Mini Spa Night
One of the questions that always seems to come up around Leading and Loving It is “What do you do with your staff wives?” So every once and a while we’ll share what events we’ve done that have been successful… and because we’re all about authenticity we’ll also share what might not have worked so well.
The Cross Point staff wives gathered together a couple of weeks ago for “Mini Spa” night. Since this is the first staff event I’ve blogged I’ll start by giving you a little background on specifics. When I say “staff wives” I’m including every woman married to a guy on staff. For Cross Point that’s about 15 girls. Out of the 15 we had 10 in attendance. This is our first event so I was very happy with the turnout.
I started by contacting a lady in our church who was a licensed aesthetician and asked if she’d be interested in working with us. She grabbed a girlfriend who works as a nail tech and they came up with a well rounded spa menu for us.
They gave us four treatment options: Mini-Mani, Hand and Arm Massage, Rejuvinating Facial Peel, and Eyebrow Waxing. They priced each treatment at an affordable $15.00. By then end of the night these gals were so generous that they were giving everyone two treatments for $15.00, which was so very kind of them to give us the extra treat.
Here’s what made this event work for us… we currently don’t have a budget for events like these but we wanted to make it affordable and fun. Obviously, each girl paid their $15 for treatment by a licensed professional (which was a deal if you ask me), one of our campus pastor’s wife hosted the event in her home, and a few of our lead staff wives volunteered to bring a pot luck of snacks. So the budget was $0… which is always helpful!
At this point I feel like what our staff spouses need most is time together. Time getting to know one another and building relationships. The church has grown and subsequently so has our staff. Our Cross Point staff works hard to function with the closeness of a family and I’d love to help develop that same feeling among our staff wives.
Here are a few of us afterwards… don’t we looked relaxed? And I’m obviously trying to show off my new manicure! We had a blast together. The time just hanging out and investing in one another was priceless. I feel so blessed having each of these girls in my life… taking the journey together.
Let us know what you’ve done with your staff wives lately!
31 Responses to “Mini Spa Night”
Brandi I love that you are so detailed! I look forward to the day that I can do a staff wives get-together.
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We don’t have a staff but we do have a lot of ladies in our church that love to get together and have fun. I’ve started monthly Girls Night Out events and they have been so much fun! Although, I have officially ran out of ideas after only two months! I’ve learned that it doesn’t really matter what we do though, if we have friends, food and laughter then we are all happy!
The first time we went to eat at Olive Garden and then went back to someone’s home for dessert, games, and the Grammy’s
The second time, we had a pizza party with lots of games and Rock Band.
We’ve always wanted to keep it cheap and fun. I need more ideas though!!
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March 9th, 2010 at 4:16 pmI love your Girls Night Out Kristyn. You are right … it doesn’t take much … just being together is the point!
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Yes Lori you are right. 
We also do Girls Night Out for the ladies at church. We have had dinner at a restaurant, we had a “Tea” but without the fancy hats. We also did a spa day. Some of the older ladies had never had a manicure/facial or pedicure. We also had a teen night where the young girls got to do a journal/scrapbook about being all they can be and dream to be. A lot of my resources come from Group Publishing. They have some great womens ministry kits. We have another dinner in a few weeks and the ladies don’t know it yet but we are going to switch tables once they get to the restuarant and get to know someone they didn’t come with. That was an idea I got from one of the ladies who posted here.
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March 9th, 2010 at 5:44 pmDo you use Girlfriends Unlimited stuff as far as resources go?
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I have a “State of the Pastor’s Wives” dinner about every other month. We get together and either go out to dinner somewhere or I cook (that’s only happened once ). I just want to find out how they are doing, what their biggest struggle is, what they are finding out about the ministry that they didn’t know going in, etc. Then we just have fun. Dessert is always involved!! I love the idea about the Spa Night. I’ll have to get with my peeps that work in salons and see what I can come up with.
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Lori that is something I am hoping the budget will afford me to add to our ministry soon! Coming up with fresh/new different ideas is probaly the most stressful part of leading the women’s ministry for me.
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March 9th, 2010 at 7:53 pmI meet with our staff wives once a month (most months) we are reading thru Lisa McKay’s book “You Can Still Wear Cute Shoe.” I read about it here. Thanks Lori for the great tip.
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March 10th, 2010 at 2:39 amOh good Robin. I’m sure everyone is enjoying it!
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We do staff wives “get togethers” at least 4 times a year. We usually do breakfast on a Saturday morning or a coffee/dessert on Sunday night.
We have done a retreat get away at a ranch close by and even this year I planned for us all to got to Houston Nutcracker Market.
When we gather, we talk about ministry, life, our kids, and funny stories. Usually we always end up talking about some hilarious story one of us have been involved in! 
Its refreshing and always full of laughter. I never miss these as they nurture my soul.
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Kara,
I am a ministry wife in Pearland! I would love to meet you!
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March 9th, 2010 at 8:56 pmgreat thoughts girls!!! and you’re right, all you have to do is get a bunch of women together with some dessert and there’s never a lack in conversation.
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i love that you loved on your women like this.
