Welcoming Girls into Your Troop: Notes on the Investiture Ceremony.

One of my favorite movies is The Sound of Music.  I always smile when Maria meets the Von Trapp family for the first time.  They sneak a frog into her pocket, and they place a pine cone on her seat at the dinner table.  Not the warm, friendly welcome she was expecting, I am sure.  Girls who are new to Girl Scouts would enjoy a proper welcome into your troop as well.    

An Investiture Ceremony is held to welcome girls into Girl Scouts for the first time.  The Girl Scout receives her Daisy pin during this ceremony.  We held an Investiture Ceremony for our troop during the fourth or fifth meeting of the year to ensure the new girls could recite the Girl Scout Promise.  I chose a simple Investiture Ceremony I found online, and I included it in this post (see below).

Preparing for this ceremony took little time, and it did not cost us a dime.  All we needed was a script, some index cards, and a Daisy Petals Set poster.  The script was printed from the website (link above), and the index cards held the lines each girl would recite during the ceremony.  As I have mentioned in previous posts, I love to scrapbook.   After finishing pages for my albums, I always have scraps of cardstock and patterned paper leftover.  I keep these scraps organized by color in an expanding file.  They have come in handy when I have needed a small amount of paper for a troop project.  I used the Creative Memories Circle Patterns Cutter to make the 3.5" Daisy Center on blue cardstock.  I used the Creative Memories Oval Patterns Cutter to cut the 10 (2.25"x3") Daisy petals on colored cardstock.  I then lightly traced these components onto a 12"x12" piece of white cardstock with a pencil to guide the girls with petal placement during the ceremony.  A small piece of tape was rolled onto the back of the petals, and we allowed the girls to place the petals in any order on the poster.

 

  INVESTITURE CEREMONY

LEADER:  You are about to become Daisy Girl Scouts. Together we will explore all the fun and adventure of Girl Scouting. Let's look at some of the things we might do.

  #1 GS:     The lady that started Girl Scouts was Juliette Gordon Low.

  #2 GS:     Her nickname was "Daisy".

  #3 GS:     We are named after her.

  #4 GS:     Together we will learn more about Girl Scouting.

  #5 GS:     The Girl Scout Promise is the pledge that tells us how to live our lives.  (Place the blue Promise Center in center of board.)

LEADER:  In Daisy Girl Scouts, girls earn 10 Learning Petals.  Each petal is a different color, which represents a different phrase from the Girl Scout Law.
ALL:         I will do my best to:

  #6 GS:  (place light blue petal on board)   Be honest and fair

  #7 GS:   (place yellow petal on board)   Be friendly and helpful

  #8 GS:   (place spring green petal on board)  Be considerate and caring

  #9 GS:   (place red petal on board)  Be courageous and strong

#10 GS:   (place orange petal on board)  Be responsible for what I say and do

#11 GS:   (place purple petal on board)   Respect myself and others

#12 GS:   (place magenta petal on board)  Respect authority

#13 GS:   (place green petal on board)   Use resources wisely

#14 GS:   (place rose petal on board)   Make the world a better place

#15 GS:   (place violet petal on board)  Be a sister to every Girl Scout.

At this time, all girls make the Girl Scout sign and repeat the Promise.

The girls in our troop received their Daisy insignia tabs, Daisy membership pins, and the blue Promise Center of the petal set at this ceremony.  Thanks for reading!