Well, I'll admit I still have a lot of final details to sort through, but I'm getting absolutely giddy about the North Caribou District Blue and Gold Banquet coming up this week. We held our first big Akela's Adventure course last August (comprehensive Cub Scout program training for all Cub Scout leaders) and as part of our activities that week, we held a Hogwarts-themed Blue and Gold Banquet. It was a blast. So much so, that I promised the participants and staff I'd pull together four pages crammed with ideas for throwing their own Harry Potter Blue and Gold Banquet or pack meeting. So of course, this has become the theme for our district Blue and Gold as well.
By this point, the handouts are done, and you'll find in the right margin the aforementioned Harry Potter pack ideas, as well as samples for doing your own Wizard's Bingo gathering activity and more than a dozen Harry Potter/wizard-related jokes. Why the jokes? Well, don't we all need a few silly jokes for our boys? But in particular, these are the jokes I put into mismatched, colorful, odd socks which I then hung on a clothesline and identified with the sign "Dobby's Socks." For run-ons at your banquet or pack meeting, simply have a participant go over to the clothesline and pull a joke from one of the socks. It's amazing how many people want to be part of the fun with Dobby's socks! :o)
The Blue and Gold isn't our only excitement at roundtable. We also held another carnival at our roundtable meeting a couple of months ago. This time, instead of doing a standard carnival, we opted to go with a "Let It Snow" carnival. Check out my handout in the carnival ideas section (also in the right-hand column) for lots of wintery-themed fun. Keep in mind this is an elective adventure for the Bears now, and done right, will be one of your biggest pack meeting hits.
And finally, I'm often asked for some good service project ideas -- to which I always succeed in going completely blank. So let's scrap my terrible memory and get this down in print! In the left-hand column I've added two great lists of service project ideas, one of which comes from scoutingmagazine.org. (Ironically, I just logged into that link to make sure I had the address right and they are also talking about a Harry Potter-themed Blue and Gold Banquet! What are the odds?! Evidently great minds really do think alike!)
Incidentally, if you haven't subscribed to the "Bryan on Scouting" blog posts provided through scoutingmagazine.org, I highly recommend doing so. It's just one more way to stay in the loop on what's going on in the BSA.
Happy New Year, stay warm, and good luck with all those upcoming Blue and Gold Banquets!
