In response to this post, Only On Monday asked, "What kind of speaker was at your MOPS group? I would love to have someone speak on that exact topic at ours. I am our new coordinator and don't know now where to find these great people/speakers :) Thanks for starting my mind a thinking on perspective in the holidays."
How exciting that you're the new MOPS coordinator! I used to run the mom's group at our church (which was very similar to MOPS) and I loved, loved, loved it. Totally my passion. After that period of my life ended, my blog really took off. I needed an outlet to reach moms and blogging has fulfilled that empty space!
To find great speakers, I used every resource possible, including calling other churches (I'd talk to the Women's Ministry leader to network), asking women I respected to speak, up-and-coming authors who could promote their new books, even leaders of other nearby moms groups.
You can also work backward: what are moms interested in learning about at this stage of parenthood? The dynamics of birth order? How to build confidence in young kids? Discipline? Find moms with teens who seemed to do things right and ask them if they would be open to sharing their best tips. Also think outside of the parenting box: do you know someone who is extremely organized who could share her strategies? What about couponing tricks? Kid-friendly recipes and cooking secrets? A personal trainer could even give nutrition and fitness how-tos.
I also did "Been There, Done That" mom panels. That was an annual favorite. The moms in the group submitted questions and the day-of, and I'd interview the 3-4 moms (all with older kids) on the "panel" to get their advice and wisdom about the topics that interested my moms. It was honest, funny and extremely helpful to hear their opinions of what worked and what didn't.
As far as the post you asked about, I was just visiting this particular MOPS group as a one-time guest, but I remember it was the coordinator who gave this specific talk She went through a whole topic of "Composing Your Christmas from A-Z" with alphabetized mini-topics like Advent, Budget, Christmas Cards, Deck the Halls, Emmanuel and Family Traditions. (you get the idea) Each person received a folder with everything she spoke about, including recipes, poems, craft instructions and decorating ideas. She also had fun giveaways for each letter category. (an Advent calendar, a package of Christmas cards, etc) It was a great message and I'm fairly certain she came up with everything herself.
One of the decorating ideas that I walked away with was keeping a color theme. I always gaze longingly at the December catalogs, wishing my decor looked less..."thrown together."
She made a suggestion that was very cut-and-dry. (and might be a decorating rule of thumb, for all I know) Her personal decorating strategy was to choose a color (anything except green, because green is neutral), choose a texture (plaid, satin, velvet, calico, wood, etc) and finish off with a metallic (silver, gold or copper). When you see decor that aligns within these categories, feel free to add it to your collection.
Look at the theme of the picture above. I wouldn't naturally pick purple for a main staple Christmas color, but it looks awesome, doesn't it? You'd have to be careful selecting trendy new colors that designers decide are popular for a year, then you can't find anything to match it down the road.
This is definitely something I'm going to consider as I pull out my holiday decorations in a few weeks. I love the streamlined look, but never knew how to get it. With all of the stuff I've accumulated in my short married life, maybe I could even change up the color, texture and metallic each year? Pack like-things together and rotate them in and out every couple of years...hmmm, I'm liking that idea better than getting rid of most of my memorable items.
I'm seriously getting excited for Christmastime. It will be here before we know it!!!
How exciting that you're the new MOPS coordinator! I used to run the mom's group at our church (which was very similar to MOPS) and I loved, loved, loved it. Totally my passion. After that period of my life ended, my blog really took off. I needed an outlet to reach moms and blogging has fulfilled that empty space!
To find great speakers, I used every resource possible, including calling other churches (I'd talk to the Women's Ministry leader to network), asking women I respected to speak, up-and-coming authors who could promote their new books, even leaders of other nearby moms groups.
You can also work backward: what are moms interested in learning about at this stage of parenthood? The dynamics of birth order? How to build confidence in young kids? Discipline? Find moms with teens who seemed to do things right and ask them if they would be open to sharing their best tips. Also think outside of the parenting box: do you know someone who is extremely organized who could share her strategies? What about couponing tricks? Kid-friendly recipes and cooking secrets? A personal trainer could even give nutrition and fitness how-tos.
I also did "Been There, Done That" mom panels. That was an annual favorite. The moms in the group submitted questions and the day-of, and I'd interview the 3-4 moms (all with older kids) on the "panel" to get their advice and wisdom about the topics that interested my moms. It was honest, funny and extremely helpful to hear their opinions of what worked and what didn't.
As far as the post you asked about, I was just visiting this particular MOPS group as a one-time guest, but I remember it was the coordinator who gave this specific talk She went through a whole topic of "Composing Your Christmas from A-Z" with alphabetized mini-topics like Advent, Budget, Christmas Cards, Deck the Halls, Emmanuel and Family Traditions. (you get the idea) Each person received a folder with everything she spoke about, including recipes, poems, craft instructions and decorating ideas. She also had fun giveaways for each letter category. (an Advent calendar, a package of Christmas cards, etc) It was a great message and I'm fairly certain she came up with everything herself.
One of the decorating ideas that I walked away with was keeping a color theme. I always gaze longingly at the December catalogs, wishing my decor looked less..."thrown together."
She made a suggestion that was very cut-and-dry. (and might be a decorating rule of thumb, for all I know) Her personal decorating strategy was to choose a color (anything except green, because green is neutral), choose a texture (plaid, satin, velvet, calico, wood, etc) and finish off with a metallic (silver, gold or copper). When you see decor that aligns within these categories, feel free to add it to your collection.
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| (photo courtesy of Crate & Barrel) |
This is definitely something I'm going to consider as I pull out my holiday decorations in a few weeks. I love the streamlined look, but never knew how to get it. With all of the stuff I've accumulated in my short married life, maybe I could even change up the color, texture and metallic each year? Pack like-things together and rotate them in and out every couple of years...hmmm, I'm liking that idea better than getting rid of most of my memorable items.
I'm seriously getting excited for Christmastime. It will be here before we know it!!!
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1 comments:
I like this post Katie. This MOPS meeting you went to sounds awesome, that was so nice for her to make it fun and pass out giveaways too. I'm determined to make our house look "coordinated" this holiday since we are hosting my husband's side. It's been 5 years since the last time we hosted and I really want to go all out and it's funny what you said about purple because both my girls said they want purple and my son said red. I was thinking of white and gold with few pops of red. Also love the texture thoughts had never thought of that before but makes sense. Thank you so much and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
P.s. have you visited the blog eighteen.25? It's 3 sisters you blog about crafts, cooking, decorating you should check it out. It's on a link on my blog if you want to see some of their holiday ideas.
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