Blue & Gold Banquet - Medieval

Blue and Gold Banquets.  This event can be overly stressful if you let it.  It is the biggest Cub Scout event of the year. First things first, the theme.  Once you have a theme decided you can start working the magic.  The Blue and Gold doesn't have to be a production, it can be as big or small as you want it.  I have a friend who for theirs decorated by putting two helium balloons, one blue & one yellow, at each table and was done.  Nothing wrong with that at all!  However, we tend to go a bit bigger.  We can't help it, I think it may be a sickness.  ;)

For our 2015 Blue and Gold Banquet we had decided to go off the theme of Medieval.  So where to start.  The answer to that is decorations!  We decided to have the boys all decorate shields to represent themselves to be hung on the walls.  We also decided on a cardboard castle at the front of the room as a backdrop.  We were originally going to have the boys help with making the castle, but due to time constraints the leaders made the castle while the boys worked on the shields and their tunics (more on that later).  For the shields I took cardboard and cut out shields that were about 18"-24" in height.  We had a bucket of craft supplies and let the boys have at it.  They were allowed to make their shields in any way they wanted.  Some of them got pretty creative, while some just wanted to get theirs done and move on.  It all depends on the boy.  Once the shields were done we cut a long piece of string which we taped both ends of to back of the shield.  When it came time to decorate we stapled the string to the wall (tape would work depending on your wall) and our shields were hung up.  We also did 4 larger shields which had the Bobcat, Wolf, Bear, and Webelos rank insignia on them.  At the back of the room we used 4 Harry Potter banners to decorate behind the food tables.  We used the back of the HP banners and taped on the 4 scout rank insignia from the shields and then put a strip of yellow and blue crepe paper on the outer edges to make them look fancier.  To make the scouting rank insignia for the shields and banners we used our projector hooked up to the computer to trace them out.  The castle was put together using some donated cardboard.  As I wasn't involved in the making of it, only the painting of the bricks, I'm not 100% how they built it.  As we had a boy receiving his Arrow of Light at this meeting, we made shields with the Arrow of Light insignia on them and put them on the castle. The last part of the decorations were the center pieces.  We decided to put castles on each of the tables.  We collected all the square tissue boxes that we could over the year.  Then we went to work making them into castles.  To do this was fairly easy and we involved the boys here also.  We printed out black and white brick walls onto card-stock.  We also printed out the 4 Cub Scout rank insignia talked about earlier in color.  The boys all helped color the brick walls, mostly in browns and reds, though some got creative in their color choices.  It took 2 pieces of card-stock per castle, so we had each boy color two sheets the same.  After all the sheets were colored we had them cut out the scouting rank insignia.  Once we got these things all home we made slip on covers for the castle walls.  Once the walls were assembled we glued on a den insignia banner on each side of the castle.  We also took bamboo skewers and glued the den rank insignia onto them at the top for a little extra coming out the center. My husband also printed out some color copies of a stone brick wall and we used those for the cake table decorations, while the boxes the boys did were on the dinner tables.

SHIELDS:

BANNERS:

CASTLE:

CENTER PIECES:

BRICK TEMPLATE FOR COLORING:

 BRICK TEMPLATE FOR PRINTING:

SET UP FROM FRONT AND BACK:

Our invitations were as follows:

Here is the original shield design we based ours off of.  I made the invite in Microsoft Publisher again and so used a shield and sword found in their default clip art. Then inserted the rank insignia on top of it. 

Since our theme was medieval, we decided the boys would all be knights.  So of course a knight needs a tunic and his crest.  We had some paper grocery bags in our garage that we decided would make the perfect tunics.  I had my kids help me with the cutting, as it was going to take some time.  First we cut the sides out of the bags.  We then turned them inside out and folded them at the top.  We then cut out a half circle in the middle of that fold.  We then opened it and cut a slit in from the outside of one side into the middle where the circle was.  This made it so the boys could easily put it on and off.  We used a small piece of tape to help hold it closed.  So that it wouldn't tear it, we put down another piece of tape underneath it so the tape holding it closed was on top of tape and not the bag.  We also cut out yarn and taped them halfway down the sides to make tie closures.  Each boy was given a bag and asked to decorate it in a way that represented them.  It could be anything that they loved as it would be their knight crest.  The boys were given a bucket of crayons and markers and told to go at it.  We had a crest with a Pikachu, one with a monkey wizard, an artist dragon, Minecraft, and many others.  The boys got very creative here!  We also made a tunic for each of the incoming Cub Scouts for that year.  We used the projector again and put the Bobcat insignia on each of these tunics.  We also made a couple extra tunics for boys who hadn't made one of their own, one was a dragon and the other a lion.  We were able to find foam swords and shields in the dollar bin at Target and bought them out.  So now our boys were all equipped with a tunic, a sword, and a shield.  Our knights were ready to go!  Since the boys were all dressed up, we figured the Cub Master should be too.  Using a stray piece of fabric and some felt we made me a tunic with the fleur-dis-lis on it.  I wore my brother's vampire cape and one of his swords at the waist.  My mom let me use our Forbes family crest pin to pin the cape.  It worked out pretty well.  Since there was now a sword involved it was decided that we would "knight" the boys who were getting a rank advancement.  So they were knighted into the Order of the Bobcat, Wolf, Bear or Webelos.  The boys got a kick out of that. The boys also did a skit for the parents.  We used a skit that we found here: http://insanescouter.org/p/2564/142/The_Reluctant_Knight_And_The_Magic_Herb.html

We changed the name of the knight at the end to Sir Brave a Lot instead of Sag-No-More.  It turned out very cute!

