20+ Fun General Conference Traditions

General Conference is a beautiful time of year for Latter-day Saints worldwide. Over the years, many families have developed memorable General Conference traditions that they look forward to. Here are 19+ ideas that you might want to try!

GENERAL CONFERENCE TRADITIONS

I sometimes joke that the General Conference is like a holiday celebration in the Latter-day Saint culture…and that’s only kind of joking 🙂

The truth is, I look forward to the General Conference for the spiritual messages and the sustenance we get from it. However, I also look forward to the time we spend together as a family and some of the memorable traditions we have to enjoy that time together.

Our children are all still relatively young, so it can sometimes be a challenge to get them to listen to all four sessions—and I’d be lying if I said they did! That said, we try to get them to listen to the bits and pieces they can. Some of these activities we do make it a little easier.

My hope in sharing these traditions is not to make you feel like you have to make a big production out of the General Conference or do anything super special. The Spirit does that for you! No one should feel extra pressure to make it a memorable weekend. I hope that if you are looking for some kind of tradition to make it something your family looks forward to even just a little bit more, you can come away from this with a few ideas.

1. Listen for the Word Game

This is always very popular with the children during the General Conference. I’m amazed at how well the kids listen when there is a little motivation—candy or treats! We have done this differently, depending on the kids’ ages, how many were there, etc.

One year, we put out bowls of candy/treats with different words on them. Children could get a treat from the bowl whenever they heard the word.

Another year, we printed out many different words that were sure to come up during the conference, and each child could pick four that they were listening for. We found this worked better so people weren’t simultaneously running up to the bowls.

If you opt for the first option, I recommend having the child mark down anytime they hear one of the words. At the end of the talk, they can collect their treats to put in a little baggie or bowl. This prevents everyone from running up to the bowls and causing distraction from the talk!

2. Put together a puzzle

Forrest always enjoys this—it’s one of the ways he stays awake! We usually pick out a puzzle that can be put together throughout all the sessions of the General Conference. We’ve ordered Church-themed ones on Amazon before, but sometimes we pick one from our or my parents’ collections.

We love anything from Dowdle. We love these! You can often find them at Costco for less than $10. They have some great church-themed ones as well:

Some other similar options would be paint-by-number paintings or diamond art. I enjoy doing these.

3. Build a tent/fort

What child (and maybe even adult!) doesn’t enjoy making a tent or fort? My kid’s enthusiasm for whatever we do increases tenfold whenever we have a fort or tent.

Put together a camping tent, build a fort with blankets, etc., and enjoy listening to the conference from inside the fort (a big bowl of popcorn is fun to add to the mix, too!) If you want to get fun, you can buy an indoor tent on Amazon and use it year after year.

4. General Conference Bingo

This was a big hit during the last General Conference. The kids paid attention so well, and they were so proud of themselves for getting a BINGO. There are a lot of General Conference Bingo templates out there – here are a few free ones you can print off:

5. Impression Session

I just made up the name for this, but I love having a 10-15-minute meeting after the General Conference where everyone can share a thought or two about what stood out to them. It’s a great way to emphasize certain principles discussed, recount different stories, and see what others felt were essential messages during the meeting.

6. Family Goals

There is often some theme to many of the talks during General Conference. Perhaps you can discuss together what one of those might be and come up with a family goal that you can focus on for the next six months.

For instance, if it seemed like many people were talking about personal preparedness, you could make it a goal to get everyone a 72-hour kit. Or, if prayer was emphasized, you could make it a goal to be more consistent with family prayer.

It would also be fun to come up with a quote from one of the sessions to use as your family motto.

7. Draw pictures of the speakers

I always loved drawing when I was growing up, making it a lot easier to stay awake during General Conferences. I would always draw a picture of each speaker, and I found that it usually took up the most time. My kids have also started doing this, and it always seems to keep them engaged.

Have everyone draw pictures and compare them at the end. For older children and adults, you could encourage them to come up with one phrase they loved from the speaker and write it next to the picture.

8. Activity Booklets

Many printable games and activities are created to help with the General Conference—print out a couple! My mom usually puts together a couple of activities for the kids. Deseret Book usually has one that you can get as well. Here are a few options:

9. Meme Worth Quotes

Everyone loves a good meme, right? Have everyone write down the quotes that they think will be the big “meme” quotes for that General Conference, and then vote on them at the end! You could even encourage each other to make a fun drawing to go with it or use Canva to create an image-based design.

10. LEGO Temple Building

We have many LEGO fans, so this would be a big hit. Pull out all the LEGO blocks and encourage everyone to make their own LEGO temple. There are LEGO temple sets, which are pretty fun, but you can use what you have!

11. Temple Guessing Game

I don’t know about you, but I always think it’s fun to guess where new temples might be announced. Create a poll for where you think the next temple(s) will be announced. Throw in a small prize for anyone who gets one right!

12. Service Project

Work on a service project together as a family – tie a fleece blanket, assemble hygiene kits, or find a project on Just Serve that you can do as a family while General Conference plays. This is a great way to keep your hands busy as you listen!

13. New Tie or Dress

General Conference is often around Easter – you could combine your child’s new Easter outfit – if you get one – with General Conference. Get your child or yourself a new tie or dress on Sunday!

14. Jumping Jacks during the rest hymn

This might not seem very reverent, but I think everyone gets antsy sitting for so long. When there’s a rest hymn, have everyone stand up and do some jumping jacks to get their blood pumping and wake them up a little!

15. Make Homemade Donuts

We love making donuts, and it can be a fun activity that you can do during conference that everyone can be involved with. Investing in this awesome mini donut maker makes it even easier – it’s around $20!

16. Cinnamon Rolls

Is there anything that screams “It’s General Conference time!” than cinnamon rolls? If I happen to be on social media, I feel like my feed is suddenly inundated with cinnamon roll pictures during the General Conference- and I’m not mad about it.

I am not the best at making cinnamon rolls, but I sometimes pick up a package of the Lion House Roll mix from Deseret Book, which can easily be made into Cinnamon rolls. Yum!

17. Picnic during the session

You can have a picnic during the General Conference! Lay out blankets, pack your lunch in a picnic basket, and enjoy eating on the ground!

18. Big Breakfast

We always have a lovely, big, delicious Sunday morning of General Conference – breakfast casserole, muffins (usually bought from Costco), bacon, fruit, parfaits, juice…it’s a great way to start the morning.

We typically enjoy conferences with my parents and my brother’s family since they live nearby, so everyone can contribute a little bit to the meal. Here are a few fun breakfast ideas:

19. Make Pizzas

The two-hour break between the General Conference’s morning and afternoon sessions is a great time for a fun lunch. We are big fans of pizza around here, and I think having a “Build Your Own Pizza” bar would be fun.

You could make individual pizzas with our easy pizza dough recipe, English Muffins, or bagels and set out all the fixings—pizza sauce, a variety of cheeses, meats, veggies, and, if you are like my kids, pineapple!

20. General Conference Scavenger Hunt

This is a really fun idea from LDS Living. I know my kids would absolutely LOVE this!

I would love to hear your General Conference traditions! Comment below what you or your family do!

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Katie is a Colorado-native, BYU graduated, and most importantly, wife to one and mother to three beautiful boys. She is passionate about sharing her experiences with others - especially about pregnancy, breastfeeding, cooking, and crafts. She is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She loves spending time with her family and helping others find joy in family life.

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