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We have a Pack of 85 Tigers, Cub Scouts and Webelos that is very active, and with 11 dens and excellent leaders, there are usually lots of awards earned. The challenge I have is the planning of Pack meetings. Our Pack meetings are organized and enjoyable with awards ceremonies, a song or skit (or two), and announcements, but I'm looking for ideas and options for future Pack meetings for a group our size. With family members and some siblings, our Pack meetings have nearly 150 people in attendance.

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We have a very similiar problem. Our pack has about 60 active Scouts and our gatherings can have quite a few in attendance. We also have a small meeting area so that our Annual Blue and Gold and Pinewood Derbies have to be held outside our usual meeting place.

 

We pass out awards, have songs and skits done by each den, and usually have the Den Chiefs from the Boy Scouts demonstate some scout skill relating to the Theme of the Pack Meeting. With a group this size even the best planned meeting can go out of control very quickly with all the boys.

 

We hold a lot of different Pack meetings at our local environmental center where the boys can take a guided hike and learn about the trees and such from one of the Rangers. These meetings seem to be the best way to go but can only be done once or twice a scouting year or the Scouts get tired of it.

 

Hope this idea helps,

cindy McH

 

 

 

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Thanks for the input. It sounds like you do things similiar to us in the fact you have some announcements, present awards, have some songs/skits and perhaps some entertainment. That's a lot for 1 1/2 hours. We feel strongly that the boys need a proper award presentation time at Pack meetings, not necessarily fancy ceremonies for each award, but proper recognition in front of the group. With a big group, it just takes a while. It's fun if you break it up with songs or skits. We choose to let the dens take the field trips which makes the group a little more manageable and hands-on.

 

I really like the idea of the Den Chiefs attending and presenting something to the group. It helps the young Cub Scouts see what's waiting for them when they become Boy Scouts.

 

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The amount of time consumed just handing out awards in a large pack meeting can be a drag from the perspective of young boys. Even adults can get bored with it. One thing we did when our sons were in a large pack to expedite this process somewhat was to hand out individual awards only for major rank advancements such as the Wolf, Bear, Webelos, and Arrow of Light badges. Arrow points and individual Webelos activity badges were placed in an envelope. The boys were called forward, their accomplishments read off, and the envelope handed to the den leader. This provided the public recognition that we all wanted to see happen, but greatly shortened the time involved in handing awards to individual boys. We found it more effective to leave that to the den leader, leaving more time at the pack meeting for games or other programs.

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