Cub Scout Show Event

[Cubmaster Pete]

My pack is toying with the idea of having a Cub Scout Event, to show off what we do, and use as recruitment. We would do this directly after school one afternoon.  Any experiences with this? Does it work, not work?  It is better this way than with a separate event at another time, or on the weekend?

[SSScout]

As the ol' Scoutmaster said, "It depends".

On the activities:   Pinewood Derby?  Campsite?  Crafts?  Cub races?  Fish in a Bucket?  Bike-a-Ree?

On the date :  No homework?  No concerts or other competition?

On the time:  Right after school?  Saturday afternoon? Morning? Evening after they go home and have to come back?

If "right after school",  is there supervision so the kids can stay and then get picked up?  Do they need a note from mom?

On the weather:  'nuf said.

On the advance publicity and it's density and repetition. Back pack notices? PTA newsletter? Posters? Guidance office? PA announcements? Morning TV show? Word of mouth?  Buddy invites?   Room moms?

Dedication of the Pack Scouters....   Who will do what when?

 

Like the coach said, no one ever missed the shot they never took.

[SSScout]

Oh, one bit of personal experience.   We planned the sort of thing you mention (with mixed results the first time) and thought, "hey, why don't we invite the Girl Scouts to share the gym with us?  Brownies are good people too."  So we got in touch with the  GSUSA, and found the only GSTroop in our school was led by the PTA president! Wonderful!  When we asked her, she said (quote) "oh no, we have enough Girl Scouts, we don't want any more. Thank you just the same."   

And that was my introduction to the difference in philosophy and operation  between the BSA and the GSUSA....

[aveline]

Is there an existing event you could move to this time & location? Make it easy on the adults...?

 

My older son was in a huge year of cubs throughout - we had three dens in our school since his Tiger year (more than half the boys in the grade!). When it came time for the 28-30 Bears to do their traditional Rain Gutter Regatta, we could see it would be tough to invite all the boys to one backyard (traditional location). So, we moved it to the front of the school on a Friday in the spring when the PTO (our CO) sold ice cream. We knew others would be sticking around for the ice cream and that drew more attention. Most of the Bears participated and it's been done that way since.

 

It sounds like a fun idea to have something others can participate in, as well. If you make extra trimarans, it's easy enough to invite others to race each other or take on cubs, etc. 

 

Use the school in your marketing - ask for your event to be read in the announcements (maybe your older cubs can write the announcement and read it). Have the boys wear their uniforms or pack t shirts that day (we do t shirt for regatta and uniforms the day of our evening Open House/recruitment night). It helps when boys hear from boys and then talk it up themselves at home!

 

(I should add that we live in a small enough town that kids don't take a bus, so you're either picked up after school or in the after-care program & that may make it easier for us logistically.)

[2000eagle22]

We planned an activity for the solar eclipse this year. We found that it so happened to fall at the same we were supposed to be at open house for one of our local schools. So it worked out perfect! we setup a telescope with a projection panel, made some pin hole cameras and had a few pairs of glasses to pass around. It worked great, the pack had fun, the parents saw us in action, and we passed out plenty of info. We'll see soon how many come to our roundup this month!