YW in Excellence: Seek the Sweet

POST UPDATE:
Since posting this fun idea I have had many people reach out to me for coordinating printables!
Unfortunately I created these items on an old computer that crashed
and not longer have access to the files. However,
I have re-created an ENTIRE YWIE bundle using a similar theme!

YOU CAN FIND THIS AWESOME BUNDLE HERE!

ORIGINAL BLOG POST:
This past Wednesday, we had the opportunity 

to celebrate the young women in our ward with a night of excellence. 

As we began to plan out the big night, the girls were pretty adamant

that they wanted an "original theme"...

As they put it...."Something that did not revolve around Princesses & Queens"...

(ha ha, kind of made me laugh. I guess that clearly explains the group of young women we have.)

Anyways, with a little brainstorming, and a lot of pinteresting,

we decided upon the theme "Seek the Sweet"...

A "Candy Theme" that focused on all things "sweet" to the young and their lives. 

Honestly, I was a little worried about the theme, but it turned out ADORABLE. 

Below are some ideas that we used, as well as a program outline and topics discussed!

We sure had a lot of fun with it--- so feel free to use and share! 

We decided that in order to keep the theme uniform, 

we wanted to use the color combination of yellow and pink. 

It worked out great since Carley had recently had a wedding with yellow in it

 and were able to use a lot of items from the reception. . 

We were able to pull the old yellow doors as a backdrop plus the fun yellow accessories. 

Because the theme was "Seek the Sweet"

we wanted to have a huge refreshment table filled with "sweet treats".

We had lemonade cupcakes, pink sugar cookies, cake pops, 

candy dishes with star bursts, chocolate pretzels, pineapple licorice, fruties, lemon heads, etc.

Above are the invitations I designed.

We kept them simple and again, coordinated them to the fun yellow and pink theme

We took the invitation that I designed an blew it up to put at the front of the room.

We matted it on foam core and placed it on a giant easel.

It really tied the whole room together. 

My sister was gracious enough to help make the cake balls for the evening. 

They were SUCH a big hit and turned out to be scrumptious!

Also, prior to the evening, the girls helped out making some of the decorations

(helped stick together invitations, make the flag banners, etc).

They also learned how to make these fun flowers out of tissue. 

We all thought they turned out super cute (they actually looked just like cotton candy),

and really added to the theme. 

My mom was also super helpful! She helped me throw together some of the cute cupcakes. 

They were lemonade flavor, so she threw on some cute pink and white straws, 

yellow shimmery sprinkles, and topped them off with a lemonhead. 

The cookies that my mother-in-law helped out with also turned out adorable. 

She topped them off with a pink glaze and them swirled them with a white frosting 

(making them looking like lollopops). 

Seriously, if you can't already tell, the details were perfect, and everything was TOO cute!

We also created these cute balloon candies out of balloons and cellophane. 

We had about 15 or so and hung them up over the refreshment table and head of the room.

They added to the theme of the room. 

Finally we made a bunch of "balloon lollipops" out of balloons, cellophane, and wooden dowels. 

They were super simple, and just finished the room off. 

For the program, we wanted to get ALL the girls involved. 

We had a few of the girls participate in musical numbers, assist with opening exercises, and conduct. 

We also wanted some of the girls to speak and share their testimonies, 

so we assigned each of the girls to talk about a certain value. 

Their talks were titled as follows...

"The Sweetness of Faith"
"The Sweetness of Divine Nature"

"The Sweetness of Individual Worth"

"The Sweetness of Knowledge"

"The Sweetness of Choice and Accountability"

"The Sweetness of Good Works"

"The Sweetness of "Integrity"

"The Sweetness of "Virtue"

Honestly, this was one of my favorite parts of the night.

The girls each spent about 3 minutes just talking about why that particular value was "sweet" to them.

They were so sincere and thoughtful. 

I know I have said this like a bagillion times, 

but I need to take a moment to mention how much those girls mean to me.

I am so proud of them and SO grateful to be able to associate with them.

They are such a strength to me. They make me want to be a better person.

I love them and can't wait to see how many people's lives they affect with their sweet examples. 

Following their talks, I briefly took the time to talk about 

"Seeking the Sweet".