What Do You Do at Your Pack Meeting?

[DYB-Mike]

Hello Scouters!

 

Heres a basic question: what do you do at your pack meetings? I know in theory that pack meetings should follow the monthly theme and include theme-based participation (skits, songs, demonstrations, and displays) from the dens. How many of you follow that model? How much den participation do you expect (and get)?

 

If you dont follow the theme what do you do and what do you expect/get from the dens?

 

How long are your pack meetings? Do you serve refreshments and, if so, who provides them? How often do you have Special Guest Presentations, if at all?

 

In part, this is a thinly veiled solicitation for pack meeting ideas so feel free to brag about you Best Pack Meeting Ever. I am particularly curious though about how many of you stick to the monthly themes and how much of a contribution your dens make to the pack meeting agenda.

 

Thanks!

 

YIS

Mike

 

[msnowman]

Our Pack meetings are on the last Sunday of the month from 3pm to about 4pm (we have 18 boys). When there are a lot of awards (like September with our Camp Awards to be handed out) it runs a bit longer. Our PWD this past weekend ran til 5pm.

 

As a general rule we don't adhere tightly to the monthly themes. The individual den leaders are free to use them if they want to. Each den is expected to "do something" each month - even if its just to come up and tell/show us what they did during the past month. Most dens do that as well as a skit or song. Our den chiefs (we are lucky and have 3) usually lead a song or cheer that gets people up and loud (you can sing on your butts). We don't often have "Special Guest Presentations". We do, however, sing Happy Birthday for anybody lucky enough to be having a birthday on the day of a Pack meeting (Parent, leader, sibling, Scout, they are all fair game).

 

We hand out awards at the Pack meeting after they are earned, so there are always some "jinglies" going out. The den leaders hand this out in whatever fashion pleases them. Ranks get handed out with ceremony at the Pack meeting after they are earned also. Our Glowing Bobcat is extremely popular with boys and parents alike.

 

One of my favorite (and most of the boys seem to share this opinion) of our Pack meetings is sharing. There is always time at every Pack meeting for the boys to share a camp story or a funny den story or even a "I got a new puppy" story. The more they are up in front of the crowd the more at ease they are. Nobody has to come share, but everybody is certainly offered a chance.

 

The opening Flag Ceremony is normally handled by a specific den. The den leader and their youth plan what they want to do for the opening. The exception to this is September. It has become our tradition for each den to make a flag during their 1st couple of den meetings in September. At the September Pack meeting we do a "Parade of Dens". The oldest Webelos II carries the American Flag, the youngest Tiger carries the Pack flag. Each Den chooses one boy to carry their den flag and the other boys in the den line up behind him. The flags are then paraded all the way around the room. (Think Olympics opening ceremony).

 

If parents want to bring snacks/drinks for sharing after the meeting they may (and usually do). A benefit of this (for us) is that it gives the boys something to do after the Pack meeting while the parents get to know each other, ask questions and get more information. As CM I enjoy this time because it gives me a chance to visit with each family, even if just for a moment.

 

Good luck and good scouting

Michelle

 

 

 

 

[DanKroh]

Our pack meetings are one Friday night a month, from 7:00 until about 8:30. We follow the national theme about 80% of the time; sometimes we move the themes around (f'ex: our Jan pack meeting used the "Cub Express" theme, although that was September's theme)

 

One of my Woodbadge ticket items has been to increase the amount of participation from the dens during our meetings. So we generally have *at least* a skit and song at each meeting led by the boys. Some meetings, all the dens are doing skits and/or songs. If they can make it relate to the montly theme, fantastic, but if not, that's ok, too. The important thing is that they participate.

 

But we also try to include some sort of fun program related to the theme, as well. Sometimes they will include Guest Presenters (about 2x/year). For instance, our January meeting was all about trains. We had a model train club come in with a modular layout, we also had another layout provided by a parent. That same parent also had a slide show of real trains. We set those up as three "stations" and rotated the boys between them every 10-15 minutes. That way, everyone had a chance to try things in a smaller group, and the attention span wasn't too taxing for them. At the same meeting, all the dens did a short skit. Throw in time for advancements, and it was a full meeting!

