Spa Night

Remember Spa Night from last year? I brought it back again to close out finals week for our college girls. Our girls enjoyed relaxing and having fun together. 

Manicure Station

We used the kitchen table for manicures. I bought a plastic table cloth and found some super cute paper place mats at Hobby Lobby (they were in the summer section, not the party section).  

I used a serving tower to display the nail polish and laid out polish remover, cotton balls, clippers, and nail files. I bought a special base coat and top coat for a gel manicure hack I read about here. 

I also created prints for each station. These prints are available for you to download. Look for the link at the end of this post.
Pedicure Station

We used the living room for pedicures. Two vinyl tablecloths covered the floor for protection. I placed the foot baths on top of the tablecloths.

On the coffee table I placed polish remover, cotton balls, scented foot soak, a Satin Hands Set, and lotion.

We removed our polish, soaked our feet, and used the Satin hands to scrub and soften our feet. Then back to the manicure station for polish! 

Facial Station

Facials were super simple, but lots of fun. I bought a clay mask and a pack of washcloths for facials. Each washcloth was ran under water, wrung out, rolled, and placed in a crockpot on low. By the time we did facials the washcloths were nice and steamy.

Note: I did move the temperature from low to warm at some point, but I don’t remember exactly how long I left it on low. 

Snack Station

I fail you here because I don’t have pictures. For snacks we had: a veggie tray, mini quiche, Mississippi mud cake, chex mix, and Spa Water.

How to Make Spa Water

1 cucumber

2 small lemons

2 pitchers

Thinly slice the lemon and cucumber.  Place an even amount of sliced cucumber and lemon in each pitcher. Fill the pitchers with water and allow them to chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour before the party. 

Host Your Own

Want to host your own Spa Night? I encourage you to keep things simple. You will be surprised how the simple things make the biggest impact like a fun table cloth, place mats, and prints I designed myself. Another way I kept things simple was by buying my snacks and asking others for help. All I did was go into the grocery store and buy mini quiche and a veggie tray.

I also encourage you to borrow and ask for freebies. I borrowed all of the foot baths from friends. My Mary Kay consultant donated the Satin Hands Set. I used many  items I already had at home: serving trays, bowls, vinyl table cloths, hand towels, bath salt, crockpot, polish, nail clippers, etc.  By borrowing and asking for donations I was able to keep my cost to a minimum.

Click here to use my prints at your own Spa Night

 

Ministry Monday

Hello friends! How do you like the new look? I am still working to perfect it and add some new things. I need to give a huge thanks to Beginner Beans's post on Blog Design for Beginners. Ya'll really need to check it out! Thank you Trina for your tutorials! They are great!

Today is the start of a new feature on my blog. I’m calling it Ministry Mondays. I plan to talk about general ministry themes, highlight curriculum I have used and would recommend, recap ministry events I have planned, etc.

For my first Ministry Monday I want to talk about planning an event. I have been planning work related events for 4 years now. I plan several events each year ranging from small retreats to a conference that over 2 ½ days and runs approximately 1,500 people.  I hope today to share with you some basic principles to help you plan your ministry event.

Determine the Event. The planning starts when we choose to host an event. So consider, what kind of event are you planning? 

Consider who you want to reach. Who do you want to come to your event? Knowing your target audience is key to many of the choices you will make along the way.

Pin point your goal. What is the overall outcome you desire? Is your event primarily for fun or is it more serious with a deeper focus? Do you want to create close tight knit community or have an open group where new people are welcome? 

Seek Guidance from the Lord. I am just now seeing that I have mostly made event planning about me. In so many ways, it has been my little kingdom. God is calling me out of that and into something entirely different. It requires me to depend on Him when it comes to how an event should go. What scripture should I go to? Who should I ask to help? As I’ve told you recently, He is doing this even in calling me toward planning a specific event. Often we plan an event and then ask God to bless it. How dare we treat ministry this way! Seek God in the beginning and allow Him to direct the planning every step of the way.

Determine your budget. What you can spend determines the choices you make. So make a financial plan and see what you think things will cost.

Search out Ideas. Pinterest  and Etsy is great for this! Remember to keep your budget in mind as you do this. It’s like when I went wedding dress shopping, I didn’t try on anything I could not afford. Don’t fall in love with an idea that you can’t afford to pull off. Friends are another great source. Talk to your friends, and bounce ideas off of them. They may some some great ideas that you have not even considered!

Define the date and time. Many times this comes down to just picking a date and time. But you need to consider when your target audience is available. It wouldn’t help me to plan an event for working women during the work day. They simply won’t come. However, you also will never be able to accommodate everyone. Pick the best date and time you can, but don’t make it rocket science.

Making a list: List making is my love. I seriously love a good detailed list. There are many ways to do this. I encourage you to write down as many details as you can about your event. I prefer to do this on the computer. I brain dump all the details out of my head and onto the computer. Then I sort them accordingly. Depending on the event I may sort by due date (When doing this I always ask myself what is high priority?) or by category (Food, Supplies, Etc). Sometimes the planning happens in stages and you need to accomplish A before you can accomplish B (kind of like a pre-requisite in college) If I am planning a larger event, I also create a timeline for myself. I break all the planning tasks into chunks so it doesn’t seem so overwhelming.

Create a team & divide duties: I don’t know about you, but I am terrible when it comes to asking for help. However, I have learned in event planning that you cannot do it all.  And if you do try you will likely lose your mind! We all NEED help! So ask your friends, your family, people from your church, coworkers, etc. Then let them help you. Actually give them duties. If someone can’t attend the event, maybe they can still help by baking cookies, or ordering food, or another pre-event task. You will be blessed by the help and they will be blessed to help.

Get the Word Out: Remember how we talked about knowing your target audience? Well, this is a reason why. My promotion must fit my target audience. I still think one of the best ways to invite people is by personal invitation. When someone walks up to me and says “Hey would you like to go to such and such with me?” I am much more likely to go. However we live in 2013 so don’t miss using social media. I must confess, I don’t tweet and I am just starting to use Instagram. So, work social media best you can. Personally, I like to use Facebook Events. Don't forget about that little thing we are all attached to called the cell phone. Red Stamp is a great app to use where you can create an invitation and text message it to you friends.