Have a speaker come talk to the youth about choice & accountability and then do a Mystery Meal. This is a meal where you give each of the youth a menu and they select everything they want for each course - but the menu items are obscure so the youth aren't quite sure what they are getting.

You can set up the menu so that items are listed by type (appetizer, main course, dessert) or you can just let them select whatever for each course not knowing if they'll get ice cream for a main course. You can also have the eating utensils on the menu or not. It's up to you. Here are some examples I found online (feel free to make up your own!):

A Sleep Relative = A NapKin
Shovel = Spoon
Hay Stacker, That Thing in the Road or Neptune's Trident = Fork
Chip off the Old Block = Toothpick
Dipper = Ladle
Flipper = Spatula
Greaser = Knife

Eve's Temptation = Apple Juice
Farmer's Friend = Water
Pucker Power = Lemonade

Polly's Delight = Crackers

A Wedding Tradition = Rice

Smiles Galore = Cheese

Cup of Cure = Chicken Noodle Soup

Hole-in-One = Olives

Tubular = Pasta

Chicken in a Basket = Deviled Eggs

A Small Raise = Bread

KP's Agony = Potatoes

Son of Noah = Ham

Roly Poly = Grapes

Bumps on a Log = Corn on the Cob

Yuck & Yum = Broccoli & Cheese

What's up Doc? = Carrots

Peter Rabbit's Favorite = Salad

Vegas Mormon = Cantaloupe

Foreign Money = French Bread

Mr. Wiggles = Gummy Worms

Batter Up = Cake

Don't Have a Cow = Ice Cream

George's Delight = Cherry Dessert

Tall, Dark & Handsome = Chocolate Cake

This is a HUGE activity. You may want to combine with another ward or two if you have a small youth group. It is a carnival setting with two types of games: the usual carnival type, where kids win candy and little prizes, and church games. In a nutshell, you allow the kids to play the games for about half an hour. As they collect candy and prizes, they will put them in a brown paper lunch sack (with their names on it). After awhile, a leader will start quietly pulling kids out of the carnival and taking them to the R.S. room. They have to leave their bags of candy outside. After all the kids are gathered, talk about the games, and how this "game of life" is like real life.

Here's how it goes: set up a carnival in the gym with things like hoop shoot, bean bag throw, ring toss, you know... fun carnival games- and lots of them. The kids will win candy and silly prizes for playing the games. Make sure that the adults who man these booths are loud, outrageous, and will literally pull the kids to their game. They can even make wagers with the kids for candies or prizes they have won. They need to be over the top! They also should be luring the kids to their carnival games, even taking them away from the "church" games, making fun of them for being at the "church" games, etc.

Around the carnival games, set up the "church" games. These need to be basic- a table and chair with someone quiet attending the game. The person manning the table will not ask the kids to come play. They will wait for the kids to come to them. Games will be things like Seek, name that prophet, name that hymn, Celestial Pursuit, scripture chase, etc. They might even have to wait a minute for another person to come play the game with them. Do not let the kids try to coerce others to come play these games. Just wait patiently. The kids will get nothing for playing these games. Just a smile from the attendant.

When the kids are all in the R.S. room, and their candy has been taken away (they'll get it back later, which is why their names need to be on the bags), have someone give a talk about how life is like a carnival: all loud, full of fun and games, with people willing to grab them and try to get them to play - leading them away from the "church," getting them to give away what they have for more and more of what they think they want. Tell the kids that they will collect a lot of things in life (money, cars, homes, "toys") but in the end, they can't take it with them. The church is always there, waiting for them to be part of it. The church won't force you, coerce you, or give you things to make you come to it. The church is always "in the world, but not of the world," and you'll find it amidst the crazy carnival of life, quietly waiting for you to take advantage of what it offers. In the end, it's the blessings we get from our membership in the church, our testimonies, our families, and our relationship with the Savior that we take with us.

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Carnival Games

Have a banker, financial adviser, or other person with a good knowledge of finances come talk to the girls about money: how to manage it, save it, and how interest works, and the like. This activity should include things like: paying tithing first, how to manage a check book, how interest works when you save, and credit interest, budgeting, and how to save etc.

Here's a link to some Church resources on this topic! Here's a link to a lesson in the Young Women manual (Manual 2) on this topic!

See Personal Progress Choice & Accountability, Value Experience #7 and Knowledge, Value Experience #2

We divided up into cars. Each car had a coin. We told the YW we were going to see if we could get to the temple and then at each intersection we would have the YW flip a coin. We would go right or left depending on the coin flip.

After driving around for awhile, we met back at the home of one of the leaders and talked about how getting to the temple cannot happen by chance - it is a choice and requires preparation. Then we watched John Bytheway's Standards Night Live. Simple, with a powerful message.

We then planned a trip to the temple for another night and had the YW dress up. We took their pictures and had a great activity on the temple grounds.

Our Laurels & Priests combined for a group date activity night. We decided to go M&M Bowling.

We went to the local bowling alley and before each person bowled, they had to pull an M&M out of the bag and follow these rules:

Blue: Eyes Closed

Green: Backward, between your legs

Orange: Sing a primary song while you bowl

Yellow: Righties use left hand, Lefties use right hand

Brown: Granny Style

Red: Ballerina Style

We especially loved watching the priest and YM leaders bowl ballerina style!!