Inviting and Welcoming New Girls to Your Troop

To find new girls for your troop–especially when new troops are beginning to grow, or existing troops are looking for additional girls–troops can create invites, host ‘bring a friend’ meetings, or contact us if you’d like to be connected to prospective Girl Scouts in your area.

Create Invites

Girls can create paper invites and pass them out at school, sports meetings, club meetings, church, or out in the community. Or, you can use social media to get the word out. Make sure girls only include their first name on the information they distribute and have all inquiries come through the troop leader.

Check out our troop expansion resources that you can use to invite families to Girl Scouts:

 

Host a ‘Bring a Friend’ Troop Meeting

It’s common that girls might want to invite friends to troop meeting to see what Girl Scouts is all about. You can create a special ‘Bring a Friend’ meeting for your troop, or designate certain meetings throughout your year where girls can bring friends. Be sure to consult Safety-Wise for the required girl/adult ratios for meetings.

Girls Scouts in an inclusive organization that welcomes all girls to be a part of the fun! You and your troop will want to make sure that any new troop member feels welcome and included—here are some inviting ideas:

Create a Welcome Letter

Have the troop write, decorate, and sign a welcome letter. They can even write personal messages for new Girl Scouts.

Plan an Investiture Ceremony

An investiture ceremony is a chance to welcome a new girl in the world of Girl Scouting. Work with your troop and plan an investiture (or your own ceremony) to welcome the new girl at her first meeting, and let your troop come up with the ideas of activities or songs.

An investiture ceremony might look something like this:

• Start in the Friendship Circle and sing a song, like the Brownie Smile song, and recite the Girl Scout Promise together.
• While in the circle, girls take turns introducing themselves and one thing that they love about Girl Scouts.
• The leader pins the new girl with a World Trefoil Pin and Girl Scout Membership Pin and shakes her hand using the Girl Scout handshake, welcoming her into the world of Girl Scouts.
• Close the ceremony with the Friendship Circle Squeeze.

For more examples see our In The Loop post, The In’s-and-Out’s of Investitures. If you’re not comfortable with a ceremony, just create an ice-breaker game as an introduction activity. Girls love to play, and nothing breaks the ice more than laughter!

Assign the New Girl a Buddy

Prior to the new girl’s first meeting, assign the new girl a ‘Buddy’ to help answer any questions and put her at ease throughout the first few meetings. She can sit next to her Buddy during activities and help her understand how the troop operates.