This month I had the opportunity to oversee and help the teens of my church congregation organize an annual Valentines dinner for the "empty nesters" in the congregation and their friends. We use the term "empty nester" to describe anyone who's raised a family and whose kids have left the nest and moved on, so to speak. The close-knit group runs the gamut from middle aged couples to our stellar nonagenarian Muriel, who loves dishing out life advice and a current headcount of her various degrees of grandchildren.
The idea for this dinner came three years ago after several members of the congregation passed away and left widows behind. We knew that Valentines Day could prove difficult for the widows, so we wanted to provide a fun, upbeat activity with friends so they could still recognize the holiday but without emphasizing the pangs of loss. We decided that a dinner would be an excellent fit for this purpose as it gave us leaders an opportunity to teach the youth a variety of planning and food prep skills, and who doesn't love it when someone cooks for you?
Preparation for the event started back in January with me teaching the youth how to make lasagna from scratch and decorate display cakes, and helping them create decorations. Other leaders who are talented in such things helped organize a musical number for the dinner as well as assisted with the overall organization of the event. I also prepared games for the event - this year was Valentine's-themed bingo and our youth were good to me and ran it while I was busy overseeing cleanup :) (I also made stained glass heart suncatchers as bingo prizes). We also prepared a way for our guests to leave some experiences and insight for the teens with cards that ask them to answer one of several fun questions, such as "What was the best date you've been on?" and "What did you think of your spouse at first?" The teens love this.
In all, it's a fun event that our Empty Nesters look forward to every year and that we are happy to provide for them.