A Modest Princess

We decided on a Princess theme for a day camp, in 2013, and thus Princess Day Camp was born. We brainstormed ideas for camp and the young women (ages 12-18) signed-up to plan and lead one activity at day camp for the activity day girls (ages 8-11). These two groups of girls were known as the ‘little’ girls, and the young women helpers as ‘big’ girls. Camp was held three days in a row, Tues-Wed-Thurs from 10am till 3pm. Just long enough but not too long.

The camp was held in a church building and the following dress code was given:

Dress Code: All outfits must be modest.  ALL must wear capris or Bermuda shorts (ones that reach the knee – NO short shorts allowed) and T-shirts (NO low-cut shirts, no tank-tops and no sleeveless tops allowed). Please be sure that any friends are dressed appropriately. Almost all activities take place indoors.

In order to keep costs down we picked recycled crafts and asked participants to bring things from home, here are just some of the activities and crafts we did:

Day 1

Pre-Princess Training Photos: When each girl arrived, her photograph was taken – these would be later used in the ‘transformation’ slideshow.

Ice Breakers: Girls were encouraged to invite friends and so not everyone knew each other, also most of the Big girls did not know the names of the Little girls so we played a variety of get-to-know you games.

Tie-Dye Shirts: Girls (Big & Little) were asked to bring a light colored t-shirt. We got a bag of rubber bands, mixed house paint with water and put it in spray bottles – and had a very low-cost tie-dye activity!

Modest Fashion Dolls: We printed off some bank paper dolls. Girls were asked to bring colored pencils or markers or gel pens and scissors. We had several people donate scraps of fabric, ribbon, glitter and other craft supplies that the girls used to create modest fashion dolls.

Pant Makeovers: Girls were asked to bring 1 pair of pants that still fit but were too short (to be cut into capris and decorated). Big girls helped the little girls to cut their pants, making sure the new length would reach their knees and be modest. Then an assortment of donated craft supplies were available for girls to decorate their pants; glitter, fabric glue and sequins/fabric/gems… etc.

Water Games: What’s more fun than water games in the hot summer! Actually as we are in Houston, Texas – this is the only activity we did outdoors. We did sponge relays, water balloon toss, and others which eventually turned into a good old fashioned water fight.

 

Rehearsal for Show: Girls picked whether they wanted to do a dance, skit or song and divided into three groups, each led by a big girl and created something to perform for the show.

 

Day 2

On Day 2 we held a fancy lunch, including set-up, decorating, enjoying it and then doing all the clean-up. For this day, the dress code was modified:

Dress Code for Wednesday: Princess outfit (we are still playing games so not their Sunday best) tutus are ok, but girls must still be modest. (NO low-cut shirts, no tank-tops and no sleeveless tops allowed). Please be sure that any friends are dressed appropriately.

Hairstyles: One of our big girls was a cosmetology student so she taught some of the big girls how to French braid and do fancy up-dos on the little girls.

Table Decorating: We got out cloth table cloths, real dishes, made tissue paper flowers, ironed napkins, learned fancy folding techniques and created beautiful table settings.

Posture & Walking: The girls brought heels and practiced walking in them, with a book on their head. We then came up with the idea of doing a graduation as part of the show. So the big girls helped the little girls practice walking across the stage, curtsy, receive their diploma and then walk elegantly back to their seats – all while wearing their dresses.

Photo-shoot: The girls were asked to bring an outfit or costume for the photo-shoot, some forgot and so one of the big girls improvised with table cloths, safety pins and some fabric flowers to create outfits for them. Each girl then had a turn posing for the photographer, one of the big girls.

Day 3

By day 3 we had crafts to finish, and a show to rehearse and perform but we also squeezed in one more craft.

T-shirt Bag: We cut the sleeves off a t-shirt, cut the bottom into a trim and then threaded on beads and tied them to create a bag – using the instructions from the May 2013 Friend, T-Shirt Tote for Mom. Instructions found here:  http://media.ldscdn.org/pdf/magazines/friend-may-2013/2013-05-05-t-shirt-tote-for-mom-eng.pdf

Cinderella Cleaning: Having spent three days crafting, we’d left just a little glue and glitter behind – so we turned cleaning-up into a game! We used shaving cream to clean the tables, put on some music and danced as we swept and vacuumed. We also did some deep cleaning of the garbage cans and the girl’s bathroom.

Show & Graduation: This was the highlight of the event. The girls performed their dances, skits and musical numbers. We had a fashion show with their tie-dye shirts and decorated Bermuda shorts. We had a slideshow made by one of the big girls with pictures from the first two days at camp – including ‘transformation’ pictures from when they first arrived and their photo-shoot. Then we had graduation, each girl walked across the stage and received a Princess Academy graduation certificate.