19+ Memorable General Conference Traditions

General Conference is a wonderful time of year for Latter-day Saints around the world. 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!

I sometimes joke that 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 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 quite 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! With that said, we do try and get them to listen to the bits and pieces that 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 General Conference or do anything super special. The Spirit does that for you! No one should feel extra pressure to make it a special weekend. My hope is that if ou 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.

Listen for the Word Game

This is always a very popular one with the children during General Conference. I’m always amazed at how well the kids listen when there is a little motivation of candy or treats!

We have done this differently over the years, depending on the ages of the kids, how many were there, etc.

One year, we put out bowls of candy/treats with different words on them. Whenever a kid heard the word, they could go up and get a treat from the bowl.

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

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

Put together a puzzle

This is one that Forrest always enjoys doing – 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 General Conference. We’ve ordered Church-themed ones on Amazon before, but sometimes we just pick one from either our collection or my parent’s 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 really enjoy doing these.

Build a tent/fort

What child (and maybe even adult!) doesn’t enjoy making a tent or fort? I know my kids enthusiasm level for whatever we are doing increases 10 fold whenever we have a fort or tent involved.

Put together a camping tent, build a fort with blankets, etc. and enjoy listening to conference from inside the fort (a big bowl of popcorn is fun to add to the mix, too!)

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:

Impression Session

I just made up the name for this, but I love the idea of having a 10-15 minute meeting after General Conference where everyone can share just a thought or two about what really stood out to them. I think it’s a great way to emphasize certain principals that were talked about, recount different stories, and just see what others felt were important messages during the meeting.

Choose a family goal for the next six months

There is often some kind of theme to a lot 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 a lot of people were talking about personal preparedness, you could make it a goal to 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.

I think it would also be fun to come up with a quote from one of the sessions to make as your family motto.

Draw pictures of the speakers

This is something I always loved doing when I was growing up, and it made it a lot easier for me to stay awake during General Conference. I would always draw a picture of each speaker, and I found that it usually took up the most time.

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 that they loved from the speaker and write it next to the picture.

Activity Booklets

There are tons of printable games and activities out there that have been created to help with General Conference – print out a couple! My mom usually puts together a couple of activities for the kids to choose from.

Meme Worth Quotes

Everyone loves a good meme, right? Have everyone write down the quotes that they think are going to be the big “meme” quotes for that General Conference and then vote on them at the end!

Lego Temple Building

We have a lot of LEGO fans in our household, so I think this would be a big hit. Pull out all the LEGO blocks and encourage everyone to make their very own LEGO temple.

Temple Guessing Game

I don’t know about you, but I always think it’s fun to guess where new temples might be announced.

Service Project

Work on a service project together as a family – tie a fleece blanket, put together hygiene kits, or find a project on Just Serve that you can do as a family while General Conference plays.

New Tie or Dress

General Conference is often around Easter (in fact, this year, it’s the same day!) – 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 to wear on Sunday!

Jumping Jacks during the rest hymn

Okay this might not seem very reverent, but I think everyone gets a little 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 bit!

General Conference Food Traditions

Many people have General Conference traditions that surround food – while I certainly could never name all of them here, here are a few different ideas.

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 General Conference- and I’m not mad about it.

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

Picnic during the session

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

Big Breakfast

We always have a nice, big delicious on 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 is able to contribute a little bit to the meal.

Make Your Own Pizza

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

You could have individual-sized pizza doughs, 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!

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

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