Tinker Bell-Inspired Spring Party

Knowing we'd have a few free days at home during Spring Break, my daughters asked if they could invite some friends over for a party.  We bumped around Pinterest and brainstormed together, coming up with a Tinker Bell-inspired plan that was sure to be a hit.  The guest list included nine kids, ranging from second to sixth grade.  Here's how we spent our time together.

Paint a flower pot.

When allowing a large group of kids to paint, squirt paint on one or two paper plates per table and assign one paint brush per color.  When every child has his or her own paint brush, a cup of water is needed to rinse the brush between colors.  This has the potential to create all kinds of messes.  When one brush per color is used and the kids are finished painting, the paint brushes can be collected and rinsed all at once.  Minimal mess, minimal clean up.  During this party, I allowed half an hour for painting.  When the pots were dry, the kids had the opportunity to plant a pretty annual in their flowerpot to take home.

Make tissue paper flowers.

We've made tissue paper flowers in the past with our Girl Scout Troop.  Prior to our Spring Party, I referred to this pin and prepared stacks of assorted colors of tissue paper: five 8"x8" squares for each flower.  Following these instructions, the kids made their own flowers.

GAMES:
Fairy Mary's Lost Things

When our Junior Girl Scouts were earning the Detective Badge, we played a version of the tray game.  During our Spring Party brainstorming discussion, my older daughter suggested we play the tray game and call it Fairy Mary's Lost Things.  Brilliant!  I collected small items from around the house and assembled them on a tray that I covered with a dish towel.  The girls were given one minute to view the tray, and they had five minutes to write down every object they could remember.  Here is a list of the items included on this tray:
cotton ball, pearl-head needle, postage stamp, match, spring, penny, plastic outlet cover, Lego, paper clip, nail, washer, screw, glitter, key ring, picture hook, push pin, safety pin, Christmas tree light, rubber band, spool, battery, q-tip, toothpick, needle, plastic needle, hook/carabiner, zip tie, staples, button, light bulb.

Tinker Bell Paper Plate Game
I have incorporated the Paper Plate Game into several different Girl Scout and classroom Christmas parties, and it never seems to get old for the kids.  Earlier this year I made up another version of the game to get our troop excited for the Cookie Sale.  In preparation for this Tinker Bell-inspired party, I thought I'd give it another whirl.  To be honest, I was unsure if I was going to be able to pull it off.  To my surprise, the kids seemed to love it.  Maybe it's in the presentation?  I tend to get excited at parties. 

Steps:

Draw a mushroom, add dots if desired.

Draw a ladybug on the mushroom.

Draw Tinker Bell next to the mushroom.  She’s wearing a dress and booties.

She is holding a flower.

Draw Tink’s wings.

Points:

1 point for each dot on your mushroom

2 points if your ladybug touches the mushroom

1 point for each spot on your ladybug

2 points if Tink is wearing her dress

1 point if Tink’s booties have little pompoms

1 point if Tink is holding her flower

1 point if your wings are touching Tink

Name the Baby Animals
A couple months ago, my daughters and I attended my sister-in-law's baby shower.  One of the games we played involved naming the offspring of different animals.  We decided to play this game during the Spring Party with our friends.  Here is the list we compiled:
Cow--calf                               
Goat--kid
Raccoon--cub                          
Bear--cub
Wolf--pup                               
Sheep--lamb
Goose--gosling                       
Deer--fawn
Owl--owlet, fledgling              
Koala--joey
Fox--kit, cub, pup                    
Penguin--chick
Eagle--fledgling                      
Rabbit--bunny
Horse--foal                             
Toad--tadpole
Dog--puppy                            
Cat--kitten

The kids were permitted to work together.  This was just for fun--no prizes.  I could not believe they named every single baby animal correctly!
 
FAVORS:
eos Lip Balm Flowers

To create these cute flower favors:

• Purchase a couple four-packs of eos lip balm from Sam's Club.
• Choose a solid color sheet of cardstock and cut 4" scalloped circles with the Mini Monograms Cricut cartridge.  The finished circle is about 3.5" in diameter.
• Use the 3" Uchida scalloped circle punch to cut the patterned paper.
• Use a circle cutter to remove a 1.5" circle from the center of the solid cardstock and patterned papers.
• For the leaves, cut a 1.5" circle with the circle cutter. Cut another circle using the 2" template and blade, leaving about an inch uncut. Draw the leaf and cut out with scissors.
• Unscrew the lip balm and align the leaf, solid cardstock, and patterned paper as desired before replacing the lid.   
• Arrange the favors in a basket and let the girls choose their lip balm when they are heading home.

