Cubmaster

[pack330]

We are doing our first "Blue & Gold" dinner and there is some debate about how long the celebration should last. Any ideas?(This message has been edited by pack330)

[sctmom]

There are many theories about Blue & Gold. The pack my son was in kept it simple. We had it on a Saturday night, starting around 6:00. Pack provided main course (chicken) and each den had families bring their own drinks and side dishes. Eat first. Then sing a few songs or have skits. Have a brief guest speaker. We then had entertainment --- magicians are good or science magicians (The do real science but make it look cool. One franchise is called Mad Scientist.)

 

We started around 6:00. Were done by 9:00. We were not formal about it. The pack kept it fun! Remember it is about the kids.

 

For desert we had "fellas cake". The boys were to make a cake with no female help. Everyone got a ribbon. Sometimes each cake was given a title "most chocolate, most yellow, most blue, etc.". The boys and adults get a kick out of that.

 

We never did advancements during the B&G like some packs do.

 

Hope this helps.

 

[jmcquillan]

Two to three hours, not more. And start as early as you can. After three hours, and after 9:00 PM, you'll begin to have problems. Rememmber, these are still very young boys, and usually their siblings (if in attendance) are younger and harder for Mom & Dad to control at that late time.

 

It was years ago for me, (1980's), but we pretty much followed a program similar to sctmom, but with no guest speaker. I think the notion of a guest speaker was, for us, just a little beyond the age of the kids. The exception was those few times we had a local and well known story-teller ply his trade at the meetings. He kept the kids enthralled with his tales and stories. Other times, we would, like others, have a magician or clown, or other entertainer. Once or twice a year, we'd have a cake "auction" where families (or dens) would make cakes to put up for auction after dinner. Those cakes would become dessert, and the money raised would go back to the boys in the form of funding pack or den activities or awards. It was never a large amount. The prices were kept to a limit of $5.00 and price increments during the auction were kept to 10 cents, and only with the den leaders or parents permission.

 

Even with all of this, and opening and closing ceremonies, we were able to fit awards into the program and not go over on time. It just takes planning and a lot of adult help to make it happen. We were, at the time, "blessed" with 14 dens. That's 100 cubs, and their parents, and their siblings, and....you get the picture. We were also "blessed" with a couple of folks who knew how to get parents to volunteer to do things and help out where they might not have wanted to, and ended up having fun anyway.

 

[ScoutParent]

Our pack picked a theme for each blue and gold banquet. One year it was Knights of the Round Table, another year it was Under the Big Top and another it was Native Americans. The kids made table decorations, costumes and skits based on the theme. Personally, I didn't like this approach as much as a traditional blue and gold but was outvoted. The year that we had Under the Big Top, we had sawdust on the floor, a brown paper big top, we had a caterer that brought hot dog machines, cotton candy, popcorn, etc. My den made lion candy dishes for the tables, we had inflatables for the centerpieces that each boy and his sibilings took home. The year it was Native Americans, a Tepee was at the door opening into the banquet. We had a turkey dinner (again catered) My den made vests out of brown paper grocery bags, scrunched up, wet and dried--they looked alot like leather and then they added beads, crayon markings, etc. (they were tiger cubs) and they made canoes and tepees out of brown paper for candy dishes--a diorama of long houses for the centerpieces. From start to finish, with dinner, skits, and awards our blue and golds were only 2 1/2-3 hours long. Cleanup was about 45-60 minutes extra which dens were assigned to ahead of time.

[Pack38Scouter]

Our B&G is reserved for Rank Advancement only. We have a Pack that is about 120+ boys strong. Our B&G is about 2 hours long. We have theme for our B&G. Last year our theme is "Our Native American." Each Den decorated their own tables with the theme, including making their Indian Brave headbands. I dorned on the full Chief headdress and we had a small fake campfire (several pieces of woods stacked teepee style over a spotlight with red celophane wrapping paper to emulate fire) on the stage. We dimmed the lights, played Indian flute songs, and voila` a bonefide Indian campfire ceremony. We (the Leaders and I have script) held a face war-paint ... ceremony. Each Den Leader get to paint a color as I read the meaning of the color. The boys with his parents standing behind them receiving the paint one-by-one (by the way ... making sure that there is no allergic reaction to the face paint) and then a hardy handshake from Akela. Keeping it dignitary will make the boys proud. Trust me ... if it can be done with 120+ boys, it can be done gracefully with any size Pack!

 

We had Subway sandwiches cattered. Everyone was eating while the ceremony was going on. We chose Subway sandwiches because of logistic reason. Serving over 350 people is a nightmare, sometimes it takes well over 1.5 hours to get everyone through the lines.

 

At B&G, we also present various distinguish awards, such as the top three racers for Pinewood.

 

... and that's it. We try to keep it different each year!

 

YIS

[yaworski]

Wow! A 120 boy pack! That's huge. Just awarding rank advancement must take hours.

 

Our B&G was usually about three hours long. We'd have a gathering activity, some sort of entertainment (magician, juggler, etc), dinner, awards, etc.