Should You Give Your Troop an End of the Year Gift?

Updated October 2019

For many of you, the end of the school year also marks the end of the scouting year. For some leaders, it brings up the question as to whether or not to give their girls an end of the year gift.

While there is no right or wrong answer to this question, I will give you my opinion.

Image created by the author in Canva

It is unnecessary for you to give your girls any kind of gift. I believe this way because I volunteer my TIME, which is priceless and a gift I have given to my troop over the past six years.  No, I am not being snarky or full of myself. I spent HOURS planning each and every meeting...no one else did this.  I drove to the Girl Scout store, the craft store, the grocery store, to Walmart, to Target or to the Dollar Store if we needed supplies for an activity.

I made the phone calls for field trips, sent out the emails twice a week to parents on meeting week, filled out permission slips, collected the slips and any money we needed for them, went to the bank to deposit the money. It was I who attended the leader meetings and went to classes to get the necessary training.

You get my drift.

I did this because I wanted to, and other parts of my life had to be set aside so I could accomplish what was needed. I also spent money out of pocket when necessary, and purchasing gifts for eleven girls would be more money of mine to spend.

If I did not do these things, then there would have been no Girl Scout troop.

That is why the gift of my time has been my gift to my girls over the years. When they were bridging, I gave them a small token item (a box of Brownie mix when they bridged to Brownies, a decorative piece my co-leader and I made for the bridge).

And to be honest, with my group, the girls really do not need anything. Their parents can afford to buy them pretty much anything they want (and some do), so my small token gift really is an extra and unnecessary expense for me.

Photo from morguefile.com

If you do wish to give a gift, something to consider is if the money should come out of your own pocket and that of your co-leader or from the troop account.

In my opinion, I believe gift money should come out of your pocket because if you have done any kind of fundraising, then the girls are technically buying their own gifts with the money they earned. Is this how you want troop funds spent?  Will you be needing this money in the fall for patches and supplies? 

Then you need to decide if the gift should be scout related or not. Is there something you can give them that they can use at next year's meetings or field trips?

As the leader, you have given the girls in your troop the gift of having the opportunity to be a Girl Scout, and that is a gift that money cannot buy.

Fun and Easy Craft for the End of the Year

Updated October 2019

If you have decided not to meet over the summer, then you are winding down this month.  For my Junior troop, we are scrapbooking our Bronze Award and our Pump It Up field trip.

You may not have the time for a last minute trip, so here is an easy craft that you can make with your girls from geekydiva.

Picture from Greyerbaby at pixabay.com

In her blog post, she suggests that you use this craft as part of the Daisy Investiture. While that is a worthwhile idea, I think it is a fun craft to use for Mother's Day or to share what the girls have enjoyed about this past year as a Daisy Scout.

If you do not have the cutting tool she used, then you can use find a template via an online search. The girls can decorate it with Girl Scout memories that you have prepared for them.  For example, you can use Girl Scout stickers for one petal. If you visited the fire station, they can use a fire truck sticker and color the petal red.

There really is no shortage of ideas, as what you put on is as unique as your troop.

What are you doing for the last meeting of the year?

Free Girl Scout Daisy Coloring Pages

UPDATED JUNE 2019

As a teacher since 1987, one of the very first things my principal had me master was classroom management. You see, it isn't enough to have a great lesson plan and implement it well.  In a class of 25 children, there will always be kids who finish quickly and those who need the entire period (or longer) to complete a task.

Image created by the author on Canva

Those who finish early can quite easily get themselves into trouble if they are not kept busy in a constructive way.  As a second and then a third grade teacher, I had a list of ten different enrichment activities on the blackboard every day. These changed weekly so that no child could ever complain about being bored.

I covered all different kinds of learners with my enrichment activities. Some were simple art projects that fit into a holiday or reading theme, others were word puzzles, and the most difficult were fifth and sixth grade brainteasers that all were encouraged to try, but only the top students tended to get correct.

Your Daisy meeting is probably an hour long, so there isn't much chance that early finishers on project you are working on will have a ton of time left over. However, any time not spent constructively can lead to unwanted behaviors like running around, bothering the girls who are still working and simple whining.

You can prevent these behaviors from happening with free Daisy coloring pages that you can print at home or take to the printers.

Here is a list of resources to find different coloring pages.

Makingfriends.com has petal pages and Girl Scout Law coloring pages.

Twistynoodle.com also has several Daisy flowers from which to choose.

This image search produced more coloring pages than you could ever use!

Have you used any of the free Girl Scout Daisy coloring pages?