Girl Scout Troop Christmas Fun
I know. It’s a month since Christmas, but I wanted to share the fun time we have every year with our girls. They’re getting older now. (High School? How did that happen?) We need to cherish every moment that’s left.
Since the Girl Scout year traditionally runs from the beginning of the school year to the end, the Winter Break gives us the perfect half way point to have a celebration. It’s when we like to hand out the badges they’ve earned so far that year and take the opportunity to have a little fun.
The girls voted on ice skating at the rink set up by the mall, having secret santas, and then going out to eat. Troop money paid for everything, except the santa gifts. The girls have earned it and they chose how to spend it. They did set the gift price limit at $15.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of them ice skating. The lighting was atrocious and my phone was not cooperating. Let’s just say the bottom of their skates and the bottom of their bodies took turns skidding on the ice. It was entertaining for us adults who were too chicken to take to the field ourselves.
Being in south Texas, it was warmer outside than inside the ice rink. One of the scouts recommended we head to a peaceful koi pond to hand out the badges. The girls received cookie badges from last year (they’re always late), Susan Huff Day of Service patches, Striders event patches, and recognitions from a couple other miscellaneous events. The sad part is each girl is starting to do their own thing which means everyone doesn’t get every badge anymore. But it’s rewarding for them to find their way just as we’ve encouraged them to.
Now for the fun part, the thing I look forward to designing every year: the ornament. All of my girls celebrate Christmas in one form or another. If you have a girl who doesn’t, I don’t see why they can’t also accept an ornament. They can hang it from a bulletin board in their room or beside other SWAPs they’ve collected. (If you think it’s going to be a problem, ask her parents. You could always modify the tradition and make something not holiday-oriented.) There are lots of options.
I began this tradition for our troop as a way to give each girl something special to represent their participation in Girl Scouts.
This year’s ornament was inspired by some really cute scrapbooking paper I found at Hobby Lobby. I covered the back (see picture above), then cut animals out in the shape of the Girl Scout trefoil. Underneath the trefoil, I glued one continuous string in the approximate shape of our troop number, 13405. You can see it, right? Sigh. Well, it was a fun idea and I ran with it.
Some other examples from years past. You can see some were more complicated than others.
I bought these guys because we had over 50 girls in the troop at the time. But I did write our troop number and the year on EVERY single one.
These were hanging all over my house as the paint glue dried. They are the only ones I managed to personalize.
One of my favorites. I bought the frames from Target and put in a picture from our Savannah trip that summer.
There’s a few more, but you get the picture. Some were more labor intensive than others, but all of them served the purpose. The girls are delighted to get something special from their leader and I am thrilled to hang my daughter’s on the tree every year. Until she leaves the nest and takes them with her.
Maybe I should have made some extra just for me…
What do you do for your girls that they look forward to? Do you make them something or take them somewhere or sing a special song just for them? These are the things they’ll remember. They count. Let me know below!
