This girl was a blast to work with. We'll call her Lysha since that's her name...I first got to know her when she was my secretary in Young Women a couple of years ago...she's fun and is good at collaborating. In her words, "We work really well together." Sweet!
For the church Christmas party this year, an extremely original theme—especially for for Texas congregations—was chosen...A Western BBQ.
In wanting to decorate with something other than cowboy hats, ropes, and horse shoes, I told Lysha I'd been thinking of making cacti out of scavenged boxes. She mentioned she had some "rolled" cardboard that would work perfectly. So we got together and started creating something TRULY original.
Knowing the cacti wouldn't be enough to make a centerpiece with any kind of visual impact I started asking myself...what else goes with cacti that's free?....ROCKS!
So we went to the dollar store with the rock idea in mind and...Hey!...Lizards! Lizards can go on rocks! So we bought the lizards and "borrowed" rocks from the landscaping of an out-of-business Pollo Tropical. (The rocks are now in the back of my car, we will be returning them. Maaaaybee with the lizards still on them. Heh heh.)
Then...Lysha found packages of mini Santa hats! They totally crack me up! OF COURSE we HAD to use them.
Changing gears here....Part of the Christmas party included a readers theater. So I needed to make just a few props too. I wanted them to match the centerpieces. I grabbed a couple giant boxes off the street and constructed two very tall cacti and tied them to scout flag poles from church.
I made few fence sections from cardboard as well.
Unfortunately, there's no photo of the whole stage scene, but it also included a couple of wagon wheels made from two donated hula-hoops and black spray paint, a cardboard setting sun, and a hand-wagon Lysha just happens to own.
A reader's theater is a really fun idea for a skit. A narrator reads a story out loud and that's how the actors know what to do. It takes very little preparation, few props and costumes (if any—pretending and use of imagination work great) and the actors can be volunteers that night.
Lysha found a children's book about three cowboys who were worried Santa wouldn't find them. They tried to get into the Christmas spirit by decorating a cactus like a Christmas tree, putting antlers and jingle bells on their cows, and baking cookies out of whatever they could find. I transformed the story into something like a script (not necessary but helps the actors know when it's their character that's doing something...ask me about this if you are curious) and we had our entertainment for the night! Kudos to the cactus who actually kept his arms up the whole time. Good sport!
A few tips:
• It helps if the narrator has read over the script/story ahead of time. They also need to be aware that they control the pacing of the play.
• More than one or two kids on stage doesn't work. They'll really enjoy watching so don't feel bad NOT selecting them for parts. (Three kids played the cows...total chaos.)
• Where props are concerned, less is more. Some just get in the way and the story moves too fast to utilize everything anyway. Again, imagination is key and is what makes it fun.
• Try adding something for the audience to get involved. In ours, everyone sang two Christmas carols while the cowboys decorated the cactus.
Back to first gear...and here is the final centerpiece. Lysha made little paper fires that held a bunch of tea lights she had on hand. And she found mini string lights for the cacti. The centerpieces were a BIG hit. We got a lot of fun feedback about them. I enjoy adding humor to any kind of design.
Lastly, and this is mostly so I can remember, for dinner we ordered chopped brisket (wet) by the pound from the Feed Store. (A great local BBQ place set up in an old feed and tack store.) I negotiated 200 rolls for free as well as extra sauce, onions and jalepenos. Church members signed up to bring either BBQ baked beans, coleslaw, or potato salad/casserole. And I picked up a bunch of apple and pumpkin pies at Costco for dessert. They're huge and you can get 12-16 of slices out of each. I also grabbed a few cans of whipped cream for people to squirt on their slice...which allowed us to see who REALLY likes whipped cream.
We heard from several people that they were worried about dinner, if there would be enough, if it would be any good etc. but there was PLENTY for everyone and it was delicious food too.
So, though there were a few hiccups—there always are—I think it was a success. It was so nice to come home and breathe after that one!
And thanks again to Lysha for being my friend, sounding board, and a wonderful help in preparing for the night!
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