Etiquette Dinner

This week we had our Etiquette Dinner. While it was a bit of work, and a lot of clean up, it turned out fantastic, and I think the kids really enjoyed it and hopefully learned something.

I made up some simple invitations and we asked the kids to come dressed nice, in Sunday clothes.

We asked the RS sisters if they would help out by signing up to set a fancy dinner table for us. We asked for:

dinner plates
salad plates
bread plates
soup bowls
glasses
silverware
butter dish
bread bowl
pitcher for water
centerpiece
napkins

I know it is a lot, we had the sisters just bring what they could and we substituted in dishes from the kitchen where needed.

We had four tables set for 6-7 people. We also wanted better lighting than cultural hall florescents, so we brought a bunch of floor and table lamps and set those up all around the room, and it was so pretty! I also had some classical music playing softly in the background.

The menu was simple, since we were cooking it all there. We served it in courses:

1. french onion soup
   
2. salad (made with spring mix lettuce, Craisins, sliced almonds with a strawberry vinaigrette dressing)
3. main course: pasta with broccoli and Alfredo sauce, with Parmesan cheese on top
4. dessert was this awesome chocolate cake from Costco with shaved chocolate on it, YUM.

on each table we had rolls, butter and a pitcher of lemon water.

Here is how the night went:

The kids looked fantastic, some boys had suits on and a few girls even wore some fancy formal dresses. Everyone was dressed nice. After opening exercises in the RS room we went into a section of the cultural hall (separate from the dining area) and we had a learning demonstration on dining etiquette. I had set up another table there with one place setting. I taught how to set the table properly, napkin use, silverware use, how to eat each course and other general knowledge as well as seating etiquette. (I used a couple of etiquette books and looked online for info, or you could have a guest speaker come in and teach. The book I found most useful was "the Complete Idiots Guide to Etiquette")

After about 20 minutes we went into the RS room again and had a 10 minute lesson on social etiquette. (cell phones, opening doors, introductions, etc...)

Next we had an etiquette quiz. I printed up a quiz to pass out and have the kids take. We then were to go over answers and I had a bowl of fancy chocolates to hand out for correct answers. (We actually ran short on time for this so I just asked the questions and had them raise their hands to answer.)

Click here for the quiz
(to download it, look in the yellow box to the left of the text where it says download and click on one of the icons next to the word)

Next it was time to eat. (while we were having the classes the food was being prepared in the kitchen by the leaders so it was ready to go.)
The youth were seated and a couple of the leaders were the servers. The meal went great and everyone had a good time. (ok, except for the 15 minutes in the middle of dinner when one of the scouts pulled the fire alarm and we had to endure the insanely loud noise!, so we stood in the parts of the hall were the sound wasn't so deafening until it was turned off by the fire chief- who happens to be the bishop of the other ward in the building!)

I can't wait till Sunday to get some feedback from the kids, and I hope some of the things we talked about stick.