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Girl Scout Service Unit 305
(Akron, New York)
 
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What Is a Ceremony?


A Ceremony is an event to honor a person or person; to recognize their achievements.

In Girl Scouts we have many ceremonies to celebration special times like becoming a new scout, reaffirming your scouting pledge, bridging on to the next level, and honoring adult leaders, etc.  Ceremonies make each milestone a girl or adult hits a very special time, allowing her to share this special time with others.

Ceremonies are a very important part of scouting.  Ceremonies can be short or long, can take place indoors or outdoor.  Ceremonies can include flag ceremonies, candle ceremonies, songs, poems, GS promise and law and much more.  Girls really enjoy planning and participating in their own ceremonies.

Leaders if you have a ceremony you would like to share please upload it here.
Attachments
Icon File Name Comment  
Ribbons and Candles.doc Ribbons and Candles  

Badge/Award Presentation


If you are looking for a different way to present badges and patches to your girls here are some ideas. 

Leaders you can even upload a photo of how you presented the girls awards




* Brownie Proficiency Badge and Part of Journey Badges were tacked on with hot glue to toiletpaper snowflake ornament, this worked great around Christmas time but could work during any of the winter months.
  

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Try It was stapled to a card stock star which was glued to the Christmas Tree.
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* Daisy Petals were stapled to a piece of yarn worn as a necklace.

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* Princess Wand-  Daisy Petals were stapled to a square (made out of cardboard) have them stick out like points on a wand.   That was then hot glued to a single chop stick, curling ribbon added, the girls loved this.

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* Flags- took construction paper and arranged badges (stapled) in different designs added different colored shapes etc. ea. one different.  Tied it in with Thinking Day and Brownies Around the World.  When handed out said something like the land of (Girls last name) or the country of (girls last name).  They got a kick out of this.
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*Around Easter time I took a styrofoam plate and made a cut 1/2 way down the plate, and then trimed out part of it to look like a basket, then the patches/badges were stapled to the plate (like an egg placed in a basket) , then I took a hot glue gun and put a bead of glue along the basket and then stuck easter grass on it.  On the handle I put what the name of the badge was.

 
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Starting as Daisies or the girls or troops first year, give the girls a silk flower with a ribbon attached. On the ribbon is all the badges and patches earned so far. At each ceremony use a different silk flower after all the girls years in scouting they will have a lovely bouquet to remember their award ceremonies with.
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Staple the girls badges & patches onto a wide ribbon with a pin at the top so the ribbon can be fastened to the vest/sash or staple badges & patches directly onto the vest/sash so parent knows exactly where to sew it!  The latter takes a good stapler (one of those little wimpy ones won't work) but the girls liked it the last time we did it this way.
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Get one of those straw wreaths (one for each girl) wrap the wreath in fabric, you can have the girls bring in fabric they like.  It takes about 1/2 yard.  If there is material left over a bow can be added.  Use straight pins to attach the badges to the wreath. The size of the wreath depends on how many badges they have earned.

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Cut out of poster board a vest/sash the program age level color and attach the patches/badges on them.

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Make trefoil shapes out of poster board as a troop - tied it into GS traditions.  Each girl makes one.  At a Court of Awards Ceremony, the patches were attached with double-stick tape.  Simple, but eye catching.

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We studied Egypt all year as our country for Thinking Day so I made pyramids with poster board and had the badges and patches inside of it.  

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Earned your Sign of the Satellite?  Make a shooting star.  On The star part put everything that goes on the front of the vest/sash and on the shooting part put all of the other patches earned.  

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Theme your ceremonies. For example: Gardening - give girls small bags of potpourri and the adults garden glove memo pads for lending a hand.  Staple the girls recognitions that they earned since the last ceremony on a themed cotton ribbon 3-4 inches wide (the kind you use for wreath bows) and cut nice on the bottom.  Many parents don't get around to sewing the badges and patches for a few months, so this long ribbon was sure not to get lost in the shuffle during the summer months. you could even put a magnetic strip on it so it could be hung on the fridge!

