December Pack Meeting

This pack meeting was a little more frazzled for me because I didn’t plan it until a couple days before with most of the prep the day of, but it came together and was a wonderful night of service.  After our pack meeting last month where the boys learned about veterans we decided to do service for the Fisher House in SLC. Similar to a Ronald McDonald House, the Fisher House is for the families of hospitalized veterans.  The scouts made these cute finger print Christmas cards. We also made  motivational water bottles,

Merry Kissmas goody bags,

and bags of Elf Pillows.

The highlight of the night was sewing heating pads.  The boys and all the kids loved having the opportunity to sew.  I’m so grateful for those willing to sew with these kids.

I love working with these boys and planning fun pack meetings that teach them the importance of being good scouts, good citizens and good kids. We have a great bunch of Cub Scouts.

Calendar Freebie

With life getting busy I’m not scrapbooking as often but I thought I’d still share some freebies today. Here’s a set of calendar pages for your holidays.  They make the perfect gift.  These are designed for a 8.5x11 calendar and do not include the date part of the calendar – images only, plus a cover. Here’s a few samples.  Happy Scrapping!

Click Here & Here to download.

November Pack Meeting

What an incredible Pack Meeting tonight. Our cub scouts are the best - they were so respectful and well behaved as we got to hear from 4 local veterans. It was fabulous. And a big WOW and THANKS to the SHS ROTC cadets who provided our color guard and did an awesome Cub Scout Boot Camp. It was amazing to have such a military presence with us as we learn about responsibility and service. We owe so much to those willing to sacrifice for our freedoms.

Boot Camp Calisthenics

Boot Camp Obstacle Course

They started with a ladder run, army crawled under barbwire (yarn), went across a balance beam,

and did some over unders, followed by nerf gun target shooting and a final zigzag sprint to the end.

It was a fun night.  We had every single one of our scouts there.  The boys were able to hear experiences and see memorabilia up close. A wonderful and fun night learning about our military.

Den Leader Thank You Candy Gram

We got some of our Bears together to make a giant Thank You card to a former Den Leader. The boys did a great job coming up with ways to use the different candy.

"To our EXTREME scout leader,

We had MOUNDS of fun with you even though we are GIANT NERDS. You taught us the WAY to be SMART scouts. You never SNICKERED when we were DUDS. We SKORED in getting you for a leader. We will always LOOK up to you. You are EXTRA awesome.          From your AIR HEADS."

Beach Party

We had a fun beach party this year for my 7 year old. And like all my parties – the average busy mom can put it together, even the cupcakes, without breaking the bank.

While all the girls arrived, they colored pictures of shells to decorate their goody bags. Once everyone was here the real fun began. They played ring toss and bean bag toss. They ran through sprinklers and had so much fun on the water slide.

It ended up being an easy, fun party because there were things for the girls to do and they had fun running around and playing for two hours. There was no organized play or games. Love it.

The Cake

Sadie did not want cupcakes this year but my brainstorm for her cake was in fact cupcakes. So we compromised and did both. The cupcakes were for the party and we saved the cake for family. They were easy enough to make, even the birthday girl helped. The sand is made with crushed graham crackers (on top of tan frosting). The waves are made by piping blue frosting with one side of the bag filled with white frosting to create foaming waves. Throw on a teddy graham and an umbrella and Viola!

I felt like the cake needed some finishing touches so I added striped paper for beach towels and edged the beach with Pepperidge farm Pirouette wafers.

I don’t spend a lot of money on goody bags but I do like them to be fun. I included a small beach ball (amazon), cheap sun glasses (amazon), and some treats with a thank you note. I spent about $1 per bag.

Enjoy the sun and let the kiddos play!

Invites & Thank you cards

Download Blank Invite HERE

Download Thank You QPs HERE

Pinewood Derby

We just finished a fun and successful Pinewood Derby race. Being the Cubmaster I was in charge of the whole production but did it with lots of help. We had 16 boys participate, which was a perfect number.  With that many the boys didn’t have to wait too long between races.  Here’s some ideas if you get to run the show for your pack.

The Display Table

I ran a rope under the table cloth for the cars to straddle. We didn’t lose any cars to accidentally running off the table. Husbands first idea was to put a 2x4 under the cloth. That would have worked well too – but the rope fit in my bag better :) Don’t forget to put out “Do Not Touch” signs and station a leader at the table as your security officer.

We also decided to display little labels stating the scouts name and the award they earned. This way you could actually figure out the creative awards while looking at the cars.

Awards

Of course the racing isn’t all about winning, but I still think winning cars deserve some recognition – along with all the boys. So each boy received a printed certificate with a unique recognition for their car. Cars were turned in and weighed the night before giving the committee time to review each car before the races began. The extra time was nice.

Along with a certificate  – because, let’s be honest, boys want something they can eat and mom’s want something they can throw away when it’s all over – their award was a giant lollipop – Pinewood Derby Speedster 2014.

The place winners were given these awesome (simple and inexpensive) awards made by my friend. I know I’m a hater – but I really do hate trophies and ribbons. I thought these were unique and a fun way for the boys to display their achievements.

Pit Stop

When the races were finished and the awards were handed out, the kids enjoyed the Pit Stop with it’s Antifreeze, Motor Oil and Stop Light Brownies. There’s a ton of cute ideas for food for such an event but when you have 5 different treats to choose from kids take 5 desserts. This worked perfectly and we had plenty thanks to all the parents who brought them.

Photo Booth

We also set up a backdrop for pictures. I’m so glad we did this – Pinewood Derby night is full of pictures and this was better than the carpeted walls of our church.

I’m always about sharing! Why do the same work twice. If you need any of the things I printed you are free to download them here. SORRY LINKS ARE NOT WORKING.

Squeeze-it labels (6 to a page)

Awards (2 to a page)

Sucker Awards (printed as a 4x6 photo)

Photo booth Sign for 2014 and 2015

Road Signs

Pit Stop Sign

Sign in Spreadsheet