We have a super fun guest blog this week from a River Valleys troop leader who threw a birthday bash for our favorite Girl Scout – Juliette Gordon Low! Read on and check out the cutest photos ever to learn how to throw your own birthday party for “Daisy” (JGL’s nickname)!
This year I have two Girl Scouts in the house: a first year Daisy and a first year Brownie. While my Brownie learned about Juliette Gordon Low last year, I thought it’d be fun to teach my Daisy about Juliette Gordon Low a little differently. Since JGL’s (as we have started calling her) birthday is in October, a birthday party was a perfect way to start out her first year in Girl Scouts and to learn about the founder of Girl Scouts. So we took to Pinterest – and brainstormed our own ideas – and came up with some really fun projects and activities to celebrate her birthday and learn some things along the way!
First up was “pin the marshmallow on the stick,” a game we thought up. We discussed what our favorite activities were when thinking of Girl Scouts, and of course, s’mores came up right away. The kids really enjoyed this one – my favorite moment was when my younger daughter help guide my older daughter when she got off track. It was a golden Girl Scout moment!
Next was my personal favorite: a pop-up Girl Scout museum made up of items we collected from family and friends who were former Girl Scouts. It was really fun listening to stories from women who were Girl Scouts in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and today as we collected the items! At the party, we all enjoyed looking through the old handbooks and picking out our favorite badges on the old sashes.
Building an edible bonfire was next on our list of activities. The marshmallows were the circle of rocks to keep the fire contained, three pretzel sticks were the foundation of the fire, coconut was the tinder, broken pretzels represented the kindling, the raisins were the charcoal (in case we needed to make some pigs in a blanket or jiffy pop), and then, of course, the flame was made of candy corn! Great opportunity to teach the girls about fire safety in a fun way.
Pancake flipping! This was a game that was played when Juliette was a girl, and wow was it funny! We changed the rules just a bit from the traditional way to play, instead, seeing how many times the girl could flip the pancake before dropping it. 23 times was the winner! If you play this game, be sure to overcook the pancakes so they are extra firm and won’t break easily (and make sure to tell the girls not to eat them).
To bring our celebration to a close, we decorated cupcakes with Girl Scout colors and talked about our favorite part of our Juliette Gordon Low birthday party (it’s always important to reflect).
This ended up being a really fun way to teach young girls about the founder of Girl Scouts; it was fun, fast moving, and each activity took the perfect amount of time. The girls were engaged and interested in each activity, too, so I feel like they really took something away from it. Plus, my Brownie earned a good part of her Girl Scout Way Badge – huge bonus!
Throw your own birthday bash with your troop with these activities or ones of your own – and stop by one of our shops to pick up your Girl Scout party supplies (Girl Scout cupcake liners, a trefoil-shaped cake pan, trefoil print balloons, and more!). Share how you celebrated on our Facebook page!
Sally Gruman – Sally is a professional photographer and Mom to three crazy kids: two daughters, a Daisy and Brownie Girl Scout and one son. Sally grew up on a hobby farm in Lake Elmo, MN and spent five wonderful years as a Girl Scout with her Mom as the leader. Sally, her husband, and kids are new residents of Shoreview, Minnesota and are learning all about the suburban life after living 10 years in St. Paul. Sally has been active in Girl Scouts River Valley with her daughters, they especially enjoy attending events such as Girl Scout day at the ballet and Girl Scout day at a Saints game, and this year they will be trying out You Snow Girl. Sally and her older daughter also attended Horsing Around with Mom/Dad at Camp Elk River this past summer – Sally loved reliving her Girl Scout camp days and her daughter is officially hooked on Girl Scout camp!
To see more of Sally’s work check out her website; www.grumanphotography.com or follow her on Instagram at; www.instagram.com/sallyjmad/