Ideas for Wood Badge Beading Ceremony

[isvirtual]

I just completed my ticket. I'm looking for ideas for my beading ceremony. I'd like to keep it low key yet share my fun and sense of accomplishment surrounding Wood Badge.

 

Any suggestions.

 

I used to be a bear...

[eagle-pete]

Hmmm

 

I had already come up with exactly how I wanted my ceremony to be long before I completed my ticket.

 

I had the opertunity to attend several beading ceremonies of other Wood Badgers and I was able to see the different kinds of ideas. These ranged from very simple to fairly elaborate. From attending those ceremonies, I was able to formulate what I wanted for my ceremony.

 

If you have the time, I would recommend attending some ceremonies for the purpose of getting ideas (or at least to see what you don't want to do).

 

I am of the opinion that the ceremony is quite a personal thing. What I chose for my ceremony may not work well for you. You will have to be the judge, but by seeing actual ceremonies you can get a fairly good idea of what would work for you.

 

Good Luck, and Congratz!

 

Eagle-Pete

[Greying Beaver]

Wood Badge/21st Century tickets are designed to benefir a certain group in your unit. Whether or not they were aware of your ticket work, they should see your beads go over your head. But don't tell them what you did. I got my beads two years ago. My ticket items dealt with getting the parents more involved in the troop. One item was to compile a list of camping locations within a 100-mile radius of our fair city. My T.G. asked for a copy when she saw it! But . . . when the PLC was having their annual planning session and were looking for places to go camping, I gave them a copy of the list. It was dismissed out of hand by the boys. Gasoline prices have gone through the roof and are a concern that they were not two years ago. Our current SPL had been the New Guy PL two years ago. I whispered in his ear about my list. He wanted - and got - a copy of my list. Does he know the list was part of my ticket work? And never will. Betcha' the PLC at least discusses some of those places. Another fine example of " . . . Scouting is a dynamic program . . ." mixed with ". . . a boy-led program."

I got my beads at a troop committee meeting. It's your ceremony. Do whatever YOU want.

[theysawyoucomin']

You must get a birch log and a painted axe. If you need a slightly used log (only one chop) I can loan you one!

 

Congrats on earning your ticket and thank you for your service to American youth.

[StormingBuffalo]

I can only tell you about our experience. Five out of patrol members were beaded together. The original idea was to have the ceremony at a boy scout campins event at which the troop served by three of our patrol members (the committee chair and two committee members). This fell through, so we held it during our roundtable, which is where the most scouters gather at any single time other than summer camp. Having only attended three ceremonies, I can tell you that we had cards, one for each point of the scout law that assembled wood badgers would read, in addition to a very large axe and log, as well as twelve candles. The symbols of wood badge were explained during the ceremony, each of us was beaded (usually by our ticket counselors, and we received out certificates. I was solemn, but not overly so, and special because we were in front of our peers (and my six year old daughter attended too!)

 

Any ceremony gives the proper respect to the program, and focuses on wood badge and those receiving their tickets, is a good one.

 

Storming Buffalo

C-16-03

[Vicki]

I had a very simple ceremony with my troop. My WB scoutmaster was there, gave a short talk on the meaning of WB, did the beads, on with treats! Which is why I'm posting this - along the axe in log idea, I made a chocolate rollup cake, iced it to look like a log, wrapped my nephew's small camp-ax in saran wrap and sunk it into the cake/log. Put it on a tray and used leftover icing and chocolate shavings to make the tray look like the forest floor. Wrote our WB course (C-12-04) in icing on the tray. Looked kinda nice, if I say so myself, not to mention tasty...

 

Vicki (an energetic 8-clawed bear)(This message has been edited by Vicki)

[david14011]

I agree that the ceremony should be something special and solemn. I've only seen two beading ceremonies. One was very short and I thought didn't capture the importance of the Wood Badge experience. The other one was a little better and was held at a district dinner. Wood Badge for me and at least one other member of my patrol was a life changing experience and I want to try to convey that message through the beading ceremony. I'm not sure how to locate Wood Badge beading ceremonies or if I would even be welcome to any of them but I am interested in any ideas anyone may have and/or locations/invitations to beading ceremonies anywhere anytime. Thank you.

[eagle-pete]

David

 

You should have a roster of all the participants in your course. I would contact a few and find out when they will be holding their ceremony. It would not be out of line to ask if you could attend so you could get ideas for ceremonies. Most Wood Badgers would welcome fellow Wood Badgers, especially those from their own course, to their ceremony unless it is "family only" type, but those are relatively rare. I found that it was most rewarding to share the experience among those who can relate to the experience (i.e. Wood Badgers).

 

If you don't want to ask to attend someone's ceremony, the next best thing might be to just ask them what they are planning and see if they have some good ideas.

 

Also, your Troup Guide and/or Course Director, and anyone from your staff, for that matter, would be great resources for ceremony ideas.

 

Eagle Pete