Need flashy first pack meeting!

[Melgamatic]

Each year our pack spends some money to provide a splashy and fun first pack meeting of the school year. In recent years we've had a wolf guy (raises and rehabilitates wolves, brings one in, etc), a snake guy, a reptile guy, a great science/fun presentation (chemicals, animals, etc), a magician, etc.

 

While that goes on (and keeps the kids completely occupied for 45min to an hour, the CM takes the new parents into the next room and we give them an introduction to the pack. We use a powerpoint presentation that gives a quick summary of the entire program and our pack, and then handout copies of the pack's New Family Guidebook. If we have enough Tiger Cubs for more than one den, we try to set them up into dens at that time.

 

We have great den-produced pack meetings all year, but find that paying for a well-produced and interesting show for the first meeting works well, allows the CM and one of the ACMs to go to the parent meeting, and doesn't require us to find a den to organize the first meeting.

 

But this year, we're having a hard time coming up with a new/different program this year. We thought about trying to get the local OA Chapter's dance team, but they are not active at this time. We saw a "Wild West Show" advertise at a recent Tradeshow of Scouting, but we're not hot on that idea (twirling guns, etc, isn't so popular around here). I liked the idea of a "bubble man" show, but can't find any local vendors.

 

Any great ideas? We are in Central NJ..

 

Thanks, Dave

 

 

[John-in-KC]

Your Pack at the absolute worst operates on a 5 year horizon (from the newest Tiger to the going to Boy Scouting Web II).

 

Why not recycle an idea from 3-4 years ago???

 

KISMIF!

[Melgamatic]

I actually suggested this, but we have a lot of second-year Webelos, and there was a strong tendency to not repeat what they had seen. So, I need a 5th program....

 

Thanks, Dave

 

[John-in-KC]

Fire Department bring their pumper, let the kids use the tools under supervision?

[Melgamatic]

Oh, and we re-used the magician theme late last year (a Boy Scout who was a magician did a very nice job for us; it was part of a service project for him).

 

Actually, that was pretty amazing. This Boy Scout had two adults (CM and an ACM) tie him to a folding chair as tight as we wanted, using a very long rope, and he managed to escape within a minute or so. The Cub Scouts seemed to really enjoy his whole presentation; the fact that the magician was only a few years older perhaps made it seem more exciting.

 

-Dave

 

[ScoutNut]

Puppeteer

 

Children's Zoo

 

Police K-9 Unit

 

Reenactors (Society for Creative Anachronism)

 

Nature Center

 

Fishing Demo with casting ponds

 

PEAK Presentation from REI (Marlton)

 

 

 

 

[Beagle Scout]

How about a good juggling act?

 

[packsaddle]

I'm with John-in-KC. I had two killer meeting plans that never failed no matter how often we did them. One did involve the fire department but we took it a step further and actually set some things on fire and then put them out: papers, different types of clothing, oil. The fire department guy was happy to do the demo, I think he figured it would scare them out of 'experimenting', at least maybe not so often.

 

The other one involved a local snake dealer. Yep, we had a couple dozen different types of snakes, some of them venomous, and one of them fairly big. The boys got to handle about a dozen different species. Some of the moms were fairly alarmed, heh, heh. Talk about 'pucker factor', I bet some of them nearly bit holes in their chairs.

Like I said, it never failed.

 

Edited for clarity(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

[frank10]

Search and rescue dog

 

[pixiewife]

We did a K9 unit presentation, they were totally into it, and 2 years later still remember the names of the dogs that visited. Ours was done in conjunction with a fireman presentation, but the dogs took the show. The handlers showed how they are trained, how they can sniff out things that they are looking for (like people), and how they can find things that are hidden (like drugs). The officers even handed out cards that were like baseball cards that had the dogs pictures and stats on them. It was awesome, and we are thinking of trying to get it together again.

~Pixie

[frank10]

If you plan to have drug sniffing dogs, you might want to remind the parents several times about the demo...

[pixiewife]

Ha ha ha....

OMG Wingnut, you don't know how much I thought about that during the presentation!!! It's been 2 years, and I swear I still think about how bad it could have been!!! When we did the presentation, everyone only knew about the firemen portion, the dogs were a last minute surprise.

Could've been a BIG surprise!

~Pixie