha, clever.

Face Painting

But with stick-on tatoos.  This was a super popular booth!

Goo Making!! 

This one was my personal favorite.

Some kids left their goo at our booth.  Paul was not a fan.

Giving away eraser tops! 

Just kidding, I don't remember what their booth was.  But we can see they had some awesome prizes! haha.

Cookie Decorating

Yummy.  That is all I have to say.

Crafts!

Making Witch masks...

...Sooo cute, right?

Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum win best dressed, hands down!

It's Rowena Ravenclaw and Jack White!  Helping the kids make witch masks! BYU Service Dates is FAMOUS.  :)

And of course, the cool Program Directors:

Amanda, Elissa, Ashley

(Pretend like Elissa is the witch...?)

September- Service Stations

You know how school starts in the fall and you think, "This is the semester where I am going to get all A's, never miss a class, be involved in clubs, service, church, FHE, student leadership, go on lots of dates, talk to my mom every week, run every day, eat healthy every meal, and only check facebook once in a while?"

This month, we acheived at least two of these goals! 

Station 1:  Tiaras! - We made tiaras for little girls at Utah Valley Hospital.

These kids should be in magazines.  Am I right?  Models, in da house! 

The tiaras, up close and personal.

Station 2: Bookbags! - We cut out book bags for LDS Humanitarian Services.  They will sew them and give them to kids without backpacks!

This guy's name is Service, and he likes to Steve. 

We do too, Service.  We do too. :)

Station 3: Coloring Books! - We colored books for Mountainland Headstart, a program that provides preschool for kids of low-income families.

Station 4: Cards! - We made all sorts of cards for a local rest home.  :) 

Shout out to Y-days!  Jessica (tie-dye) is the Program Director for Y-days, which Service Dates was a part of this year. 

YAY for Service Dates!  ...and of course, our wonderful Program Directors:

Elissa, Ashley, Amanda