Girls Camp Sunshine Notes!

After seeing my Girls Camp Pocket Post, you are probably wondering, "What are all the note cards in the pockets?" Well let me tell you......

They........ are.....SUNSHINE NOTES!

My sister Candace came up with Sunshine Notes years ago, and they have become a tradition for her and I to initiate them into the different girls camps we are involved in. 

Simply place colored or white lined notecards on a picnic table with stickers, markers and pens; then watch the fun begin! The girls and leaders get sunshine and love through those notes to last them a LIFETIME! Everyone writes uplifting sweet messages, short and long, to just about everyone at camp. 

There is ONE rule! We give a warning at the start of camp, if there is ever ONE rude or mean remark on a note we stop all sunshine notes! This is a SAFE/ HAPPY place, there is no place for rude/negative comments. We are spreading SUNSHINE, not rain.

It's sad we have to even warn them, but it's better to be safe than sorry. On a lighter note, we have NEVER had anything like this happen, but we always prepare the girls and leaders.

Girls and leaders go away with a STACK of SUNSHINE at the end of camp. I bought over 1000 notecards last year and we RAN OUT! On the last day I was frantically cutting colored paper I just HAPPENED to have thrown in a tub last minute, so girls could write their last sunshine notes! It was BEAUTIFUL.

One girl told me that she put her sunshine notes up from last year as a border in her bedroom! One leader keeps them on a key ring and takes them with her in her purse. She pulls them out when she needs a little pick me up! THESE SUNSHINE NOTES BLESS LIVES!

Our "Sunshine Note Station" was CONSTANTLY overflowing with girls and leaders writing sweet notes. Many leaders/girls took blank notecards back to their tents because there was NO ROOM for them at the table. 

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Click HERE to see how we made our Secret Sister Pockets!

Girls Camp Secret Sister Pockets

Of all the years I've been to Girls Camp, this is BY FAR, THE BEST, EASIEST way to store secret sister gifts. I have used boxes, cans, bags etc. and none compare to these PLASTIC SHOE HOLDERS! This is seriously the BEST investment for Girls Camp! Use them year after year, they store FLAT and are easy to put up.

Hang up the pockets by threading rope through the holes at the top. Take a hole punch and punch holes down the sides of the shoe holders. Take wire or twine and tie each shoe holder together to make a "wall/sheet" of pockets.

Have each girl and leader write their name with a specific colored marker for each ward or branch (See my color key on the right?), then put the "named" masking tape on their pocket.

NOTE TO SELF: When girls camp is over, take off the tape! Don't let the tape sit for a year, the masking tape will NEVER come off!

These pockets are the PERFECT size for Secret Sister gifts!

Want to know what we do for Secret Sister gifts?!

CLICK HERE!

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Scripture Candy 2

Guess what?! I was just at Girls Camp AGAIN! My husband and I were talking, and in our 9 years marriage I have gone to Girls Camp 7 of those years. What can I say? I ADORE Girls Camp, and LOVE the youth of our church! Girls Camp is a place where Leaders and Young Women can be themselves; while having a safe, fun and spiritual environment to reboot and strengthen their testimonies of our Savior Jesus Christ. 

Well, it is a big deal at Girls Camp to have "Secret Sisters." Secret Sisters is where you draw a name the first day of camp, and give that "sister" small gifts throughout the week of girls camp without them knowing, hence the "secret" part. I have been to my fair share of Girls Camps. So far, I have been to 14 years of Girls Camp. Every Girls Camp is unique and different, but always amazing! In those 14 years of girls camp, I've picked up a few tricks of the trade. I will be posting more details and ideas of my Girls Camp adventures later on. 

Over the years, I have received, and seen MANY different secret sister gifts. They range from extravagant to last minute/thrown together. You have girls that spend days, and DAYS working on special secret sister gifts. While other girls stick a penny on a piece of scrap paper and put, "A penny for your thoughts." While both are obviously acceptable and appreciated, my sister, Candace and I, came up with a "leveling of the playing field" way for secret sister gifts.

We decided last year that everyone would bring candy bars! Other options were fruit snacks, trail mix, gold fish, pretzels, etc. It's edible, portable, won't break and can be eaten at camp. No tiny "fun size" candy bars, no "jumbo/king" candy bars, just NORMAL sized candy bars. PRE-PACKAGED snack sized "snacks," nothing in a ziplock bag. (We don't want a ziploc bag of old potato chips from their house, EWW!) 

The thing that made these special was, you had to put a spiritual quote, scripture or uplifting saying on it! 

Last year was our first year and it was a HUGE HIT! Some wards covered all the secret sister gifts for their girls, so everyone from that ward gave the same thing! GREAT! Other wards had each girl in charge of their own, AWESOME! The girls loved getting a snack/treat at camp they could eat there or save for later... 99% of candy gifts were eaten at camp.

Last year I posted my personal Secret Sister Candy Bars I was giving, and this year I did the same thing only with different candy bars.

So here they are! Secret Sister Scripture Candy #2

(These also make fun Visiting Teaching Pick Me Ups!)

1. Almond Joy

"God didn't design us to be sad, He created us to have -> JOY!"

- President Uchtdorf

Isaiah 55:12

2. Orbit

"God is deter"mint" to make of us more than we thought we could be."

-Jeffrey R. Holland

3. Dove Chocolate

"Do small things with great -> LOVE"

-Mother Teresa

Deuteronomy 30:16

4. Take 5

Take 5 TO CALL!

Jeremiah 29:12&13

Click HERE to see my last years Girls Camp Scripture Candy

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