Blue and Gold Order of Events

[Chippewa29]

I just returned from a Blue and Gold where my troop received six new Scouts into the troop. Over the years, I've probably been to 20 something of these events. It seems that the order of events always goes like this:

1. Dinner

2. Dessert

3. Entertainment (magician, etc.)

4. Awards

5. Crossover

 

It seems that by the time they get to the awards, there are younger siblings and Tiger Cubs running around because they are sugarded up on cake and/or bored from sitting for so long. Also, a lot of parents are socializing in the back of the room. While the CM is trying to award and honor the Cubs for their hard work, there is noise in the background. It seems to take a lot away from the honor of the ceremony.

 

My thought is that they should do the awards and crossover first while everyone is still fresh and not sugared up or in a food coma. The awards and crossover usually only take about fifteen minutes. It seems to make more sense to do the more formal part of the evening first, then celebrate with the more informal events like dinner, dessert, and entertainment.

 

How does everyone else do their Blue and Gold? Has anyone else tried it like I suggested? How did it work?

[tdk101]

This year we did an AOL ceremony and a crossover at the Blue & Gold. This was the first time we ever did this - traditionally our pack crossed over in June. But we had 5 scouts that earned AOL and wanted to join Boy Scouts now (my son included). We still have boys that will wait and crossover in June. We did this before dinner. Then we had dinner (pot luck) and voting on a cake decorating contest. Once dinner was over, we had some leaders who wanted to give out some awards to their dens and we also gave out Good Turn patches. For entertainment, we host Cub Scout Idol - the boys in the pack sign up to perform comedy, a skit, sing, play an instrument, etc. We then gave each scout a gift - we bought water bottles for each of the scouts and someone donated lunchboxes and McDonald's ice cream coupons. To finish it off, we gave out certificates from the cake decorating contest (a golden wisk to top vote getter) and also certificates for Cub Scout Idol (golden microphone to winner). We were done with everything in about 2 hours. Having a sound system helped keep the background talking down. Usually the conversations happened because they couldn't hear anyway.

[zippyboro]

We always do awards and recognitions first thing before the food which is followed by the entertainment. By the time the show is over, people are more than ready to get out of there. You should definitely reconsider your order of events.

[DYB-Mike]

Like Zippyboro, we do the awards and skits first, followed by dinner, then any special entertainment and/or activities (this year we had a storyteller, belt loop stations and games). This year we also did dessert as the last thing (we had a 100th BSA birthday cake). I think weve always done dessert as the last thing, or close to the end of the evening.

 

YIS

Mike

 

[Mom2Scouts06]

We do dinner, followed by a skit/presentation/songs, then Pinewood Derby Awards/Rank Awards, followed very last by our Cake Auction which gets everyone pumped up again!

 

Raised $1000 this year on dessert auction!

[MNBob]

Our B&G is this Sunday (March 7). Two years ago we made the decision to stop making B&G the rank advancement goal for all dens. Instead May is now the "Graduation Pack meeting" for Tigers, Wolves and Bears. Dens could hand out awards at B&G for any Scouts who were ahead of the rest of the den but as it turns out this year no other dens are handing out any awards. Thus our schedule looks like:

- Opening flag ceremony

- Welcome

- Summit award for a former member of the Pack

- Arrow of Light & Crossover All 11 second year Webelos earned AoL and are crossing over so we've selected a ceremony that combines both into one (the first one listed at http://www.usscouts.org/ceremony/aol.asp).

- Leader Recognition (service stars) followed by all leaders singing http://cubbobwhite.tripod.com/songs/odetoa.htm

- Closing flag ceremony

- Entertainment (Comedy Juggler)

- sing Happy Birthday to Scouts

- Pizza & Cake. Dens to perform skits while we eat.

[ScoutNut]

I'm a bit confused. May IS graduation for all Cub Scouts. Or more accurately, Graduation is usually the last Pack meeting of the school year, which is usually May, or June. That is when the Cub Scouts move to their new Cub level (Tiger to Wolf, etc).

 

Earning rank awards has nothing to do with Graduation. Cub Scouts can earn their rank award at any time during the year.

 

February's Blue & Gold birthday celebration makes a great goal for the Scouts and their families to aim for. I find that having a goal helps to keep them focused. However, rank awards (and any other awards) should be presented to a Cub Scout as soon as possible after he has completed all of the requirements, and not be held until B&G, or Graduation.

 

 

[MNBob]

"I'm a bit confused. May IS graduation for all Cub Scouts."Sorry, didn't mean to confuse. When my current Web2 den joined 5 years ago as Tigers, the Pack operated with the goal of all dens earning rank advancement at Blue & Gold. We found this impractical as well as distracting to B&G (focus became too much on advancement and not enough celebration, just our opinion). Yes, we will award rank advancements as soon as they are earned but as it has turned out there are no dens that have boys ready. That's partly because our Tiger and Wolf dens are only meeting once per month and the Bear den does not spend much time on requirements even though they meet twice per month.

[scouter1960]

 

We usually start with the dinner. I think the little ones are less crabby that way. We use a place with a nice sound system to avoid sounds of people talking in the back. I also ask the moms to please not do any kitchen clean up during the program. I tell them that the boys deserve our attention. This year we had a story teller. The boys all gathered around a fake fire I made. Lights were down and I had a soundtrack with crackling fire sounds, crickets etc. It was very cool. He told the history of scouting and the boys were mesmorized.

 

We follow with a skit, song, etc from Web II, then their awards. Then Web I does skit, song, etc then their rank awards and so on. The skits break up the awards so the pace is pretty good.

 

We go through all ranks this way and then I end with a slideshow put to music of all the events from BG last year until now. Parents and kids love it.

 

We do the AOL ceremony and crossover in the March meeting each year. I think adding it to BG really drags out the BG event and more importantly, I like the Web II to get all the attention when they cross over.

 

This has been working well for us the last few years.