Blue and Gold - Late Advancement

[fauxc]

Hello Everyone,

 

I'm going to be the CM next year and I had a question regardng the Blue and Gold Banquet. Our pack only has 2 den meetings a month, so we don't advance them until April. This is an advancement banquet ceremony with food, etc. We had a cake at our february Pack meeting to celebrate the Cub Scout birthday. Does anyone else advance at this time and if so, do you still do some sort of Blue and Gold banquet. I feel that this is important for the boys to celebrate and it should be something that they remember. I'm not sure if we are giving it full recognition or maybe our advancement banquet is celebrating that.

 

Thanks in advance

[00Eagle]

You should always have a Blue and Gold Banquet in February to commemorate the birthday of scouting. In my day as a cub (90-93) there didn't seem to be much emphasis on making rank by Blue and Gold. We got our Bear badges at the March pack meeting. In fact most of the advancement work was done at home.

 

If the boys are advancing later, recognize them at the next pack meeting.

[Basementdweller]

Award them when they advance.....

 

Don't hold it till the B&G......and don't rush to meet it.....

[kari_cardi]

We've held our Blue and Gold banquet anytime between February and May, for various reasons. We've had full-on banquets and we've had pizza. Cub Scouts is a flexible program, make it work for your unit. Ideally, though, advancements are given as soon as reasonable after they are earned. Rank badges are not meant to be stockpiled or rushed so they can be awarded in a grand gesture for the birthday party of an organization.

[fauxc]

Thanks everyone,

 

I just realized that I should have been clearer in my post. We don't hold up their advancement until April, they just don't usually make the requirements in February, so April gives them some more time.

 

What are some things that are done for the B&G in February?

[Jeffrey H]

We traditionally make it a target date to award rank badges to our cubs at our Blue & Gold in late February or early March if they have completed their requirements. If they have not completed the requirements, we wait. I will be presenting a Wolf Badge at our final Pack Meeting in May to a Cub that got a late start in the program year.

 

As far as Blue and Gold, we usually skip the "banquet" part and plan the meeting before meal time. We provide a cake and punch reception for our graduating Arrow of Light recipients after the meeting, but that's the extent of our food offering. Our Blue and Gold occurs during our busiest time of the year with other events going on and we keep the planning simple.

[perdidochas]

The Blue and Gold banquet is a celebration of the anniversary of Scouting. At least in the pack I used to be a DL for, Blue and Gold had nothing to do with advancement. In fact, most boys finished up their rank advancement the next month, or often were just finished on the last pack meeting of the year.

[perdidochas]

Our B&G was usually a lasagna/pizza feast. We would follow up the banquet with some kind of entertainment--we had a magician several times, and this year (post my time, but I've heard from current pack leaders), they had a "snake" show, where a man brought his snake collection to the meeting.

[shortridge]

In my pack, we had a giant potluck and cake/dessert auction at the fire hall. Dens made table centerpieces and nut cups decorated by the boys. Each den did a song or skit. Advancement was recognized. Webelos got their AOLs in an OA ceremony (it was cool when the chief set his headdress on fire!). Webelos heading to a troop crossed over. Everyone helped clean up.

[fred8033]

Get them their advancements at the pack meeting after they earn it. Don't wait. Your not. That's good.

 

BUT ... Having B&G done in Feb is fairly important. Not critical, but it's an emphasized time. Boy Scout troops often prepare programs for new scouts starting in March. Work with your local troops to confirm. If in doubt, plan to celebrate 5th grade webelos becoming boy scouts in February at the B&G.

 

I have seen scouts feel like outsiders for a bit because ten Cub Scouts cross to Boy Scouts in Feb and then another pack waited to March. The cubs then missed any welcoming ceremonies, introductions, parent talks, etc. Just a thought.

