Girls’ Night In – a Retreat!

If you’re looking for some new, updated event ideas, click the “Events” category in the drop-down menu! 

I don’t know about you, but event planning is not my favorite part of being a girls minister. It is an important and beneficial part, but not one that comes easily to me. I love to hear what and how other girls ministers are doing things. If you are like me, this event idea will hopefully help you in planning your next girls event!

Two months ago our girls ministry had our second annual Girls Night In or GNI for short. GNI is our spring girls ministry event that resembles a mini d-now. It begins Friday night and goes through Saturday afternoon. Since I’m not totally crazy, we do “sleep.” Well, as much as possible with a bunch of JH and HS girls sleeping in the student center of our church. You can find a schedule for parents/students, a detailed schedule for leaders, and a supply list under the “Downloads” tab.

Here is a little of what we did…

The theme for this GNI was “Refresh” and was based on Matthew 11:28-30. We recognized that our girls were incredibly busy and weighed down by the stress of school, athletics, friends, family issues, insecurities, and so many other things. My heart was that this event would be a time for our girls to stop, put down the craziness of their lives, and be refreshed in the Lord.

We had two large group worship/teaching times in which we broke down the theme verses into these three sections:

1) Come to Me – What does it mean to come to the Lord? We walked through the example of prayer given to us in the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13).

2) Weary and Heavy Laden – What things are weighing you down and making you weary? We discussed how things in our spiritual, emotional, and physical lives can weigh us down and keep us from a having a relationship with the Lord. The girls then had an opportunity to write down the things that were weighing them down on note cards and nail them to a plywood cross.

3) I will give you rest – What does it mean to walk in rest? We talked through practical ways we can walk in Christ’s rest: taking captive our thoughts (2 Cor. 10:5) and daily time with Him.

The rest of the event was spent Glamping! “What is glamping?” Glamorous camping of course! This is a super easy theme to plan activities, decorations, and snacks around. Pinterest is FULL of glamping ideas.

Décor:
We turned the center of our student center into our “campfire” area. We set up an actual campfire…minus the fire, surrounded by couches and chairs, and then strung those super cute outdoor globe lights around the whole thing. We tried to gain a “forest feel” by lining the room with diy birch trees we made from foam board.

Snacks:
We made s’mores by using Bunsen burners in terracotta pots placed all around the “campfire.” We also had cookies and milk around the “campfire” with the milk in plastic champagne cups with icing and sprinkles around the rim of each cup. In the morning, we had a few leaders come early and make pancakes…super cheap and easy!

Spa Rooms:
What would glamping be without a little spa treatment? We turned three of our small group classrooms into “spa rooms” and had our lady leaders give the girls manicures, pedicures, and facials. Basically this meant the girls soaked their hands and feet and put on the facial masks. The leaders simply painted nails and had some great one-on-one conversations with the girls! (Leaders having at least one opportunity to connect with girls is one of my “must haves” in a girls event.) The girls spent 30 minutes in each spa room before rotating to the next.

Sleeping:
The girls built blanket-forts to sleep in, and we had a competition for the best fort. Let me tell you, the girls got into this!

Workout:
We had a leader lead the girls in an easy and fun morning “workout” that included some stretches and a simple dance routine.

Take Home Gift:
We ordered knock-off pink Camelback water bottles for super cheap and gold glitter, vinyl decals with our girls ministry monogram (yes we have a monogram). We applied the decals ourselves to save some money! The girls were really excited about getting a bottle, so it was a great marketing point. We tied in the theme with the bottles by explaining that just as we must take in water to be refreshed physically, we must be intentional in taking in time with the Lord to become refreshed spiritually.

What are some events you have done with your girls?