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I schedule a date each month on my calendar and gift each pastor’s wife…hopefully when they least expect it. So far, this year, I had people from church to deliver flowers to them for January, variety candy bags for February, and for March they will be getting a new Spring platter for entertaining in their home. Each note attached always focuses on a specific way I’m praying for them as they invest further in others. This month, we’re meeting at a coffee shop for a “Pastor’s Wives Coffee Chats” time, that I plan to do regularly. I love the thrill of coming up with ways to surprise them and spend time w/ them, so I’m loving the ideas I’m reading here!
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March 10th, 2010 at 2:41 amWow … that sounds fun Amy. I want to be on your staff and get presents! I bet they feel so appreciated.
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Loved this!! What a wonderful treat for you all, Brandi!! Definitely going to file it away for future reference!!
Amy ~ You are so creative. Love the “Coffee Chats”… awesome!!
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March 10th, 2010 at 1:29 amFun idea!
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Well… I’m it! (for now) So…. I’m thinking of taking myself for a manicure… LOL No seriously, don’t have other ’staff’ wives yet, but thinking of doing some stuff soon with ‘leadership’ wives. Manicures, snacks and hang out time may be just what the Dr. ordered
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I LOVE these ideas!! I have only done tea parties for our staff wives… we have wonderful volunteers that put them on for us!!
I LOVE the mini-spa night too…
I don’t think I could cook for all of them… but Chuck MIGHT cook for us =)
I am really BAD at doing this regularly… I do WANT to do this quarterly!! In fact when I read what this topic was… I was so SCARED to read it… feeling a bit guilty here!!
Lori – do you use Girlfriends Unlimited? I looked into it when we first came to Crossroads… but we had NO MONEY then =) But, maybe I should take another look??
Well… this is ONE thing I NEED to do better!! =) I really do LOVE our Pastor’s Wives!!
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March 10th, 2010 at 4:33 amPam,
You’ll be happy to know that Lori and I are both quarterly!
I know my plans right now are February, May, September, and Staff Christmas party.
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March 11th, 2010 at 7:48 pmWe don’t use it Pam. But I was on the site looking at it, and they have some great stuff. I was thinking of emailing Lisa and asking her about a couple of things. I haven’t seen her since the conference in Fl a few years ago. She is doing awesome stuff with it!
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That sounds like LOADS of fun! For $15 each I just might have paid for all 4 treatments =)
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Our church really needs to work on our whole staff functioning as a family in and of itself! I would love to hear some idea’s on doing that.
I think we would do SOME (not all) things with spouses of staff too – just so that everyone is feeling like a family.
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Great idea! I’m the only staff wife though…. it would be a very lonely party.
Great idea for our little church’s women’s ministry though!
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March 11th, 2010 at 7:49 pmTotally Shannon. You could absolutely do it with the women in your church. I think that would be really fun!
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March 11th, 2010 at 1:03 pmI struggled with whether or not to respond to this blog because I currently don’t have a positive experience with this topic. But if I’m going to be transparent I would agree with Mindy (above) that our church staff needs to work on our whole staff functioning as a family in and of itself. There simply isn’t any community happening. One year we didn’t even do a Christmas party. My husband and I have both tried to be the ones that plan things because we’ve both come from churches that were drastically different. But some where along the way we just gave up trying and got discouraged. We constantly hear “We’re busy” from staff. I feel it’s so healthy for a church staff to have community. There was a time when I was on a church staff where that staff was my family. In fact, I probably would have gone to any of them over my real family. I don’t think our current church knows what joy and fulfillment they are truly missing out on. It’s amazing to hear all the positive stories. Warms my heart. I hope we can get to that point someday.
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March 11th, 2010 at 4:15 pmHey Angie,
I understand you comments completely. It is very hard being on staff with those who really feel no need to bond or be closer. I am currently with two other ladies whose family live in the local area, so sometimes I feel that is the reason for the resistance. I am praying now for you and your staff. I am glad this website is here, bc I no longer feel lonely, and it encourages me. Praise to Jesus!
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March 11th, 2010 at 7:53 pmI’m so sorry Angie and Melissa that is really tough.
And the truth is … I didn’t start this until the last couple of years. I was overwhelmed and felt so inadequate and didn’t know how to reach out to the staff wives.
But I decided that I could try to form community with the ladies in my circle of influence … staff or not.
I’m so glad that you are part of our community here. And praying that God will bring you community in your local area as well!
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We are in the first stages of planting a church and right now we have a core group meeting on Sundays and for bible study during the week. For the last 2 months the MORe gals have been meeting once a month for Gals Night. We’re rotating thru homes and we all bring a dish that co-ordinates with the food theme then we watch a movie and visit. We originally had talked about going out on the town but decided to instead do it at homes and save the $$ we would have spent eating out and at the movies. We each give the $$ we saved and send it to Haiti thru the Hands and Feet Project. So far we have had a blast! Our relationships are growing deeper and we’re bonding. Most of all, it’s a night to relax and just be open and honest with some friends!
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March 11th, 2010 at 7:54 pmThat is a great idea Bonnie. I love it! I love that your team is bonding together so closely!
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You’ll have them!
But I know you do some dinners and such with the ladies at church. What have you done?
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