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Use pinwheels and attach streamers to it and on each streamer was a try it or patch.  

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Make chocolate kiss roses and attach to each leaf a badge

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Use needlework ornament start frames and last year when my girls earned their leadership pin I covered the cardboard with fabric and put the leadership in the center and then from the Junior green and Cadette blue ribbons I attached badges and patches.  

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Put the badges in Ziploc bags and insert into a big balloon, blow up or use a helium tank.  Should be a hoot watching those girls try and figure out how to get the badges out!

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Pin each badge to a ribbon--one ribbon for each girl, could have a name tag or even a "mum" at the top.

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Make paper flowers with a cardboard backing in the shape of the trefoil behind, with streamers in the colors of the world hanging from it.  Use little wooden pieces for the girls to hold on to.  The badges and pins were then put on the streamers and given to the girls as they crossed the bridge.

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Make a necklace of the Try-Its and patches girls were receiving.  Tape on curly ribbon.

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Make Daisies out of construction or poster board.  Attaching badges to petals, also attaching to ribbons that can be pinned onto the girl's uniform during ceremony.

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Staple the badges/try-its to a thin ribbon and then tie the ribbon very tightly to a lollipop stick.
Take assorted lollipops and stick them in Styrofoam and then...let's see, what will we do with them???? Have the Styrofoam spray painted brown already and precut to fit small clay flowerpots.  Now you have a flowerpot full of flower- lollipops!!  You could do one of the flower ceremonies and then hand these out as each girl says her part or at the end of the ceremony!!!

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Make a vest from a plane brown grocery bag, then attached the one year
star,  Try-It, and Bridging patch,  they had earned during the bridging steps or throughout the year.

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Use with Try-Its - make a mini Pizza Pan and mount them with a dab of hot glue on the back, to form a portion or whole Pizza.  

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With Junior Badges perhaps a mounted on a fun foam Ice Cream dish, like scoops of Ice cream

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   Then for the IPP's you could build a Pyramid, as they are the 'Building Blocks of Life'

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Staple patches/badges to a strip of wide, kind of stiff   ribbon.  Attach a sticker/label to top of ribbon with girl's name so you know whose it is.  When presented to the Scout, pin it to her sash/shirt.

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Take a small terra cotta pot and paint it (we used silver and blue since several of the girls earned their silver award).   Put Styrofoam into each pot. Take pieces of coated floral wire in varying lengths (4" up to 10") Wrap one end of the wire tightly around the end of a pencil, then slide the wire off the pencil.  You should have something that looks like this O---------     Be sure the coil of wire is coiled tightly.  Take each piece of wire and stick it into the Styrofoam in the pot. These will be standing up looking like flower stems. Take the badge or patch and wedge it into the coil.   Now you have a pot full of patches and IP's.  Once the girls take the patches out to be sewn on their vests, they can still use the pot and wire to display their favorite pictures.

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Have the leaders write down something ahead of time to say about each girl, something fun-outstanding memory of the activities, etc.   This keeps the ceremonies from being dry no matter what props are used in handing the girls their badges, patches, and other awards.  Tell them to invite parents and relatives, having the girls make invitations each time.  The leaders should pencil in prospective dates on their troop planning calendars so they and the parents are not caught off guard.  Parents deserve plenty of notice and troop information in a timely manner.  This keeps them on your side, no matter what mistakes happen during the year.  Too many leaders view parents as the enemy when they should be treated as allies of the troop.  They can easily transfer their girls to other troops or out of Girl Scouting altogether.

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Another idea is varying the location of the ceremonies from time to time.  Having a lawn party where everyone brings their own blankets or chairs would be a nice change of pace, esp. for younger siblings.  Have parents in charge of getting refreshments.  Put a notice in the newspaper afterward.  Try to include a group picture.

