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Updated October 2019
My daughter is now an 11th grade Senior. She loves to look back at the Girl Scout scrapbook that she made when she was younger. This is a great investment of time and materials. Plus, it is an easy meeting to plan 2-3 times a year.
Creating a Girl Scout scrapbook is an easy and worthwhile activity to do with your troop. With a little advanced planning, your girls can create an individual keepsake of their scouting years that will last a lifetime. While you can begin your troop's Girl Scout scrapbook at any time of the year, starting in the fall gives your girls a trip down memory lane that will make them smile at the end of the school year.
Image created by the author on Canva
Before you begin, have one leader in charge of taking the pictures, having them processed and separating them into a pile for each girl. Make sure whomever is the photographer gets enough notice to develop the film before your scrapbook meeting.
Another thing to note, as I learned from experience, is to make sure that your photographer gives you the receipts as she processes her film. It can cost quite a bit of money if she decides to have them printed just anywhere (and at the last minute) and does not look for sales and deals. As a matter of fact, I had to ask my troop parents for extra money at the end of the year because we ran out after all of the pictures were developed!
Twice a year, we devoted time to working on our scrapbooks. It is simply too overwhelming to do it all at one meeting. It was a tradition at our very last Girl Scout meeting before summer break to work on them. This always brought lots of giggles and grins were as they looked at their Daisy and Brownie pictures from just a few years ago. My troop is a group of young women who are in eigth grade; they are not little girls. Where did the time go?
Here is how we have scrapbooked through the years.
Get Volunteers!
When my troop was younger, I had two extra volunteers come to our scheduled scrapbook meetings. This is really important because Daisy Scouts get scissor happy and cut way too much off a picture! They also need help learning how to scrapbook. More eyes means fewer mistakes!
The First Way to Make a Girl Scout Scrapbook
We Started Doing This Activity as Daisy Girl Scouts
The first Girl Scout scrapbook is to use a basic Avery view binder and page protector inserts. Avery binders come in an assortment of colors, so be sure to buy each girl the same one to prevent any arguments over who gets which one. I chose white to keep things simple.
Available on Amazon
For paper, I used cardstock that the girls decorate with stickers and markers, or themed paper I can find in Staples or craft stores. For example, we will do a scrapbooking meeting in late November. I make sure that I have bought all of the fall and Halloween stickers and paper at the beginning of the month, when stores are trying to get rid of these things. The same goes for the week after any major holiday.
These three rolls of flower stickers are good not just for Daisy Scouts, but as the girls get older and do some of the other badge work in Brownies and Juniors. Available on Amazon.
This was a very successful way for us to make our treasury of memories. With a three ring binder, I could buy top loading inserts by the 100 and the girls could keep adding to the binder as the years passed. When new girls joined my troop, I could easily purchase additional binders for them that were just like the ones the veteran members of my troop had.
Make a Choice
As the leader, you need to decide if your scrapbook will be done yearly, for every level, or if you will use the same one for all of your troop's years in scouting.
A Second Girl Scout Scrapbook Option-Ready Made Girl Scout Scrapbooks
If you want to buy a traditional scrapbook, there are options available for you. You can pick any solid color or go with a pattern or floral theme. Pick the same exact scrapbook for each girl to avoid any issues and have her put her picture on the front cover.
There are official Girl Scout scrapbooks for Brownies and one that just says "Girl Scouts". There are many Girl Scout supplies that you can buy that go along with it. I buy these as well as regular stickers so the girls can have a mix of both.
Daisy leaders, the following is a helpful hint from my personal experience. When my troop was younger, before the scrapbooking meeting, I cut up the stickers and placed them in plastic bags with each girl's name on it ahead of time. This prevented one girl from hogging one kind of sticker and it made each girl responsible for her own supplies. If she did not finish, she could bring the bag and the paper home to do on her own time so she was all caught up for our next session.
The Best Scrapbook Paper!
When I buy scrapbook paper for my troop for art projects, I get lost in all of the choices that I have! There are so many bright, bold, and beautiful patterns. I do buy enough for each girl to have a piece. If we only need to cut out sections from a paper, then I buy three, one for each set of girls (I have eleven in my troop).
Scrapbook pads are also a great way to get a lot of paper for a minimal cost. You can start the girls off with blue themed paper as Daisies, then go to brown themed as Brownies, green as Juniors, etc. Here are some great pads-my favorite is the one with the butterflies, as there are so many options!
Girl Scout Embellishments
When my troop has scrapbooking meetings, I use a variety of stickers. While I do buy some at the end of the season and even from the Dollar Store, I always have a few sets of special Girl Scout themed stickers. I believe these are important to include because this is not a scrapbook of a vacation, a field trip or a birthday party...it is a Girl Scout scrapbook! No matter which style of scrapbook you do with your girls, the following paper rub-ons, stickers and other official Girl Scout embellishments will add a touch of class to your album!
Are you planning on making a Girl Scout scrapbook with your troop?
