Mormon Clue

I found this idea from Mormon Share. You can find the original link and instructions here. Basically this is a life size game of Clue. Everything you need is included in the link. We started out with an Italian dinner to set up the scene. After most people had finished eating we announced that our Bishop was missing. We had someone dress up like a detective and walk in and announce each of the suspects (who had been eating dinner among the group). As each one was announced they left and walked to their designated room with their clues. From there each table was a group and they went to each suspect to figure out the clues and ultimately who did it, with what, and where. We had the suspects dress up like their character for the game while everyone else just wore a Halloween costume. It was a huge hit and everyone had a lot of fun!

Blindfolded Lightning

This game works great for a Family Home Evening activity. The original form of this game has many names (Lightning, Knockout, Gotcha, Killer, Elimination, Poison, Crash, Fireball, Dynamite, Putout, Bumpout, Speed, Hurricane, Tornado, Ultimate, Scrum, Chicago Shootout, Bump, etc.) All you need for this activity is two basketballs and some blindfolds. Simple enough, right? You can check out the all-knowing Wikipedia for instructions on how to play the basic form of the game here. For the blindfolded version everyone needs a partner. You can make it boy/girl or just let people choose a partner. One player is blindfolded and the other is left to be their guide. The game is then played just like the regular game with the front two people in line shooting baskets and handing off the basketball once a basket is made. The guide needs to protect their partner from any rebounding basketballs and also help guide them in making a shot by scooting them closer/farther back, angling them, telling them how hard to shoot it, etc. When one round is over and a winner is claimed, switch positions so the guide gets to be the blindfolded player and vice versa.

Valentine's Party

In my opinion, Valentine's Day is one of the hardest holidays to plan an activity for, especially with a bunch of young single adults. You don't want anything too awkward, but you still want everyone to have fun. This year we started off with a get to know you Bingo while we waited for everyone to get there. It helped get people interacting for the few minutes we played and it was fun to get to know something new about other people in the ward. The boards had 25 squares with things such as "doesn't like chocolate" or "doesn't have a Facebook account." Then each person had to try to get all of their squares signed off by a person who they were true for. It was fun and quick and got people moving and talking.

After that we moved into our main game, Truth or Dare (PG rated). We split everybody up into 5 groups and went each group sent one person up to spin our wheel. We downloaded an iPad app as our spinner that let us customize our wheel. We had 3 categories on our wheel: Truth, Dare, and Team Challenge. Each category had a box filled papers for possible truths or dares and the group would then pick out which one they were going to do. We had about 3 people from each group answer for a truth and it was worth 1 point. We used questions such as:

• When did you get your first kiss?
• Tell your worst date story.
• What is your favorite love song and why?
• Have you ever snuck out of your house? Tell the story.
• Describe your dream proposal.

Dares were either worth 1 point or, for more difficult or embarrassing ones, we called them Double Dares and they were worth 2 points. The people participating in each dare varied from 2 people to the whole group depending on what was asked. We used dares like:

• Rub noses with someone on your team.
• Serenade someone with a love song.
• Make up a rap about someone on your team.
• Give us your best hula dance.
• Eat a ketchup packet

The Team Challenge was completed at the end of each round (each group had taken a turn) and worth 3 points. Some of the challenges we did were:

• Who can eat a pudding cup the fastest without using their hands
• Fluffy Bunny challenge
• Who can stand barefoot in the snow the longest
• Role play the best pick-up line
• Guys putting makeup on the girls.

Everyone had a lot of fun with only a few awkward moments in there. Overall it was a success.

Tubing at Camp Tracy

Recently our ward rented out Camp Tracy up Millcreek Canyon in Salt Lake. The rental comes with access to the lodge (which is big) and the tubing hill. We had people bring soup in crockpots for dinner that we served with rolls and butter. Those who didn't want to tube stayed inside and played games in the lodge. The lodge is very big and nice! It has a nice big kitchen, bathrooms with plumbing, tables and chairs, and a fireplace that you need to bring your own wood for. The tubing hill is close to the lodge and is lit up at night. Only tubes are allowed on the hill so we also brought up an air compressor to fill everyone's tubes up. The tubing hill is pretty long and steep so you go pretty fast. You hike up the side of the mountain to the top of the hill and then it runs through the trees and out to the clearing at the bottom. They give out vouchers so it's free to drive up during the day, or if you go at night the guard station closes at 6:00 pm and then it's free anyway. It cost $50/hour to rent out both the tubing hill and the lodge which is really cheap. Camp Tracy is owned by the Boy Scouts of America so you can find their contact information on their website.