TUNICS:

SWORDS AND SHIELDS/KNIGHTING:

CUB MASTER:

 For food we decided to go with finger foods.  We did baked chicken legs, veggies and dip, potato wedges, and jello jigglers.  The jello didn't set up quite right, so that ended up having to be eaten by fork.  We had two cakes, one chocolate and one white.  One had the American Flag on it and the other we got plain with a congratulations on it and then utilized the projector again to draw the Arrow of Light on it in yellow.

Rain Gutter Regatta

The past few years the Rain Gutter Regatta has been a church event for us.  The 8-11 year old girls have participated along side our cub scouts.  There has been a big picnic and everyone has been involved.  This year we are going to have it be a pack meeting activity.  We are also trying something different with the boats this year.  Normally we use the BSA boats, but to save some money we are going to try out soap boats this year.  I'll let you know how that goes when we get there!

We used to just use the actual rain gutters for our regatta.  When the BSA switched over to the trimarans though the gutters were just a little too skinny.  Handy husband to the rescue again!  My husband built our current gutters from scratch.  He utilized the sides of our old gutters, some plastic lining, some wood, screws, and some caulking.  And voila!  New gutters that fit the trimarans perfectly.  They are slightly bigger and bulkier than the old gutters, but they are also more stable.  For setting the gutters up we use some saw horses my husband and the Webelos made during one of their activities.  They needed to make something useful and boy are these useful!  Here is our set-up:

When it comes to trophies the Google Sketch-up comes out again, along with the milling machine, and some paint.  When it came to painting the backs of the trophies I thought of a real boat race.  I used that as my inspiration.  A boat race starts in the day, can run through sunset and into the evening.  Hence the morning, sunset, and night trophies for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places.  These also are made to be display trophies.  So there are grooves for the trimaran to sit in.  Then the boat is sailing in front of the sky.  We will have to tweak our trophies some this year since we are using different boats, but we will keep them as similar as possible.  

The last issue we had when it came to the regatta is what do you do with all those boats?  Seriously, what do you do with them?  Well if you are married to my husband you have a dry dock built. The dry dock was built using random pieces of wood that we had in the garage.  Thus our dry dock was born.  It can fit 16 on the top and the bottom shelf for a total of 32 boats.  Much better than the previous year when we threw them all in a plastic bucket!  For storage purposes with the removal of a couple screws in the side panel it all compacts down.

Pre Dry Dock Days

Post Dry Dock Days

Pinewood Derby

Thankfully the Pinewood Derby isn't too hard for us to pull off.  Since we are LDS, our Stake puts on the race.  The track and software to keep track of the times is provided, along with training to run everything.  We provide the scale for weigh-in, awards, and the fun.  My husband used Google Sketch-up to write a program for our awards.  He just has to update the year, but otherwise it is ready to go.  He uses a milling machine to cut out the lettering after he has cut the wood to size.  Afterwards he gives it a clear coat and paints out the front face in either gold, silver, or bronze depending on the award.  The top portion of the trophies is a display base for the boy's cars.  So it is a two in one!  The trophy becomes something functional, which as a parent is great.  Our boy won 2nd place as a Webelos and loves having his car displayed this way.

That takes care of the big three awards.  What about the rest of the boys?  Obviously not everyone can win a trophy.  All our boys do receive a certificate and a chocolate bar.  They all worked hard making their cars, so we do give them something to acknowledge all their hard work.  

This is the certificate we give the boys.  We mount it on blue and yellow card stock so that it has a little more weight to it.  We have done 8" x 10" before, but this year we went with a 5" x 7" one which seemed a little more manageable.  The hard part is coming up with what the award title will be for each car.

A piece of paper is all well and good, but we decided what the boys really wanted was chocolate!  So we made up Pinewood Derby chocolate bar wrappers.  We just update the year on it each time.  I used Microsoft Publisher to make the wrappers.They fit perfectly on a Hershey's bar.  We just use the plain to avoid any nut allergies.

Lastly, what do you do with all the kids during check-in time?  The boys are busy with last minute car prep, but the siblings are bored.  So after searching the internet, we found this printable.  It kept the kids busy and from running rampant all over the building.  As we want you to visit the website that made the printable, you can find it here:  http://www.papertoys.com/nascar.htm

Just a few steps before the race made for a successful race and happy Cub Scouts (and siblings) at the end of the day.

Thrown into the Deep End

I became the Cub Master for our Pack in January 2014.  The following week was the Pinewood Derby, followed closely the next month by the Blue and Gold Banquet.  I won't lie, I almost freaked out!  Then my husband, who was the Webelos leader, told me that everything was already planned out.  I just had to show up and be in charge.  Sure, not a problem.  And so began the craziness of the last two years.  At this point we have had 3 Pinewood Derbys, 3 Blue and Gold Banquets, 3 Rain Gutter Regattas, and approximately 12 pack meetings.  Every time there is a frantic question running through my head of "what are you going to do this time???".  We want our activities to be fun and to include the whole family.  So far, so good.  As I continue on my quest for fun pack meetings I will share what we have done/are doing here.  I find that as a Cub Master figuring out these meetings is the hardest part of the job.  Once everything is figured out and in place it seems to run fairly smoothly.  You just have to figure out what it is that you are going to do.  Often easier said then done.  I hope that you find this blog useful.