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  A way to thank troop parent volunteers is to give each one a small plant for their garden.  The girls can decorate Styrofoam cups or small pots.  Baskets can be made of paper.  Or the girls can present their parents with a flower- live or homemade.  Have the girls take turn with parts or running the ceremony.  The busier they are, the less fidgety they are during the ceremony.  Start and end on time! Everyone's time is valuable!  Do not wait until the last minute to plan the meeting or buy the supplies.  A rushed leader takes a while to settle down and everyone wants the leader's attention as soon as she gets there.  Keep a notebook of ceremonies and evaluate them.  Keep notes on each one you have used.

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Tie silver and gold ribbons to the flowers and silver and gold rings (found in the wedding section of our local craft store). They represented the make new friends but keep the old, one is silver the other is gold.

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Make "Brownie" angels - Materials: Brown grocery bags, toilet paper tube, doll hair in various shades, markers or crayons, 1/4" or 1/2" wide ribbon, hot glue.Using brown grocery bags - cut out 2 angel shapes for each angel using "pinking shears"  ( they looked like paper dolls with long skirts )  - leaders cut and glue the angel except for the bottom of the skirt.  Cut a toilet tube in half and glue into opening of shirt to make it stand up.  Girls add details like doll hair, faces and decorations on dress area with markers.  Glue a piece of ribbon between the angels hands and stapled the Try-Its and other awards to it.  At your ceremony line up on the table. The girls cam later put them on their Christmas tree as a decoration.

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  Cut green trefoils - about 4" size and wrote each girls name on them - staple to this a gold wire edged ribbon ( about 2" wide) and stapled all the Try-its and membership stars to each one - the girls pinned this to their vest using the star pin ( this was great because they didn't lose it before the end of the meeting !)

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For a holiday themed ceremony, Make wreaths out of construction paper and tape the girls try-its and patches around the wreath add a red bow at the top with their names on it.

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Get 1 helium balloon per girl.  Tape or staple try-its/patches to the end of the streamer on the balloon.

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  Cut a huge trefoil out of green poster board. Put green crepe paper streamers behind the trefoil -- 1 streamer per girl w/try-its and patches attached.

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 Get a cheap clay pot (1 per girl).  Sponge paint/decorate it.  Attach one try-it or badge to a paper cupcake cup, then to a green chenille stem (in other words, make each patch/try-it into a flower, add leaves, etc.)  "Plant them" in florist foam in the clay pot.

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  Do a Hawaiian theme (great in the winter!)  Order cheap Hawaiian decorations from Oriental Trading or buy at your local "party and paper" store.  Put each try-it/badge on a lei and present the lei to the girl.

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 Do a "Make new friends but keep the old" theme ceremony.  Decorate everything in silver and
gold.  Buy cheap silver and gold metallic material and make little drawstring bags big enough to hold patches/try-its.  Give the gold to the "old" scouts (3rd graders?) and silver bags to the "new" brownies (1st graders?) or random or whatever. *********************************************************************************************
Use Microsoft Greetings Workshop to make up presentation certificates.  Use the borders option to border the certificate.  For the space explorer try-it, use little planets.  For the Christmas Parade patch, I use Christmas trees.  Then, type the try-it or patch name, the date, a Congratulations, and the girls name.  Make the certificate about 3 inches by 8 inches, so you can get about 3 or 4 on a page.   Print out about 4 pages, cut them out with pinking shears and staple the patch or try-it to the certificate.  
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Put the badges or patches in little stockings

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Give out badges or patches in a card.

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For a winter themed ceremony cut out snowflakes from poster board and attach badges & patches to it.  Hang from ceiling and take down at the end of ceremony. (Angela Brown)

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A Christmas tree decorated with Try-It "ornaments".   Perhaps out of green poster board.  You could also add tinsel or draw lights etc. with metallic marker.  

