Happy Halloween!
If it's one thing I've learned as Girl Scout leader, is the girls love a party! Doesn't matter what it's for, any reason is reason enough! So while we hadn't yet really gotten a lot of badge work done, we simply had to celebrate Halloween.
The thing is.... I remember as a Girl Scout Junior being surprised at my first Court of Awards with all the badges I had earned. I knew about the ones that I had worked on, on my own. But where did all the others come from? I realized when I first became a leader that even though I was having fun, my leader was still having us learn stuff and complete badges.
That, my friends, is the key to doing this right.
Good leaders manage to teach the girls new ideas and skills while having fun or making it interesting at the same time. So while we had our party, we still managed to complete several requirements. One I forgot the supplies for, but I will share it here because it fits with the theme, and you may be able to use the idea.
We opened with our usual Flag ceremony and then got down to it. In circle time, we talked about Juliette Low's birthday which is Oct 31st, the same as Halloween. We talked about who she was and little about what was important to her. We then sang happy birthday and had "cake" which was really cupcakes for simplicity's sake. This fulfills requirement #2 of the Girl Scout Way badge.
With so many girls, I decided it would be best to break them into teams to do the activities. (On a side note, I've been following this model since Oct and it has worked VERY well for us.) I didn't just break them into teams, however, I also assigned a girl to be leader. It was each girl's responsibility to make sure the girls stayed at the correct station at the same time.
I wasn't sure how this would work. And while some girls are born leaders, there are just as many who are not. I had to keep reminding team leaders to gather their teams, but that's OK. You don't build strong women and leaders in a single night.
So for the party, rather than have complete chaos, as I said I planned stations where the teams would rotate. There were 5 : nail polish, games, trick or treat bags, bracelets and collage. I made up a schedule ahead of time and gave it to each so when I called time, they could go to the next stations. Moms helped get the girls to the right place. There were 4 teams.
Side note: I did figure out what I would need ahead of time for the party and send out a sign up sheet. While I would use dues money for the craft stuff, other items I put on the sign up, like music for the party which could also be used for the games. The parents were responsive and this took a load off of me having to buy and cart all this extra stuff up to the cabin.
Anyway, first station - Nail polish. I bought a bottle each of purple and bright green insta-dry nail polish. It really does dry in a minute or I would never have considered this. As I suspected, the girls loved this, I mean, who doesn't love green and purple nails?? Just make sure no one is wearing good clothes or their uniform when trying something like this!
Next, we had games. We played wrap the mummy and musical chairs. I don't think I need to say the girls thoroughly got into these:
Next, they decorated trick or treat bags. The local craft store had blank canvas bags which they turned into trick or treat bags with fabric markers and glitter glue. Also at this table were "loom"bracelets. This served as an overflow when girls were waiting to go to another station. Plus, they really like making these, so I keep a supply on hand for any time I need to keep the girls busy.
Next, the girls worked on a collage poster (3rd requirement for Girl Scout Way) to use in the Halloween parade they would be marching in the following week (note, this fulfills the 3rd requirement for the Celebrating Community badge)
The last station I had planned but didn't do, was to make spiders out of paper plates. This would have covered the 2nd requirement for the bugs badge. But we didn't get to it. I am sure though, how you could see how making a spider craft on Halloween goes together though. I'll cover this in the spring with a butterfly craft instead.
Finally, since this was only our second time meeting at the cabin, I had the girls do a little extra cleaning to the cabin. There was a lot of leaves and dirt left from the summer, so we decided to leave the place better than we found it - the 4th requirement of the Girl Scout Way badge.
So there you have it - 4 more requirements fulfilled, and a good time had by all! I hope these ideas are helpful to you!
Sincerely,
Leader Mom in the Making
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