What was the best thing you received at your eagle ceremony

[peewee]

My oldest boy will have his eagle ceremony in Feb. and I'm looking for some good gift ideas--RM

[Eamonn]

While I am a Queens Scout, in my day you got the award and there was no gift giving. Maybe we were just cheap??

I have attended a lot of Eagle Scout Court Of Honor ceremonies, some parents really go to town and get letters from everyone from the President down. I even seen one Lad who got a letter from Bob Hope.

There is a web site,if I can find it I will post it.

The Scout catalog has a lot of ideas. If OJ ever gets off his duff and reaches the rank I think that I'm going for a really good watch with some sort of message engraved on the back. I might also pay for him to go and work as an International Camp Counselor some place in Europe. Who knows he might find a wife - I did !!

Good Luck

Eamonn

[scoutldr]

The best thing I received (1970)was the Eagle medal, and the lifetime of honor and obligation that came with it. Your son will appreciate that more in 30 years than he does now. Don't recall receiving anything else, other than cards of congratulations from out of town relatives.

[dsteele]

I recall receiving a plaque. It's gone.

I recall receiving a paperweight from the council -- it's gone.

I got lots of letters of congratulations. The one I actually framed was from my District Executive and may be a contributing factor to my demented choice of career I no longer have the letter but I thought it was pretty cool.

 

I agree with Scoutleader -- the best thing I received was the medal and all the stuff that it comes with (the non-physical stuff, I mean.) I still have the medal, and, I hope, all of the non-physical stuff.

 

DS

 

Postscript -- Eamonn, isn't 14 a little too young for OJ to find a wife?

 

 

[dsteele]

My apologies to Roger. You were looking for gift ideas for your son, and I gave you philosophy.

 

Let me address your question more directly.

 

Give him something from your youth or adulthood that is meaningful to both you and him.

 

The most precious Scouting thing I have are my father's original Wood Badge beads. He gave them to me when I earned my beads and I had them awarded to me instead of the ones I earned. When I got my third bead, I took the two beads off my three bead set and tied my Dad's on in their stead. My father is still very much alive, but someday he'll be gone and I'll have the beads.

 

I don't think it has to be something Scouting related. It's great if it can be, but I don't think it has to be. I think there's something special to both when a father says, "Son, I'm real proud of you. I want you to have this. It means a lot to me, hang on to it."

 

DS

[Eamonn]

Dave

He is 15 and at the rate his project is going - Who knows??

Eamonn

[dsteele]

Eamonn -- correction accepted. 15 isn't too young to find a wife. It's just too young to actually marry her.

 

Dave

[Twocubdad]

Not something I received, but something we gave.

 

When my cousin received his Eagle a couple years back, my brother, another cousin and myself (all three Eagles) gave him our grandfathers's old Scoutmaster's handbook from the 40's. Our grandfather had died several years earlier and this cousin was probably closer to him as a little boy than any of us. He was the first Eagle in his troop and they made a big deal of the presentation with lots of letters, flags from the Capitol, etc. But I'll guarantee the handbook was the most meaningful thing he received.

 

Our problem is that we still have one cousin left who just made Life Scout. We're going to have a difficult time coming up with a similar gift for him.

 

I know that's not something you can necessarily replicate in you own situation, but maybe it spark an idea for you.

[scoutingagain]

Like some of the other poster's the most memorable thing I have was given by my father(who just celebrated his 80th birthday). After the war (WWII) the first job he had was working at a Scout Camp before he went off to college on the GI bill. He had never been a scout, but was impressed with the program and I guess that's why he had my brothers and I sign up when we were old enough.

 

While at this camp he happened to buy an official Boy Scout pocket knife, with a pearl white handle. I have never seen another like it. I now have the knife and it will go to my son, if he makes Eagle. If not, it will get to him at some point.

 

If you have something of sentimental value from your scouting career, passing it on to your son, as others have noted, is as good a suggestion as I can think of.

 

Congradulations to you and your son.

 

SA

[purcelce]

All I got was my medal, patch, and a few letters.....

 

But the best thing I've seen is a Scout Shadow Box.

 

A grandfather of an Eagle got the Scout's MB sash, badges of rank, and a few other things. He placed them in a shadow box that now hangs in this kid's bedroom. Really nice.