Harry Potter Night

Some have called it “the most magical night of my life”, the night “my fondest childhood dreams came true”, and “the most effective bonding experience ever.”

Others have said this night stands as “proof of ‘the best ward ever’”…

I guess you’ll have to decide… for yourself

Harry Potter Night: the House Cup Competition

It was the night that week-long rivalries and competitions finally came together to see which of the four Hogwarts houses would win the annual house cup.

Students came from all over Condo Row, decked out in their Hogwarts robes and costumes ready for Harry Potter to become real.

After hours and hours of preparation during the week, each house introduced themselves.  The whole of Gryffindor house rode in a red and yellow painted van, their entrance complete with fireworks and some pumpin’ music. The Ravenclaws re-enacted one of their Quidditch victories with a few students coming in on a zip line and the rest of them cheering loudly, all hoping for another victory. The Slytherins emerged from the parking garage following a chilling scream with a 30 foot long cardboard snake; they definitely reminded all of Hogwarts that they were most intimidating house. Lastly, the Hufflepuffs gave a stirring speech, making it known that they accept all students and would do anything to protect their school (complete with fireworks, of course).

  

After the introductions, the competition for the House Cup began! Students were directed to each class where they were challenged with tasks that would earn points for their respective teams. In Defense Against the Dark Arts, students were required to use mental stamina to succeed in a challenging trivia game. In Potions class, their assignment was to please Snape with the most delicious of all potions. During Care of Magical Creatures class, Hagrid recruited students to help him find certain magical creatures that had escaped. Madame Hooch challenged each student’s athletic ability in a modified Quidditch competition. The feeling of competition in the air was almost tangible.

Once the points were counted and the nerves were greater than ever, students all gathered to hear from the beloved Professor Dumbledore.  During his moving speech, Voldemort and his Death Eaters came as a surprise and killed him in the middle of his speech! In order to save Hogwarts and the rest of the Wizarding World, students were sent on a hunt for Horcruxes. Luckily, everyone banded together, found the Horcruxes, and Harry used the powerful “mightychangeofheartus” curse against the Dark Lord. Voldemort repented, changed his life, and has ever since been a major part of the

Provo YSA 26^th Ward!

Oh, and about the House Cup competition: you’ll never guess who won…

THE HUFFLEPUFFS!!!!

Get A Clue!

Get A Clue!

Mormons can party?  What?!  Is that even legal?  You better believe it.  BUT we do it a bit differently: we do it without alcohol, drugs, immorality, or even coffee (and we’re college students)!  Why on earth would we do that?  Well, there’s this thing we believe that’s called the Word of Wisdom, which gives us guidelines so we can be safe and healthy!  You can read about that here:

 http://www.lds.org/topics/word-of-wisdom

Our first blog is brought to you by the 26^th Ward.  They’re a group of kids (almost 200 of us) in their twenties who like to party… a lot.  They go by the name #BWE (best ward ever).  Not that they're cocky or anything, they just love each other and they’ve bonded a lot so they like to maximize their fun together!  So what does this BWE do that’s so fun?  And do you want creative ideas for fun with your friends and family?  Well keep reading to find out!

In November, they had a Clue Murder Mystery Party.  They broke up into eight groups and each group was a character, such as Miss Scarlet, Commodore Ivory, or Lady Lavender.  Here are some of the groups looking quite dapper.

 

They had eight different locations where the “murder” could have happened, and each location had treats like cookies, cupcake lasagnas, or these fancy mock tails (Shirley Temples).

The hosts of each station had the clues and people had to talk to the hosts to figure out how the murder happened.  Sometimes, the participants got a bit stumped.

 

After gathering clues, each group submitted their accusations and the murderer, weapon, and location were revealed.

Here are the lovely hosts who remained in character with dashing accents and made the entire night possible!

It was such a fun night for everyone who participated.  It helped them grow closer as friends and as a ward family.  We are strong believers that fun and happiness foster love.  Gordon B. Hinckley, a former President of our church, once said, “Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured.”  We take that to heart and make sure to include everyone in our fun, so that they can feel the love that we and our Heavenly Father have for them.

Now the question here is: how will you use good, clean fun to enrich your life and the lives of the ones you love?  Go on, give it a try!