Girls Night Out

We had our first (and hopefully annual) Girls' Night Out last night. It was a huge success. I took my cues from Scrapbook of a School Counselor - http://schoolcounselorscrapbook.blogspot.com/. She had so many wonderful resources! I tweaked the signs and the power point just a bit to meet our needs. Other than that, what she has posted on her blog as resources made it so easy! After discussing it with the elementary principal, I decided to make it an event just for the sixth grade girls. Every girl but two from that grade attended! One said her mom was going to something else she'd bought tickets for several months ahead of time and her grandmother also had something to go to so she couldn't make it. The other little girl I don't think had a way to get back to our school for the event. I took a picture of the empty tables, but failed to get one with everyone present. Our PTO supplied the pizza and pop. Our elementary had table decorations for us to use. They have a large variety so next year we can decorate differently if we choose. We watched the American Girl movie and it was perfect. The girls loved it. A few had already seen it, but said they didn't care, they loved it anyway. I invited the elementary principal and the classroom teacher as well. We went quickly over the discussion points after the movie. Then everyone went home with a goody bag. I bought the cookies for dessert and the contents of the goody bags. I'm a huge couponer, so I'd been doing this little by little for quite a while. Some girls received a leather wrap bracelet, others elastic head bands, still others some bright nail polish. I spoke to the classroom teacher today who told me there was a lot of positive chatter about the evening. I heard from several moms, too, about how much they enjoyed the evening. Included in the resources on the other blog was an information sheet for the parents to take home. It is full of discussion points for home and ways moms can help their daughters with social situations. Again, I tweaked it just a little to meet our needs, but it was, for the most part, complete upon downloading. I'm relieved the event is over and that it was such a success. Several moms stayed after to help clean up so I was able to get home a little earlier than expected. The next big thing I have on the agenda is junior/senior parent night where we have various college representatives come in to meet with our students along with their parents, on a more individual basis. That event is done annually here and I've done it before, so I'm not nearly as nervous about it though it is a lot of work behind the scenes. After that night will come Red Ribbon Week. I am planning a Boys' Night Out for the sixth grade boys, too, just so they don't feel left out. I've already purchased and previewed the movie. That one will have to wait until second semester.