Ward activities: which ones work

[Archaea]

We've had the same variety all othe wards experience.

The dinners seem the most popular as Mormons love to eat. We've had great luaus, some great cabin get-aways, cycling events, ski get aways, and almost had a Hawaii venture until the bishop put a kabosh on that.

If it were a singles event, I don't know what I would plan. And this is being harsh, but many of the singles are not people I'd associate with, except for Church reasons. Anybody else feel this way, or am I the only snob of the group.

[FMCoug]

Originally Posted by Archaea

We've had the same variety all othe wards experience.

The dinners seem the most popular as Mormons love to eat. We've had great luaus, some great cabin get-aways, cycling events, ski get aways, and almost had a Hawaii venture until the bishop put a kabosh on that.

If it were a singles event, I don't know what I would plan. And this is being harsh, but many of the singles are not people I'd associate with, except for Church reasons. Anybody else feel this way, or am I the only snob of the group.

I think pretty much all ward activities suck for the most part. They are an exercise in testing how cheap we can be with the lack of budget. And like most Americans, we generally suck at being cheap. Kids running around, having to deal with lack of seating, etc. I consider going to ward activities part of "enduring to the end"

[YOhio]

Pioneer themed road shows are fun and awesome!

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by FMCoug

I think pretty much all ward activities suck for the most part. They are an exercise in testing how cheap we can be with the lack of budget. And like most Americans, we generally suck at being cheap. Kids running around, having to deal with lack of seating, etc. I consider going to ward activities part of "enduring to the end"

I'd love for there to be a ward trip to Europe, but then we'd look like a bunch of rich ignoramuses.

Whenever a few of the wealthier HP leave together for family trips, there's always a bunch of bickering about what snobs they are.

Probably no good solution.

[MikeWaters]

Some of my best memories of the church during my growing up years where 1) yearly ward camping/canoe trip 2) yearly youth Schlitterbaun trip (waterpark south of Austin).

Neither of these occur anymore because of the mandate that no ward activity cost any money.

Our activities completely SUCK. They are all variations on potluck dinners. I mean, they are terrible, and one gets the impression that the only reason you would choose to intend was out of guilt, or if you were a complete loser and liked to hear geriatrics sing off-key.

This is one of the things about the new church that really pisses me off actually. The utter cheapness. I pay more in tithing than my entire ward budget. In scouting for one year, I had no budget. Everything comes out of my pocket.

[FMCoug]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

Some of my best memories of the church during my growing up years where 1) yearly ward camping/canoe trip 2) yearly youth Schlitterbaun trip (waterpark south of Austin).

Neither of these occur anymore because of the mandate that no ward activity cost any money.

Our activities completely SUCK. They are all variations on potluck dinners. I mean, they are terrible, and one gets the impression that the only reason you would choose to intend was out of guilt, or if you were a complete loser and liked to hear geriatrics sing off-key.

This is one of the things about the new church that really pisses me off actually. The utter cheapness. I pay more in tithing than my entire ward budget. In scouting for one year, I had no budget. Everything comes out of my pocket.

Exactly. The "no money" thing effectively killed all cool activities. Not to mention mutual super activites .... week long boating trips, etc.

[Requiem]

Originally Posted by Archaea

We've had the same variety all othe wards experience.

The dinners seem the most popular as Mormons love to eat. We've had great luaus, some great cabin get-aways, cycling events, ski get aways, and almost had a Hawaii venture until the bishop put a kabosh on that.

If it were a singles event, I don't know what I would plan. And this is being harsh, but many of the singles are not people I'd associate with, except for Church reasons. Anybody else feel this way, or am I the only snob of the group.

Student/Single wards have non-stop activities. Last year we were informed the church doubled the per-capita budet allocation for single wards. Think about it - the ward hosts 3 FHE/month that are full scale activities with zero out of pocket expense, single stakes host one "super FHE" per month (dances, BBQ's, etc.). Wards pay for RS and EQ retreats, annual ward super activities (we went to Gettysburg and Valley Forge over four days), and 3-4 mingles per month that are the equivalent of resident ward dinners. Our financial clerk spends an average of 8 hours/month writing reimbursement checks.

[Solon]

I helped plan ward activities in our student (single and married) ward here in PA. The most successful was a 5K, with a taco bar held right after.

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by Solon

I helped plan ward activities in our student (single and married) ward here in PA. The most successful was a 5K, with a taco bar held right after.

I assume the 5k was in the single ward.

A 5k in our ward would attract about 3 people.

A buffet line would attract about 100.

[FMCoug]

Also, people are too damn busy. When I was EQP, we decided to have quarterly EQ activities. The first one was on a Saturday morning in September. EQ water skiing party. Something like 5 people showed up besides the ones with boats.

If you can't get people to show up for water skiing .. they're not gonna show up for anything.