Hobbies And Interests
Cooking Contest
If you're inviting the youth group to your home, hold a themed cooking contest. Give each person a paper bag filled with five ingredients that represent a certain country, and he then has 30 minutes to prepare a quick meal with those ingredients. For example, if you give one student Mexican-inspired ingredients, he'll have to create his own Mexican dish. After all of the group members finish cooking, taste and judge each meal and give the winner a gift card to a local restaurant.
Retro Valentine Party
If you're meeting at a local community center for Valentine's Day, you can hold a retro dance party with music from the 1980s and 1990s. You can also ask teens to wear outfits that were popular during those decades and suggest ways for them to get these outfits such as asking their parents for their old clothes or buying items from a local thrift store. Also bring DVDs of popular 1980s and 1990s TV shows such as "Friends," "Saved By the Bell" and "Beverly Hills 90210."
Potluck Fundraiser
If your group needs to raise money, hold a potluck meal. A few weeks before the fundraiser, meet with the teens and decide which dishes everyone will prepare and bring to the potluck. Print fliers advertising the dinner and its fund-raising purpose. The teens can distribute the fliers at hospitals, businesses, public parks, beauty salons and churches.
Pre-Super Bowl Fun
If it's the day before the Super Bowl and you want to celebrate it with your youth group, have an afternoon of sports games and activities and invite group members' relatives, friends and neighbors. One option is a basketball competition in which the group members compete against their relatives for gift bags containing sports trading cards, a "Sports Illustrated" magazine and an inspirational book about a well-known athlete who overcame tough obstacles to succeed.