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Blue and Gold Help


SctDad

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I am holdong our blue an dgold at the end of next month. I have a few ideas of what we are going to do, but I could still use some help.

 

Here is what I have so far.

 

Meal: Pot Luck

 

Friends of Scouting INformation from District Ex.

 

Charter Presentation - We have a new charter and are going to invite some of the members to dinner.

 

Maybe a skit or two

 

Invite press from paper (small town here)

 

My pastor for the benediction

 

Flag Ceremony

 

I have some ideas for the centerpieces and napkin rings, but that is all for now.

 

 

 

Any other suggestions, can anyone help???

 

 

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Sounds like a good program, If I may suggest, if you have WB II getting AOL add them to the program.

 

What I like about your program is it is short, you get to eat and have a few skits for the kids.

I have been to a few B&G's that went on literally for hours and the Cubs and their little siblings were getting cranky.

 

 

Keep up the good work.

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Most Blue and Golds have a theme. Something to tie decorations food etc together. We had fiesta one year with each family bringing Spanish/mexican dish and straw sombrero's for decoration and a pinata for the kids. The kids get a kick out of such things. I have heard of Hawaii, Italy,and couple years back 75th aniv themes.

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Our Pack has an annual "battle" about Blue and Gold. Me (ACM), CM and many families like it to be an event that the kids and families look forward to with lots of action, awards, a good meal and some kid type entertainment, along with AOL and crossover.

 

A few people want it to be very austere, quick with few awards, knock out AOL and crossover and get home by 8.

 

So, it gets pretty interesting. A couple years ago, we published guidelines for the B&G committee (Usually WII parents) that has helped a little bit. After this years "battle" we're going to revise the guidelines a little and change it to having WI families do most of the legwork because B&G is kind of a reward for WII parents for getting thier kids successfully through Cubs.

 

BTW, for the most part, it's a friendly battle.

 

The key is to make it over the top and fun.

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I custom printed personalized place mats for each boy and family member with photos of events with him in it. People would gather them and take them home for the scrap books.

 

Table decoration contest, enlist boy scouts from the troop in full uniform to judge - every den gets a prize.

 

Dad's "Drop Dead Good Dessert" contest. The scouts get 'paid' for their help by being allowed to 'judge' the desserts. Dads get recognition, cubs get to laugh at/with them. Ahem, I used to win this one frequently.

 

The boy scouts also help clean up the mess afterwards. They do the judging and cleanup and in return get free food and dessert. They'd stand in line to get this opportunity.

 

I noticed your mention of the exec's address at the banquet. We had a couple of disastrous B&G's because of the district executives who gave these talks. Families actually quit because of them. FOS declined. We decided not to invite them in the future. Enrollment went back up. FOS increased.

If you have a good one you're lucky.

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Thanks for the ideas, I have been looking at a few things.

 

I have been working on some examples of centerpieces that the boys can work on. I have also been asking around for some suggestions on who we should invite from the community.

 

I think that the boys will have fun working on the decorations and I was also thinking about making something for placemats.

 

I talked with the CM today and he thinks that these are some good ideas. We are going to get together this weekend to work on some other things.

 

Anyone else have anymore suggestions????

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Our Pack is holding our Blue & Gold next month as well. We went with Nationals monthly theme Chinese New Year. We will have a buffet from a local Chinese restaurant and have gotten a local martial arts academy to put on a Lion Dance for us (for a fee). Weve gotten some inexpensive decorations online, which include some Chinese New Year decorated take-out boxes to put the scouts awards in. Were going to have standard stuff as well, like skits and awards presentations both for the scouts and leaders. I plan to have the cubs give the leaders a Grand Howl after they get their awards. Our Committee Chair/Webelos II Den Leader will be receiving her Wood Badge beads at our B&G as well. We are fortunate that the husband of one of our den leaders is Chinese (from Hong Kong, I believe) and he has provided some valuable pointers.

 

The downside to this is that its a little pricey. We do charge a fee to parents, relatives, and siblings who attend; the cubs are free. We usually do pot-luck (generally goodies) for our other celebrations throughout the year, such as Halloween and the Christmas/Holiday party. We figure the Blue & Gold is special, its the birthday party for the BSA, and so we like to do something extra if we can. The parents dont seem to mind.

 

The OA is a great idea. Our local chapter put on a great presentation for our November Pack meeting. One suggestion if you do use them see if you can provide some atmosphere, such as low lighting. The bright lights of our church hall kinda stifled the imagination and took a little away from an otherwise impressive presentation.

 

Good luck

 

YIS

Mike

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi April-D et al,

 

The following is our draft agenda for our Chinese New Year Blue and Gold:

 

h 4:00 p.m. V Opening ceremony (flag, Pledge, Oath and prayer, opening remarks); youth awards starting with Tiger and working up to Arrow of Light (Webelos actually cross over at a May camp-out); skits and songs.

h 5:15 V 6:45 V Dinner (Chinese cuisine), grace said by Chaplains Aid from Webelos II Patrol.

h 6:45 V 7:15 V Adult awards, Wood Badge beads presentation, Grand Howl for adult leaders.

h 7:15 V 7:45 V Chinese Lion Dance (professional troupe)

h 7:45 V 8:15 V Coffee and dessert, closing remarks, Cubmasters Minute.

 

We still have a few details to iron out. There will be theme decorations and favors. We hope to have scout-theme fortune cookies (heat fortune cookies until flexible, take out stock fortune and insert "scout" fortune, allow to cool and harden). We also plan to have theme related activities during dinner for the scouts (and siblings) as we figure they will finish quickly and be looking for something to do. These may offer opportunities towards beltloops/pins. Our Pack has qualified for the Centennial Quality Unit award and we hope to have the patches to give out at the B&G. We have invited the head of our Charter Organization (Pastor, Congregational Church), Charter Organization Representative, the Scoutmaster of our big brother Troop, and other Troop and District guests.

 

I have to give kudos to our Committee Chairperson/Webelos II patrol Leader who suggested we follow the theme and did a lot of work procuring the food and entertainment. Of course other leaders and parents are pitching in as well.

 

Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

YIS

Mike

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

These themes sound great.

 

We recently had our Blue and Gold. This time of year in South Florida is generally very good - not hot and humid like the rest of the year - so we hold it at a local park on a weekend. We have lots of carnival games, and plenty of activities. The food is burgers, dogs and chicken cooked on the parks's big grill. Nothing fancy, but it is a very fun, family-friendly afternoon.

 

We just have basic blue and gold decorations all around.

 

We have some goofy parent (and den chief) awards and are also trying to recognize the parents who are not registered leaders but who show some promise of stepping up their participation a bit to become Scouters.

 

Set up

Opening ceremony

Games

Food

Water rockets (water-filled soda bottles launched by adding air pressure from an air pump)

Awards

Cubmaster minute

Closing ceremony

Clean up

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