Zoom and other video conferencing platforms are great for virtual Bible study and small group meetings. They also provide an opportunity for women to gather for a virtual ladies night out.
Many of the ideas listed below could quickly fill an hour on Zoom. Or you may want to split your time together between a testimony or teaching and a fun activity.
Just as in real life, we want to provide women an opportunity to opt-out. Invite women to participate, but don’t force anyone. Try your best to make everyone comfortable.
Even if your women’s ministry calendar wouldn’t usually have an event scheduled this week or this month, you can fill a need right now by providing opportunities for your women to connect online.
Some of your women feel very isolated and alone. Others are desperate for a break from their daily routine.
A virtual ladies night out may be just what your women need right now!
You may even find women that wouldn’t regularly attend an event at church will show up online.
20 Virtual Ladies Night Out Ideas
1. Painting Party
If possible, recruit a woman in your church to give a drawing or painting lesson. You can find some tutorials on Pinterest and YouTube. Just make sure you give credit to the source.
2. Bible Journaling Lesson
Not sure if anyone in your church does Bible journaling? Ask! Invite them to give a mini-class online. You’ll find some additional ideas and resources in my post, How to Host a Bible Journaling Event.
3. Cooking Class
Is there a woman in your church that would be willing to reveal the secrets to a beloved recipe? Or maybe one of your women can give a lesson on canning, baking bread, or making a pie crust.
4. Teach a Skill
Many of the workshops you might lead at church can be adapted online. Survey your women – ask for volunteers but also ask for recommendations – some of your women may not come forward on their own, but their friends will be quick to brag on their skills. Flower arranging, meal planning, and DIY cleaners are just a few ideas to get you started.
5. Game Night
Many board games can be adapted to play via video. Use Zoom’s whiteboard feature to play Pictionary. Check out How to Host a Virtual Game Night for additional ideas and tips.
6. Karaoke
Enlist someone from the worship team or a gifted woman to play piano or guitar for your group while you sing worship songs (provide the words via slides or a handout). YouTube is filled with karaoke videos that you could stream and ask everyone to sing along.
7. Lip Sync Challenge
If you’re not sure a group sing-along would work for your group, go the lip-sync route instead. Ask for volunteers before your meeting and let the audience vote for the winners.
8. Drop-In (aka Open House)
Open up your Zoom link for women to drop-in as they are able. No agenda. Just casual conversation. Send out an email with the time and the link, maybe two or three hours long. You’ll need to change the settings so guests can join before the host. I would suggest asking at least one team member to be present for an hour at a time, so no one is there alone.
9. Ladies Lunch
Invite women to sit down for lunch together in front of their cameras. Consider asking a woman in your church to share a devotional teaching or personal testimony.
10. Craft Party
Search Pinterest for easy crafts that women could complete at home. If you have the resources and local governments permit, you could provide the craft supplies and bag them for pick-up from the church.
11. Ask Any Question
Invite women to submit questions in advance via email, text, or Google form (if you want them to be able to remain anonymous) to the hostess who will then pose the questions to the group or a preselected panel of women.
12. Reader’s Theater
Gather your group and ask for volunteers to read the script out loud. I found several free Christian Reader’s Theater Scripts online. Check out Fools for Christ, Ellen McHenry’s Reader’s Theater Bible Skits, and Church of God. For some fun stories that aren’t Christian, check out Reader’s Theater Editions and these Reader Theater Scripts.
Fools for Christ also has some choral readings, allowing the entire group to participate. Be mindful of copyright laws – please don’t print and distribute scripts without permission.
13. Host a Show & Tell
Ask women to show and tell about a favorite thing, piece of family history, favorite book, etc. Encourage them to hold up the item or a photo of the item for everyone to see. You could even use the categories from my game Night at the Museum to direct your sharing.
14. Group Mad Libs
Invite your women to share a noun, verb, adjective, etc. to fill in a Mad Lib worksheet. One of your leaders will need to complete the sheet with the suggestions and then read the silly story the group has created. Be sure you explain the difference between an adjective and adverb (if they are needed for your story). Check out these Easter-themed Mad Libs, Mad Libs for Kids, and this big list of Mad Lib stories (don’t miss the word part definitions at the top).
15. Coffee & Conversation
Invite women to grab a cup of coffee or tea and circle up for some conversation. You can use some of the Isolation Icebreaker Questions here or these three conversation starters: What are you grateful for this week? Where did you see God at work? What was challenging this week? Or ask women to bring their favorite mug and share a favorite scripture.
16. Scavenger Hunts
Send your women in a race around their homes to return first with the item on the list OR let the group vote on the item that best meets the requirements. Here’s a list to get you started: a kitchen utensil, something furry, something that begins with the letter “b,” something you use every day, something that smells good, something round, something taller than 12 inches, something bumpy, something you can eat, something you don’t want to get wet, something heavier than a shoe, something smaller than a dollar bill.
17. Host a Talk Show
Set up some time to interview women in your church. You may want to survey your women and ask them who they’d like to see interviewed. Once the selection has been made, invite your women to submit questions in advance. Please give your guest the questions before your interview time so they can think through their answers and can let you know if there are any questions they prefer not to answer. Don’t limit yourself to the women in your group; consider interviewing church staff members or missionaries your church supports.
18. Virtual Book Club Meeting
Select a book and set a date and time to meet. If your local library allows online check-out of ebooks and your title is available, be sure to include instructions for your women to access it. Check out my post How to Host a Summer Book Club for additional suggestions.
19. Exercise Together
Do you have a personal trainer in your church? Ask them to lead a 20 or 30-minute exercise class for your women via video. If that’s not an option, search YouTube for an easy, free exercise class that you can stream online and do together. While streaming a DVD you own might be tempting, doing so would be considered re-broadcasting and would violate copyright licenses.
20. Icebreaker Games and Questions
Many of the icebreaker games on my site could be adapted and used via video. Consider the Christian If Icebreaker Questions, Roll & Poll, DRACT (text or private message their word), A Few of My Favorite Things, Spring and Easter Table Talk Cards, What’s on UR phone?, and Great Introduction Icebreaker Questions.
If the technology of putting together virtual ladies night outs overwhelms or frustrates you, ask for help! Many of your women would be happy to lend a hand. Recruiting a helper can help smooth your online event too.
Keep your ministry momentum moving forward; don’t give up meeting together!
Have other ideas for a virtual ladies night out? Please share them in the comments below!
You may also want to read:
Virtual Women’s Ministry Resources
3 Keys to Virtual Women’s Ministry
How to Create Social Media Graphics
How to Create a Women’s Ministry Social Media Plan
How to Host a Virtual Bible Study
How to Schedule Social Media Posts
How to Use Facebook Groups for Women’s Ministry
How to Support Your Women When You Can’t Meet Together
Isolation Icebreaker Questions
Social Distancing Random Acts of Kindness
Tips for Creating Live and Recorded Video
Women’s Ministry Email List Service Options
I am just getting started as the on line event coordinator for our church and am going to be studying your materials for ideas! Thanks for putting this out!
You are so very welcome! I hope you’ll soon be able to transition back to in-person events.
cyndee, i love these ideas:) our ladies are really missing each other these days. most of our online events are bible studies. these are just for fun. love it.
Thanks, Martha! I pray they’ll be helpful in keeping your group connected!