Turtle Lake Girls Weekend!!

Quack Quack, crazy ducks this weekend

Let me take you back to the year 2008, a good friend invited me out for a girls weekend at her family cabin.  I thought it sounded like an awesome idea and so I ventured 6 hours from home to go to Turtle Lake.  The weekend was a Survivor style Just Us Girls weekend.  (our shirts said Sguj, which was an error, but still made things fun)  We played games, drank and had many good meals.  I met some really cool girls that weekend.  I was invited into the second annual Just Us Girls or JUGs weekend and I knew that it was something that I would work hard to attend as often as I could.

In 2009, my girlfriend who had invited me in the first place was chosen as host for the year, meaning she had to come up with the games and activities and theme for the year.  Eighties Extravaganza was born.  We spent this weekend up in Pigeon Lake at another girls family cabin.  This cabin was not right on the lake but it had a huge yard and we had a lot of fun again.  The big event of the weekend was going golfing.  I was extremely pregnant at this weekend so I did not golf but I enjoyed driving the cart around and participating in the photo scavenger hunt.
 In 2010 and 2011 I did not attend Jugs.  I was still breast feeding my little guy when 2010 happened and in 2011 I got married so I was not able to participate.  In 2012 things were crazy and I couldn't afford to attend the first Jugs grouping with the original group, but it was such a fun activity that I felt the need to try to arrange a new group, not because I didn't love the old group but because I needed to share this experience with more of my girlfriends without things getting over populated.

So after a phone call and a couple emails JUGs 2.0 was created.  My girlfriend Estelle confirmed her family cabin for the weekend so we returned to where I had begun my JUGs journey.  We did not pick a theme to follow, it was just a gathering.  Three girlfriends from Saskatchewan came and myself and three girlfriends headed out from Red Deer.  We shared drinks, played games and enjoyed a cool, and sometimes freezing weekend in Turtle Lake.  Not everything about the weekend was perfect, but any weekend where I can spend quality time with girlfriends and create fun, laughable and irreplaceable memories is a weekend well spent.  There are a few things I have learned though from my Jugs weekends that I will share with you so that if you choose to host your own, you will have some things that will work.

Tips for hosting a JUGs weekend:
1) Have a manageable group of girls, I wouldn't recommend going over 10 as it won't seem as close knit a group if you have too many people involved.
2) Plan a theme and activities to go with that theme.  I had a great time at all my JUGs weekends but the ones that had activities and themes were the most enjoyable, just make sure you plan for down time, I would suggest one or two activities for each FULL day you are out there.
3) Photo scavenger hunts are a must, it's a good way to document your weekend but it also gets people working in groups and with people they may not have before to complete.
4) Have a booty, in which each girl contributes a mickey (if you are into drinking) or some other re-gifting prize worth 10-20 dollars that people can play games to win.
5) Be willing to step outside your comfort zone and to try new things, the purpose of the weekend is for girls to get together to have fun.

Cheers!!!