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Make felt flowers, and attach the badges to the centers of them. *********************************************************************************************
Make envelopes out of Girl Scout wrapping paper.

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Attach the badges to heart doilies in February.

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Attach the badges to a paper Jack-o-lantern in October

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Create a charm bracelet using their badges as the charms. (Angela Brown) *********************************************************************************************
Take pockets from old jeans and add a jute handle, staple the try-it to the pocket and fill the pocket with important troop information. 
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How about putting them in a home-made booklet, with the badge or award on one side, and a brief description of what the girls did to earn it on the facing page. The cover can be made out of construction paper, and it can say, "My Fun Accomplishments" or something like that. I do this for my girls, and realized that as they read it to themselves they remembered exactly what activities were done to earn the badge. (Months later I overheard someone admiring their sash, and asked what the badge was for, and the girl scout actually described all of the activities she did to attain it. I was proud of her.) The book gets a little "fat" but it is really cute. Make a tassel type bookmark to put in it.  *********************************************************************************************
We just finished our first year of Jr.'s--so the theme was TRAVEL.  I got empty black video boxes from our video store donated-my Asst. and I cut handles out of black foam sheets and simply closed the box on them--instant "luggage"!!  We made luggage tags with the girl's names on them and they were done. We then used a dab of hot glue to put the badges earned on like stickers on a suitcase when you've been traveling and incorporated travel themed comments-(-We're begun our journey, etc..--here's some of the things we've done-..)-each girl spoke about an activity we did this year and how it helped us grow as a scout.  The girls loved the suitcases and so did !--We also put a message from the Asst. and I about how proud we are of them inside.  It was great to do something so different--Total cost-79 cents for a sheet of foam-we had some old plastic cards with holes that we glued each girl's name with a brown border--made it look like a luggage tag that was looped around handle. Kathy - Junior Troop Leader Tampa, FL 

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I wanted to make our ending Court of Awards very special since it was our last as a Junior troop, and we had finished some things that we had been working on all year, such as the Junior Leadership Pin, the Bronze Award, Bridge to Cadettes, etc. I bought 8x10 frames at Dollar General for $1 each. I used yellow paper and printed the girl's name using the FunStuff font, and then trimmed the page to fit the frame. This was used as the background in the frame. Then I used Plasti-tak to hold the patches and badges on. The pins I stuck directly through the paper and cardboard backing. Then I put the glass back in the frame, and they looked wonderful. The only award that I didn't put in the frame was the Bronze Award, which we gave out separately. Beth Ranado Cadette Leader Cumming, GA

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Our girls (mostly 6th grade Juniors) decided to have a dance party with pizza for the end of the year. We made individual sized pizzas on cardboard circles with red felt and yellow and orange yarn bits, and their badges as pepperoni. They really looked cute. Clare Fazackerley Iverson

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What I did for the Mom's who helped with everything in our troop this year. I got on e Bay/girl scouts and got a couple of old GS 1st edition postcards or envelopes. They were from 1948 1st edition postmark of GScouting or/& JGL birthday. Really cool stuff. They were only a couple of bucks. Once Igot them I mounted them on GS green paper and put them in a glass no frame frame. They turned out beautiful and the Moms where shocked! They will be a forever increasing in value GS gift. These two Mom's were GS themselves so it meant that much more to them. e bay has a ton of GS stuff that is great for gifts. This year I also took the "Because You said yes" poem and printed it out on nice stationary,. added a group picture of the girls and framed it. You could do that quickly. Deb Elliott Troop 6381 Atlanta

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Wrap awards in festive packages Put awards:
On pipe cleaner stems in a flower pot.

In a plastic egg for a springtime ceremony.
On leafy branches or pine boughs
In a bandana on a stick
On a paper doll chain
Attached to international flags
On cardboard hearts
On tongue depressors
On paper airplanes
Grace Nolan Leader, Junior Troop 1251 and Service Unit Manager Sunland-Tujunga Girl Scouts