 

We don't generally provide refreshments unless it is part of the meeting program (like when we did a "Cub Cafe" and each of the dens prepared a specific food, or when we did our "culture" night, and each den prepared a food from a different culture).

 

Some meetings, the boys will make something to take home. In November, we did "Indian Nations", and the boys made headbands and necklaces (with fake eagle claws) as part of the ingathering. Last September, they made "straw rockets" and then went outside to test them. In the past, they've made mini first aid kits out of old film canisters.

 

Some sort of ingathering activity is a good idea, because it keeps the boys who get there early busy with something other than running around, and also encourages promptness so that they get to do the activity before the meeting begins. But it doesn't have to be a craft; it can also be a word puzzle, or a building game; anything that a boy can join in and do in 5-10 minutes is great.

 

Also, we like to have meetings outdoors whenever possible (or at least outdoor activities). In October, we visited a local farm. Last January, the boys made "dog sleds" and raced them against each other in the snow outside. In the spring, we have a campfire graduation program (which we invite the local Boy Scout troops to help with).

 

Oh yes, and the boys do the opening and closing. Usually open with the Pledge and close with the Cub Promise (as well as posting and retiring the flags). The den leaders know ahead of time which dens will be doing opening and closing.

 

Another great thing about pack meetings; create traditions, but don't be a slave to them. A couple of years ago, our pack planted four trees (one for each rank) at the local school, and each May, we go and take care of them as a pack meeting. It involves weeding, mulching, and watering, but we make a game out of it and the boys have a lot of fun. When the first den that helped plant the trees crossed over, they presented the new Tiger den with a "Golden Trough" as a symbol that they were taking over responsibility for that tree. It's become a tradition now to take pictures every year of each den next to it's tree, to see how both the trees and the boys have grown through the years. But each Webelos den now looks forward to presenting the Golden Trough to the new den.

 

Well, I could go on and on, as a proud Cubmaster; I think our boys to a great job at pack meetings. But definitely get them participating, I think it really keeps them interested.

[April-D]

What do we do at your pack meetings? We have a flag presentation, opening, announcements, skit, applause, awards, presentation of the spirit stick, closing. We follow the monthly theme, per se, but it's up to the den to do whatever THEY want to do for their assigned task.

 

As far as a demonstration - we've never done one that I'm aware of -- This is my 2nd year as being a leader.

 

The only time we've done a display that I'm aware of is on rally night when weve had other leaders bring things their boys had done or when I've had my den bring something we worked on and we put it out on display.

 

Our pack meetings are about an hour long. The Christmas one ran long but generally from 7-8 pm.

 

We do not serve refreshments.

 

We generally do not have any special guest presentations... but I think that's about to change with our new CC because he, like me, wants to make these meetings FUN and the are NOT! They are quite boring...

 

The best pack meeting, by FAR, was where the boys got to witness a ceremony when the Bears had earned their Webelos badges... I had never seen the entire audience so engrossed in the ceremony. You oculd have heard a pin drop. Our den leaders are going to be the ones responsible for doing this as our CM does not -- I jsut recently learned that ... that is the kind of thing that is supposed to be his job... ??? I don't want my wolves to just be given their rank and have a hand shake so I'm really going ot make a fun ceremony when they get theirs in April. (which reminds me -- need to post about that! ha)

 

We generally always stick to the monthly themes -- but we don't decorate or anything... just use the skits, etc. to represent that.

 

 

[mtm25653]

We have our monthly pack Powwow the last Monday of the month from 7 to 8pm (or a little later.) We call it a powwow instead of a meeting, because meetings are boring. We don't use the monthly themes, but we sometimes have special decorations (halloween, flags, etc.) A couple of times a year, we have the powwow outside.

 

One den does the flag ceremony. One or more dens does a skit, or display, or talks about a field trip (frequently with a photo slide show). When boys get their awards, they stand on the "steps of honor" to be individually recognized. We have a ceremony for ranks involving drums and face painting. (Bobcats also mark their parents' faces). The ceremony for joining our pack involves face painting and a parents pledge to support their boys.

