The fall has arrived and its a perfect time of year to plan
a Young Life hoedown club!
Location
- Borrow
a barn. - If you
can’t find a barn, find a field. It’s better to do the field party earlier
in October so it’s doesn’t get dark as early. In 2019, Daylight Savings
Time ends on Nov. 3, so after that, it will get darker earlier. - If you
use a field without lights, you could circle up cars and use headlights.
Bring jumper cables in case you drain a car battery! - You’ll
also want to make sure a bathroom is close by. You can rent port-a-potties
for $150, maybe even get a parent to sponsor it. Who doesn’t want their
business logo on a sign taped to a portable toilet? - If you
can’t find a barn or a field, you can do it anywhere, just make sure to
decorate!
Decorations
- Christmas
lights are a must. - Aluminum
bins filled with ice and bottled cokes. - Hay
bales are great. Try and get them donated, but if not, you can probably
get 30 for $100 from a local supplier. - Checkered
tablecloths. - Tons of
ideas on Pinterest
Games/Mixers
Finger Countin
Use your skit characters to do a funny game sell about how their mama taught
them to count and add. Stand back to back, each person holding out one hand. On
that hand they can hold out no fingers, 1, 2,3,4, or all 5. When they turn
around (on the count of 3) they add the fingers together with their opponents.
The first one to yell the correct sum moves on to the next round.
Seed Spittin‘
Kids race to cut open a pumpkin, pull out the seeds and spit them towards their
partners who are holding a plastic jack-o-lantern. The one with the most seeds
after 90 seconds (with loud music playing in the background) is the winner.
You can also spit sunflower seeds into a cowboy hat.
Plunger Olympics
If you’re going for more of a red neck theme instead of a barn party, you can
make up all kinds of games using plungers.
- Ring
toss on the plunger - Unrolling
toilet paper race with the toilet paper roll on the plunger - Using
the plungers as gloves to catch balls being tossed - Get
creative
Pie-Eating Contest
Few things are as redneck as eating contests. You can go many different
directions with this one. Just call 3-5 folks up front and pick one of the
options below or create your own.
- Fill
pie tins with gummy worms and whipped cream and have a race to see who can
get all the worms out first without using their hands. Start a rumor in
the crowd that real worms are mixed in with the gummy worms. - Fill
pie tins with M&Ms and flour and have a race to get the M&Ms out
using no hands. Make sure to have water for them to drink after getting a
mouth full of flour. Take pictures!
Turkey Head
If you’re doing it in November, you can do a slight twist on the ol’ surgical
glove on the head game, because it does look like a turkey. Get three
volunteers to pull the glove over their head, just below their nose. When the
music starts, they race to blow it up as big as they can. It can get huge! Take
pics.
PROGRAM
Here’s a link to download
the script we used for our program characters. They were Hot Sauce
Cowboys and the “bad guy” was a cranky old man.
EXTRAS
- Make a
good country music playlist to have going as kids arrive. Ask a kid to
help make it (but make sure it’s clean. - Here’s
a Spotify
playlist a friend made for a hoe-down club, but it’s a couple
years old. - Use
eyeliner to draw freckles on girls, like we do at camp. - Considering
getting 2 skit characters to host the whole night. They can learn some
redneck jokes and do a little routine throughout club. - Get
someone to come call a square dance or learn to do it yourself by watching
Sean McGever at YLHelp.com.
Songs
Download
a song sheet we made here. It feels more “hoe-down-ish” to
pass out song sheets than to use a screen and slides. It includes the following
songs:
- Mama
Don’t Allow - Wagon
Wheel - Chicken
Fried - Springsteen
- I Saw
The Light - Amazing
Grace
Download
guitar chords for all the songs above here.
Last year we did use slides. Download
PowerPoint Slides for all the songs below here.
- Wagon
Wheel - High
FLyin Lord - Let my
light shine bright - Barefoot
Bluejean night - Chicken
Fried - Banana
Song - Springsteen
- Let
there be light - I
could Run Away - I am
Yours
What other Hoedown ideas do you have? Email
us here and we’ll add them to the post.