Blaze Glow Stick Lightning Bugs

My girls love Blaze, the lightning bug in Tinker Bell And The Lost Treasure.  We bought glow sticks from Dollar Tree and the black pom poms from Hobby Lobby. We had the googly eyes and vellum remaining from previous projects.  My daughter used the Creative Memories Oval Cutter to cut 2" ovals for his wings.  The wings were attached to the glow sticks using glue dots.  We used tacky glue to adhere the googly eyes to the pompoms.  After tying knots in the strings provided with the glow sticks, we strung them from a hanger to display. 


The Food

For our party of 20 people (kids and parents), we decided to keep it easy and ordered a tray of chicken nuggets from Chick-fil-A.  The day before the party, I called and ordered a medium tray of 120 nuggets, paid for the order over the phone, and gave them a pickup time.  Knowing I would pick up the order hours before we were going to eat, I was given the option to order cold nuggets. Warming instructions were provided with my order.  It was super easy to spread the nuggets on cookie sheets and pop them in the oven for 10-20 minutes.  (Huge thanks to my friends for helping with this!)

Additionally, a friend offered to bring fruit and a veggie tray to share.  I baked some cheddar rosemary scones by following this Ina Garten recipe, substituting fresh rosemary for the dill.  For dessert, the kids snacked on dirt dessert served in a pint-sized mason jar with a sugar lady bug resting on the Oreo crumbs.  We prepared the dirt dessert a little differently than found in most recipes online.  

• Prepare the chocolate pudding as directed on the package.
• Scoop a spoonful or two of pudding in the bottom of the mason jars.  
• Crush a package of Oreos and divide, reserving enough crumbs for the top layer.
• Combine the remaining chocolate pudding and Oreo crumbs with an 8oz container of Cool Whip.  
• Place a gummy worm on top of the pudding in the mason jar.
• Spoon a healthy dollop of the pudding/crumb/Cool Whip mixture in the jar.
• Add another gummy worm and cover with Oreo crumbs.
• Place the sugar lady bug on top.  
• Refrigerate until ready to serve.

For the adults, we made this frozen lime pie, another Ina Garten recipe.  It is DELICIOUS!
  
I thought readers who are hosting a birthday party or tea party for school-aged kids might find this post to be helpful.  This would also be such a fun way to help a Brownie troop complete a step or two for their Bugs and Snack badges.  As always, thank you for reading!

Self-Esteem Workshop for Girl Scouts

When the fourth graders in our troop met for the first meeting this year, I immediately recognized some changes in them.  They seemed to have matured over the summer, and the difference was noticeable in their interactions with each other and the troop leaders.  I have known these girls since they were five-year-old Daisies, and it has been so fun to watch them blossom into beautiful young ladies.  But I know that with these changes, a girl can encounter some confusion about who she is, who she is becoming, and how she fits in with her peers.  Because I've known these girls and their families for several years, I am aware that almost all of them have recently faced challenges with regards to their appearance.  We all know kids can be mean, and nobody is safe from ridicule.  You can be teased if you're tall or short, heavy or thin, or if you happen to wear the wrong pair of crazy socks to school one day.  The Girl Scout Mission is "Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place."  As a Girl Scout Leader and mother of two young daughters, I wanted to show these girls that they are special and loved.  I planned this Self-Esteem Workshop with the hope that the girls would embrace everything that makes them unique and that they would leave our meeting feeling confident and courageous. 

When the girls arrived at the meeting, they were given a small handful of M&Ms and this "I am Confident and Courageous!" worksheet I created based on the Self-Esteem M&M game that is posted on www.savvyschoolcounselor.com.  

Before sharing their answers with the group, the girls recited the Girl Scout Promise and sang the Girl Scout Law song.  I took this opportunity to tell the girls a story about myself when I was their age...

When I was in fourth grade, I was one of the first girls in my class who had to wear a bra.  Boys in my class would snap my bra, and this embarrassed me and made me feel uncomfortable because they were drawing attention to something that, at that time, made me different from everyone else.  Sometimes I would wear a larger shirt or jacket to hide my chest, but my mom continually encouraged me to stand up tall and proud--to be confident in myself.  She assured me that everyone else would eventually catch up to me.  And you know what?  They did.  We were all created differently, so our bodies change at different times and at different rates.  These changes often cause confusion for many of us, and it can be difficult to navigate through these times.

At this point in the meeting, I read the book Hey! You're Great! by Cami Carlson.  In this story, a grandma tells her granddaughter about a time when she felt pressure to fit in with the other girls at school.  Growing up, the grandmother wanted to be liked by everyone else, so she followed the "cool" kids only to learn that these kids were just following somebody else. It was exhausting for her to keep up.  At the end of the story, she discovered she was truly special all along.  This is a super cute book with rhyming lines and bright illustrations.  I think our girls got the message loud and clear.

