Monday, February 14, 2011

Valentine's Banquets - For the Young and Old and In-Between!

What a great weekend it was!  There were basketball games, a birthday party, my husband preached at the a.m. and p.m. service, and our annual Valentine's banquets for the Senior Saints and Teens took place Sunday, too.  A very busy, but great weekend!
Every year, on the Sunday before Valentine's Day, our adult Bible class hosts a Senior Saints' Banquet for the older members of our congregation.  This year, the banquet was decorated in red and white decor.  I had seen an idea for an ornament tree made from a tree branch in a Family Fun magazine. 
That picture became the inspiration for these Valentine trees, which were decorated with white doilies, red hearts, and vellum scriptures. (The clear glue stick showed, unfortunately, but it didn't look as bad as it does in the picture.). The branches were spray-painted white, then secured in glass vases with red tissue paper.
A red heart paper doily served as the place mat at each table setting.
 For a little fun, each Senior Saints filled out a questionnaire about themselves.  After the dinner, the answers were read aloud to the group.  Everyone guessed who the person was whose answers were being read.  It was a long of fun learning more about everyone! They also filled out a Bible Sweethearts Matching paper, matching men in the Bible, with their wives.
Although the "seniors" are served during this Valentine's meal every year, and they enjoy being treated in this way, I know that all of us who are younger and who are serving them, enjoy it just as much as they do!  It is a great event that all of us look forward to each year.
On the other end of the age spectrum, is the Annual Teen Valentine Banquet.  My husband and I host this event in our home - on the evening of the Senior Saints' Banquet each year.
  The menu is always the same:  Beef/Chicken Lasagna, Green Beans (Made with sugar this time, instead of Splenda), Semi Homemade Bread Sticks, Butterfinger Cake, and Chocolate Delight (The links will go to my recipe blog.  I will be posting larger servings for the lasagnas later this week.).  This year I "upped" the bread stick count to 144.  And guess what?  I didn't even get ONENOT ONE - not that I needed it, anyway!  Maybe next year I should make 200!? Something tells me they'll eat them all...no matter how many I make!
This year there were 32 teens, five adults, and two children served.  After the meal, the teens are divided up into four teams and participate in a scavenger hunt. One of the highlights of the hunt each year is having to bring someone new back to our house - someone that wasn't there before.  It's always fun to see who agrees to come!
 
To close out the evening, my husband has a short devotional thought, we sing a few songs, and end with a prayer. We've got a GREAT group of teens here in Tipton!

On this GRATITUESDAY, I am grateful for special times where we can treat others to a special meal.  Serving others is one of the ways we can "Shine Like Stars".

To see what others are grateful for, visit Heavenly Homemakers.

1 comment:

Thank you for visiting "Shine Like Stars"! I appreciate your comments. Have a great day! Lori