Blue & Gold Banquet

[scottawildcat]

I'm a new CM and am also new to scouts. Do any of you combine the B&G Banquet with the crossover ceremony for Webelos? From what I've been told, my pack has not done that in the past but I was at a Pow Wow a few weeks ago and several people said that the primary prupose of the B&G is to transition Webelos off to Boy Scouts. I have since learned that the B&G is a celebration of the birth of scouting...A birthday party for Cub Scouting. How do you do your B&G?

[Basementdweller]

Well, welcome.

 

Whom ever told you the primary purpose of the B&G is to cross over the weebs is incorrect, although that maybe the case for his/her pack. As you eluded to it is a birthday celebration for Scouting.........The event ranges from a sit down dinner with scouts acting as servers to a cookies and punch affair. There really is no rules.

 

We like to have the majority of boys receive their rank advancement at the meal, which is giant subs and 4 foot accrossed pizzas for us. We have the dens put on a few songs and a couple of skits, Awards ceremony, The ever present Friends of scouting presentation and I put together a slide show of events thru out the year and it plays on the projector during the meal.

 

We did a nice job decorating the room with blue and yellow table cloths and the boys made the center pieces and place mats. We had the wolves greet, the bears escort to their den tables and tigers, well be tigers and provide the entertainment.

 

We usually have a cross over ceremony with a bridge and all. But definitely not the reason for the event. I know Packs that don't cross the boys over till June.

 

 

There is no right or wrong answer, just the way that works for you.

[ScoutNut]

5th grade Webelos cross over to Boy Scouts when they have completed the requirements for AOL and are at least 10 years old. This can happen at the B&G celebration in February, or it can happen in December, or it can happen any time until the end of 5th grade (at which time they can cross into Boy Scouts without their AOL).

 

February is a good goal for the den to shoot for to have everything finished. Also, everyone is at the B&G celebration, including extended family, and friends of the Pack. However, the deciding factor is when the SCOUT has completed all of the requirements, has picked a Boy Scout Troop, and is ready to cross over.

 

Many Packs will do a ceremony for AOL in February, and the cross over in March.

[IM_Kathy]

when my son was in cubs durring the early couple of years they B&G was a potluck dinner... his later years the pack decided to have a catered dinner with a small fee for the dinner. with that we tried to get the boy scouts to do the cooking and such as a fundraiser, but they never took us up on that.

 

as for what we did... the boys recieved awards, and most leaders tried to stress for them to complete their rank badge by then. and then each den performed a skit or song.

 

as to when to do cross over, I'd say that really depends on the pack and troops in their area. my town the cross over was done in April. the town my son's troop is in has their packs with cross over in December. I would guess that when you have your cross over may be set that way for a reason and you may want to find out from other members in the pack or from the local troop. My son's troop likes the boys to cross over in December, our January and February campouts are indoors and are typically geared toward building camaraderie, we also have a council wide winter survival class in that time which we highly recommend the boys attend before they tent camp in the winter.

[jmwalston]

The B&G Banquet is supposed to celebrate the birthday of Scouting in the U.S. The BSA was incorporated on February 8th, 1910. Coincidentally, the Boy Scouts and the Girl Guides of the UK have Founder's Day and Thinking Day on February 22 to celebrate Lord and Lady Baden-Powell's birthday.

 

The most successful thing to a B&G Banquet is not letting it run over in time. A pack I worked with held all of its advancements for Tiger, Wolf, Bear, Webelos, and AoL until the B&G. The program took about 3 hours. Way too long for Cubs to sit through, even with the meal. I never could get them to push immediate recognition of badges at their pack meetings.