ABOUT THIS WEB SITE (for the cover page)
“I have always loved celebrations: those moments when friends and family gather together for holidays and important milestones in our lives. When shaped well these gatherings can bring us into the fullness of life and remind us of the loveliness of our connections.” from John Porcino: the dreamer of and co-creator of this web-site.
This web-site is designed to be gathering place for [or “a repository of”] great activities to help make celebrations a little more fun and meaningful. Beyond some good food and a slice of cake, here folks like you and me can search for a little something extra to help make your occasion truly special. [possible link to N.Y. Times “Zhoosh” -article here?].
You will find on this site an ever growing collection of activities, rituals, and games that have helped make real celebrations of many kinds engaging, joyful, connecting, and honoring: filled them with laughter and heart, just the way they are meant to be.
HOW TO USE THIS WEB SITE
You will fill out a simple form, click search and the site will guide you to a handful of possibilities that could add that just right spice to your party, no matter who or what is being celebrated. Choose one (or more) that seem right and adapt it freely to make the fit you occasion. Then, give it a go; the goal is not perfection, rather it is finding connection and fun.
ADDING AN ACTIVITY TO THIS WEB-SITE
We welcome all activities, games and rituals that have been tried and contributed to the success of real life gatherings.
Click on the “contribute an activity” link, and fill out a simple form. You will be prompted to
- tell briefly the story of where you saw/tried this
- describe how it worked at your event,
- share what made it successful.
- identify some of the per-determined filters that will lead planners to your activity
- choose how you want to be identified (anonymous, first name/last initial or full name)
- add an optional email address/web site so that folks could reach you and ask a question or two about your activity.
- click “contribute”*
*Activities will be reviewed by a site administrator, and assuming all things are in place will be put up on the site with-in a week. Please note that this web-site is oriented towards activities where alcohol/drugs are not needed to provide the energy to make them fun and/or meaningful.
ADAPTING ACTIVITIES TO SUIT YOU EVENT
These activities came from at least one specific event. You are encouraged to freely adapt them to suit your specific event [brief example here]. If you come up with an interesting variant please tell us about it in the comments section of each listing [comments, notes, variants, suggestions?] OR click on “Contribute and Activity” and write up your activity in a fuller way.
[ do we need a statement like “the site administrator reserves the right to remove any comments they feel does not contribute to the positive use of these activities,. Along with successful adaptations, we will be glad for most comments that help our reader understand what might have made this activity even better at your event.” ?]Courage to Try: For some of us it takes a little or a lot of courage to facilitate one of these activities.
[some thoughts here on facilitating and activity well: ie. the right moment, getting people attention, inviting wholeheartedness, all participate vs some etc]