 

This year, we are also learning patriotic songs - we sang God Bless America for several months (finishing with the boys singing it on their own for the parents) and now we are starting on It's a Grand Old Flag.

 

One meeting we have uniform inspections followed by den pictures.

[ScoutNut]

Our Pack meetings run 1-1.5 hours.

 

Generally we have gathering activity, opening flag ceremony, announcements, awards, audience participation, rest of awards, game, closing flag ceremony, refreshments, clean up.

 

If we have a guest speaker we will forgo the game and auidence participation and the speaker will go on after the awards.

 

Some months we will vary our meeting. October is a Halloween party with various game stations. December is a Christmas party with a potluck dinner, Santa, presents, and our Popcorn Pie Toss. January is Pinewood Derby. February is B&G dinner with crossover to BS. March is Showtime, when all dens do some kind of performance. April is our Cardboard Box Car Derby.

 

We follow the National theme of the month if it sounds good to us, otherwise we pick our own or use another month's theme.

 

Each month's meeting is hosted by a different den. The den is in charge of the flag ceremonies, gathering activity, and refreshments.

[Pack212Scouter]

Because of the size of our Pack, I think our meetings are a little unique. They run about 90 minutes. We don't follow the themes and use alot of AV because of the size of the Pack. Our layout is pretty much as below.

 

Opening song to gather everyone's attention.

Opening Prayer

Color presentation by one of the Webelo dens

Pledge, Cubs Scout Promise, Boy Scout Oath for Webelos

Announcements (At this point one of our ACMs takes the parents out of the room for announcements. The boys are given announcements of interest to them and have a song, uniform inspection or something else during this)

Presentation from recent campout, of upcoming big event, etc.(may be PowerPoint, Video, etc. usually about 3-5 minutes)

Den Skit

Game

Awards (usually a song or Den presented run-ons or something between ranks)

Cubmaster Minute

Cub Scout Vespers Song

Closing Prayer

Closing Colors(This message has been edited by Pack212Scouter)

[infoscouter]

Our pack gatherings start at 7:00 and finish no later that 8:30 - usually 8:15 or so. We try and stick pretty close to the themes, but how much gets incorporated varies

 

Pre-opening & displays (usually den projects from the previous month)

Opening ceremony - rotates between dens - assigned at pack planning conference in July

Pack formation and uniform inspection

Skit/song/story from Cubmaster or other leader

Awards

Sometimes a den demonstration

Above takes 20-25 minutes

Rest of meeting is spent in activities - games; theme/activity related stations; craft activity (for instance - we devoted a meeting to the Emergency Preparedness award w/ stations for various requirements)

Cubmaster's minute

Closing ceremony

Clean up

 

[DYB-Mike]

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to respond. The information and ideas are very helpful.

 

Our Pack meetings (Pow Wow is a nice touch, mtm25653) are about an hour long. In the past we did not follow the themes. We start with a flag ceremony, then usually move on to awards and advancement recognition. Sometimes announcements are made within the meeting, other times at the end. We have had parties with refreshments for Halloween (costume party) and Christmas (Santa with gifts, a.k.a. pinewood kits). Our February meeting is the Blue and Gold banquet, March is the Pinewood Derby, and May is an annual camp-out and cross over. Periodically we have Special Guests, such as our local K-9 Officer and his dog (the boys loved that; the dog could open the squad car door), a geology presentation, and a camping gear presentation by our big brother Scout Troop. Den participation has been spotty in the past. Our meetings end with retiring the colors.

 

While our meetings havent been bad, some of us have felt that there was room for improvement. Commencing with our new year we are trying to be more innovative. We are experimenting with the themes and our dens are becoming more involved with skits, songs and jokes. This past November we went with the Indian Nations theme and invited our local chapter of the Order of the Arrow to perform a ceremony for the boys. For Christmas we dispensed with Santa and instead encouraged the dens to make some charitable donations (books, toys) and at the Pack Meeting our Cubmaster encouraged the boys to talk about their donations and how giving made them feel. I acquired an artificial campfire and we built the Christmas meeting around it, complete with our own 12 Days of Christmas audience participation song. The boys loved it!

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

YIS

Mike