Hospitality and Fellowship Ideas for Women's Groups

Getting a group of women together for a time of fellowship is a wonderful way to spread encouragement and inspiration. I think that women in particular like to sit at a pretty table and lean forward towards other women to discuss things they wouldn't talk about often with the menfolk of their families: fashion, sewing, cooking, decorating, child care, flower gardening, favorite books and magazines, and certain aspects of religion and politics. From this, you can get some ideas of how to theme-decorate your table. It is not absolutely necessary to decide upon a theme, but it does help stimulate conversation and enjoyment if there is a theme. It makes it easier for the hostess to organize the fellowship when she has a theme of some kind, even if it is simple. Your table decorations, food, and entertainment, will be based on whatever theme you choose.

Pink Roses
Frans Mortelmans
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Theme ideas:

* Picnics--use small baskets lined with checked napkins as the guest plates in which you place the packed picnic lunch for each individual. Sometimes you can even get tiny picnic baskets. The guests could take them home if you didn't want to keep them. You can even make these out of card stock or paper.
* Last Rose of Summer--Roses everywhere--on napkins, placemats, dishes, in vases of jelly jars or small juice jars. We like the individual Motts Apple juice jars that are shaped like an apple. They are small and can be put all over the tables.
* Jane Austen --put place cards up the middle of the tables with the name of characters from one of her books such as "Miss Jane Bennet" or "Mrs. Bennet," etc. made from your computer (you can actually make a foldover card from your computer with an illustration on it), or rubber stamp them with ladies, umbrellas, and hats.
* Garden -- birdhouses, wicker furniture, nests, and bird cages, along with pots of flowers.
* Home Sweet Home -- find beautiful cards of houses and place them back to back as centerpieces, make place mats out of paper, shaped like houses or with houses drawn on them or stamped. Old irons and kitchen items can decorate the table, tied with wired ribbons and florals.

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Table decoration Ideas * Scriptures done in calligraphy on long strips of paper that curl around the centerpieces, or put on the placemats, or used as napkin rings. * Candles * Hats * Glove collections * Vases of flowers---perhaps tin cans decorated with wired ribbons and stickers * Birdhouses, nests, vines, birdbaths. (You can make birdbaths with small flower pots and saucers, each turned upside down. Add a fake bird on the edge.) * Small porcelain dolls with beautiful clothing * Sea shells with flowers in them or a bowl of sand with shells and a votive in a container * Napkin rings shaped like tea pots, or made with paper. Rings made with vines, and other unusual things. * Lace table cloths layered over solid ones in the colors of your theme. * Battery-operated water fountains facing the guests * Table ware (plates, cups, cutlery) that is attractive * Flowering plants in pretty pots, even gift bags. * Napkins and napkin rings with your theme on it--flowers, tea cups, and a host of patterns that are available. Napkin rings are fun and can be taken home as souvenirs. Use wired ribbon liberally. It will do anything! Make sure the decorations don't obliterate your view of each other while seated. There is nothing worse than having to dodge a centerpiece while talking to someone.

Food

Choose a food theme also, if you like. It can be tea party savories, or a full meal selection of meat, salad, and appropriate side dishes. Choose food that is familiar but maybe fixed in an artistic or interesting way. Decide upon the drinks and the way they will be served. Find a cookbook that already has a menu in it. Tea foods such as sandwiches, cheeses, vegetables and fruits, are easier with groups because you can put three-tiered servers on various parts of the table with all the selections on each one, so that nothing needs to be passed around. It also eliminates the need for serving spoons.

The Announcement

If you do have a theme, you can include it in your flyer or announcement cards, and that will help the women know how to dress

Entertainment You can ask for a gift exchange, where each guest brings a gift on the particular theme, if you like. You can offer the centerpieces as party favor gifts to your guests. If your theme is about the home, you can have a contest for a prize about the names of different things in the home. For further entertainment, consider prizes of things for the house. You can decorate the tables with doll house chairs and furniture. A vintage fashion show is always a winner for a lady's group. Begin with the earliest date, and end with a 1950's fashion, or stay with one particular era. Have the people modeling the garments walk around and explain something about the history and fabric of the dress and accessories they are modeling. I would suggest you simply provide a list of first lines of songs and have everyone sing together for a time. It always sounds good to hear ladies' voices together. You could pass out little song booklets you make up from photocopies of the songs you want them to follow along with and sing.

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Prizes can be given for the person who has been a Mrs. the longest, the person who has been a Mrs. the shortest amount of time, for the person with the most grandchildren, the most children, the oldest grandchildren, etc. For single girls, prizes for the girls who are learning some domestic arts, or teaching others. Another thing that is enjoyable is to have several people tell stories of home and family with a amusing ending. If you have the event in your own home, you can put out several tables and dress them all in the same color table cloths. Group the tables close enough together so that guests can enjoy one another's company. You will know that your hospitality has been good when you pause to hear the noisy conversations going on around you. This is a very good sign that your guests are enjoying the experience. Make it your goal to see that each guest is blessed and encouraged by your time together, and you will find your gatherings a beautiful success!