[kari_cardi]

Fred8033 reminds me of a good point often overlooked as packs schedule events 'the way it's always done.' Every spring, each pack has a similar schedule to include the following:

 

Blue and Gold

Advancements

Arrow of Light

Crossover to Boy Scouts

Crossover or Graduation to the next rank

 

These events do not have to happen at the same time. Blue and Gold does not have to include advancements, AOL or crossover to Boy Scouts. Crossover does not have to be done with AOL, and I prefer that it doesn't so that scouts can wear the highest award in Cub Scouts for at least a few weeks before becoming Boy Scouts. These events can be scheduled as it makes sense for your pack in your community. Every pack has different needs, different traditions, and their own spin. The program accommodates this.

 

It is certainly okay to do Blue and Gold in February when the rest of the scouting community celebrates it. We moved it one year because it was canceled twice in a row due to weather and ended up having it in May. Then, considering historically it often has to be moved due to weather, we just moved it to April. It works for our pack where we live. We have a separate ceremony for AOL that is scheduled cooperatively between the Web den leader and the scoutmasters of the troops the boys have chosen. We let the troops schedule the crossover at their convenience, it's a Boy Scout ceremony. This is what works for us.

 

Making sure that the scouts get their advancements as they earn them is, IMO, the most important consideration. And it sounds like you have that nailed, fauxc.

[fred8033]

sasha - I like what you wrote in that cross-over is a boy scout process. I've always viewed it as a Cub Scout owned process supported by the Boy Scouts. Mainly because troops can accept boys at any time. But the reality is that troops often want Webelos to cross over at a specific time. So Webelos dens should coordinate with the troop when the cross over ceremony will be. It doesn't have to be at the B&G. Just like advancements. It can be any time. We've just grown accustomed to having the big B&G party be used to celebrate Webelos crossing into Boy Scouts.

 

Nice point Sasha. Let the cross over be owned by the Boy Scout troops. Hmmm....

[perdidochas]

As a three year WDL (two AOL/Crossover groups), my opinion is that AOL is a Cub Scout thing and Crossover is a Boy Scout thing. Don't know about other troops, but our troop is happy to participate in any crossover in which we receive new scouts. This year, we had crossovers from two different packs at two different times.

[fauxc]

fred8033, we do do the AOL ceremony and the crossover at this pack meeting and we also had a cake. I guess I just felt like it should be have been more of a celebration to scouting that all of the boys could be involved in. Maybe we could do some sort of pot luck and have the boys make centerpieces or something. We did have them make something for the advancement banquet, but of course the Webelos II's are gone at that time.

[SR540Beaver]

perdidochas,

 

I agree on the AOL being Cub and crossover being Boy Scouts. I'm an OA Chapter Adviser and we do crossover ceremonies for the Packs in our district. Many WDL are one time WDL's and dont always realize the difference between AOL and crossover. They ask us to come do an AOL/crossover ceremony and I explain that we don't do that. AOL is the highest rank earned in Cubs and not everyone who earns AOL crosses over and not everyone who crosses over earns AOL. The Pack needs to recognize and and celebrate AOL with the Pack. Crossover needs to be seperate. Can they happen at the same event? Sure, but they need to be seperate items on the agenda. The vast majorrity of the ceremonies we do happens in February in conjunction with the Pack's B&G. We have a few oddball Packs that "do what works for them" that want a crossover as early as October and as late as May. We try to accomodate them as much as possible, but we are doing OA elections in the October to December timeframe and working on Ordeal and Brotherhood ceremonies in the March to May timeframe. Last year, we did 7 crossovers in a 9 day period. Since the crossover is the last item on the agenda and some Packs think a B&G should include dinner, songs, skits, awards, advancement, recognizing grandma and grandpa, pictures, etc., our guys get stuck there for up to 3 hours before they do the ceremony. When you do as many as we do and especially in a short timeframe, the guys start burning out really really fast. We are going to try something new for next year that used to be done in our district back about 10 years ago. We are going to do a district crossover ceremony where any of the Webelos Dens and Boy Scout Troops who want to participate can come together on one single date at the beginning of February and do crossover. This helps the ceremony team from buring out. It helps the Packs by getting in sync with the claendar and it helps the Troops by getting all of their new scouts at the same time instead of having them straggle in 1 or 2 boys at a time over a 5 month period. It has met with positive repsonses from everyone we've asked so far. Oh yeah, the Packs can do their AOL at their February B&G and then come do the crossover the first of March.