Following the story, we watched Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me" video.  I asked the girls to pay attention to Taylor's main character in the video.  We talked about how she didn't change anything about herself to impress a boy.  They noticed how she stayed true to herself, and we discussed how her confidence and character is what this guy liked about her.

Since we were talking about not changing ourselves to impress another person, I  showed Colbie Callait's "Try" video.  I explained that Colbie made this video because she was tired of having her photographs altered to hide her imperfections.  As they watched the video, I asked our girls to pay attention to the ladies' body language and facial expressions.  Once the video ended, I explained that while most of the ladies in the video were shown wiping off makeup, there is absolutely nothing wrong with makeup...as long as they're wearing it to feel good about themselves and not because they're trying to be someone else.  We talked about how these women looked happy and free to show their true colors by the end of the video.  

We spent the remaining hour of the meeting completing two crafts.  Several months ago, I was on Pinterest and came across this pin of the word "Be YOU tiful" painted on a canvas.  I saw another pin for these inspiration stones.  From these two ideas, our craft was born.  During Christmas, I purchased 3.25" flat, round, white plaster ornaments for $0.75 each at Hobby Lobby.  I also saw 4" plaster coasters in the mosaics and stepping stone section at Michaels that were similar and would work equally well.  We provided Sharpies and paint and asked the girls to write "Be YOU tiful" somewhere on her ornament and then cover the rest of the space with items that represent her.  Last month, I came across this sweatshirt at Old Navy and bought it for my daughters.  How appropriate! 

While bumping around the internet, I came across the book The Best Part of Me: Children Talk About their Bodies in Pictures and Words by Wendy Ewald.  During one of our meetings, I shared the book with the girls and told them to give it some thought because we would be working on a similar project.  Over the past few meetings, our girls have worked on pieces of this craft.  During this Self-Esteem Workshop, they put all of the pieces together on an 8.5x11" piece of cardstock.

• When we had a spare moment during a meeting, I pulled each girl aside and took a picture of the part of her body she liked best.  I printed a copy of these pictures and saved them for this workshop.
• When our Junior Girl Scouts were working on the Detective badge, we stamped their fingerprints to satisfy one of the badge requirements.  I slightly modified a quote I found online and printed it on white paper for this craft.  The quote reads, "I have a unique fingerprint that no one else has, to leave a unique imprint that no one else can leave."  We talked with the girls about the figurative and literal meaning of this quote.
• When our Brownies were working on the Senses badge, they learned about Braille.  They made a Braille name tag using multicolored rhinestones.  We saved these name tags for this workshop as well.  I found another quote online that reads, "I create beauty with my attitude, my behavior, and my actions."  I explained that individuals with a visual impairment can not necessarily see external beauty, so they must rely on a person's attitude, behavior, and actions when making an assessment of someone's beauty.

As the girls were painting their "Be YOU tiful" ornaments, we called them over in pairs and asked them to write a positive comment for each of the other girls on the back of each piece of cardstock.  We called them back over to adhere all of the pieces to the cardstock.  Once the craft was finished, they really enjoyed reading the comments that were written just for them.  Here is one example of the finished product:

I have received some positive feedback about this workshop from several of our families.  I hope posting the details of our plans here inspires others to recreate some of these ideas for the special young people in their lives.  Thank you for reading!

Junior Girl Scouts Badge: Detective

Step 1:  Practice the power of observation.  We played the Tray Game at our Christmas Party this year to satisfy this badge step.  I provided a detailed description of this game in my post titled Christmas Party 2014.  Additionally, our Brownies were working on their Senses badge.  To meet the requirements of one of their badge steps, we talked about Braille.  We discussed the ways blind people can be observant even though they can't see and how those ways are similar and different from observation skills used by people without impaired sight.  You can read more about that meeting here. 

Step 2:  Communicate in Code. 
As mentioned in Step 1 above, the Brownies in our troop were working on the Senses badge.  Visit this post to discover how we used the same activity to help our Brownies satisfy Step 5 of the Senses badge and our Juniors meet the requirements of Steps 1 and 2 for the Detective badge.

Step 3:  Fingerprint for Fun.  When we had a few minutes to spare during one of our meetings, I had the girls use a thumb to stamp a fingerprint on a 1.5" square piece of white cardstock.  I happen to have ink pads in a variety of colors, so the girls had a choice when making the print.  Once the cards were dry, the girls inspected each fingerprint, noticing that every fingerprint is unique.  I collected the squares to be used for a craft during our Self Esteem Workshop that is scheduled for March.  Please check back to read more about that meeting.

