Description: Make dinner parties a regular part of your young adult ministry. Gather young adults in apartments and homes for an evening of food and fellowship.
Get Ready
- Prep Time: Six-eight weeks before your “Dinners for 8” event, recruit volunteers to host these meals. Begin more detailed planning and publicity one month before the events.
- Volunteers Needed: You will need volunteers to host the meals. This will include providing some of the food and places to comfortably seat eight people for dinner. The number of hosts/homes depends on the size of your young adult community. If you have a smaller group, one host may be enough. If you have a larger group, you might want three or more hosts and homes to gather in.
- Supplies: You might want to create sign-up sheets for the Dinners for 8. You are welcome to use the suggested sign-up sheet in our Recommends section. Alternatively, you could organize things online. For each meal, the young adult ministry might want to supply some of the food or a bottle or two of wine. You can also ask the host to invite guests to bring specific dishes or items. Be sure to ask the guests if they have any dietary restrictions.
- Reserve the Space: No formal space is needed, just the homes that volunteers provide.
- Ideal Group Size: This program idea will work for any size group. Depending on the size of your group, you might want to host one or many “Dinners for 8.”
- Who is this for? All young adults. If you have several young families in your group, you might want to work with the youth group or other volunteers at the parish to offer babysitting. Alternatively, you could group together young adult families and host a dinner that can include children as well, making this a family affair!
- When is a good time for this? A Friday, Saturday, or even Sunday evening would work.
- Publicize the Program:
- Once you confirm a date with your host or hosts, send out a “Save the Date” e-mail, post the date in your parish bulletin, and share on your regular social media outlets.
- Continue to remind young adults about the “Dinners for 8.” When you are about one month out from the event, give an extra e-mail, bulletin, and social media push and invite people to sign up!
- Ask the host of each dinner to take photos of the group. You can share these on social media, the parish website, newsletters, and more. The photos will also be helpful in promoting this event when you do it again.
Prayer for Program Planner: God, thank you for the many different people and personalities who make up our young adult community. May these meals be an opportunity for fun, fellowship, and the deepening relationships. Amen.
Community Building: This gathering idea is all about community building! You might intentionally try to mix people up in order for young adults to meet new friends and create new communities. This is also an excellent opportunity to engage new young adults in the community — or friends who might have been to one or two young adult events. To an outsider, having dinner at someone’s home can be less threatening than an event at church.