 

Step 4:  Try Out Detective Science.  I love to scrapbook.  Years ago, I was really into writing titles for my pages.  I purchased a book called Love Your Handwriting by Heidi Swapp.  When I read one of the choices to satisfy this badge step was to examine different handwriting samples, I dug that book out of the closet and searched for the perfect activity.  I modified one of Heidi's exercises, creating a worksheet for our girls.  They were asked to write the word trefoil in a variety of different ways.  Once everyone had finished, the girls exchanged papers.  They examined the similarities and differences in their handwriting.  




Step 5:  Follow the clues to solve a real mystery.  During our Christmas Party this year (December 2014), we had a mystery party.  We solved the "Who Stole the Cookies" (mini version) that we purchased from Merri Mysteries.  Check out this post to read all about our party.  

As a leader, I loved this badge.  I thought we could have easily completed more than one of the choices provided for each step in the listed as badge requirements.  Even after completing all five steps, I know our girls would be interested in continuing their work on this badge.  Maybe they will decide to do Detective badge, Part 2 next year?  I'm sure it won't be difficult to order a detective or mystery-related fun patch for their vests.  Thank you for reading!

Sample Meeting for Blended Troop of Brownies and Juniors

If you have read this blog in the past, you may recall that this is our first year as a blended troop with Brownies and Juniors.  In the five years I've served as a Girl Scout troop leader, I have often wondered how leaders of blended troops juggle girls of different ages within the same troop?  How did they plan meetings to help satisfy steps for various badges at different levels?  I will admit the planning process can be overwhelming at times even for a troop that is not blended.  It is frustrating and disappointing for both leaders and girls when the plans do not go as anticipated.  In this post, I will outline the agenda for a recent meeting during which our plans did go as anticipated.

Last Wednesday, we decided to make dog toys to donate to a local animal shelter.  We were going to visit the shelter during the second half of our meeting.  The day before our meeting, I discovered we weren't able to visit the shelter because the lobby and bathrooms were being remodeled.  The volunteers at the shelter were unable to accommodate groups and offered to reschedule our visit.  I scrambled to prepare short projects and activities that would fill the 90 minutes we would spend together.  

Once the girls had left the meeting that evening, I decided it actually ended up being, in my opinion, the "perfect meeting."  I thought I would share the agenda here.  

4:15pm   Girls arrive.  
              Kapers assigned.  
              Recite Girl Scout Promise.  
              Sing Girl Scout Law song.
              Share:  Review Troop Rules.  We had a new girl join our troop in 
                         January.  The other leaders and I decided we should review our 
                         troop rules for everyone's benefit.  The girls each had an 
                         opportunity to share one rule for our troop, and we
                         leaders chimed in as well.
               Troop Business:  With Cookie Booth sales coming up in March, our 
                                        Cookie Mom asked the girls to vote on a few 
                                        important details.

4:45pm   Service Project:  T-shirt Dog Toys

5:00pm   Craft:  Metal Washer Necklaces

The Juniors are working on their Jeweler badge.  Step 2 of this badge is "Make Jewelry with Metal."  The Brownies and Juniors made metal washer necklaces during the meeting.  After considering several different ways to decorate the 1.25" diameter washers, I decided we would use scrapbook paper and Mod Podge. There are a million tutorials and blog posts available online, describing how to make washer necklaces. Here's how our girls made their necklaces:

• Prior to the meeting, I grabbed a scrap piece of paper.  I could have easily traced the washer with a pencil on the reverse side of the paper before cutting it out with scissors, but I decided to use my Cricut.  I chose the Simply Sweet cartridge to cut out a 1.25" circle.  I saved the negative part of the paper square for the girls to use as a template during the meeting.  I flipped the circle over, placed the washer on top and lined up the edges, and traced the inside circle onto the paper.  I used a standard hole punch to cut the hole in the middle of the circle.

• During the meeting, the girls chose a patterned piece of paper.  I helped them use the paper template to decide which part of the pattern they would like for their necklaces.  We cut the circles, and the girls cut out the middle hole as described above.

• They used paint brushes to apply Mod Podge to one side of the metal washer.  They covered the washer with the paper circle, making sure to align the edges of the paper with the edges of the washer.  They applied another coat of Mod Podge.  

• I came across some very small letter beads that had been given to me by a family member years ago.  I invited the girls to use these letters on their necklaces.  Some of the girls chose to write "love," "bff," or their names.  We dabbed a little more Mod Podge around each of the letters, hoping they would dry securely.  A hairdryer was used to help with the drying process.  We let the necklaces dry completely as we continued with the meeting.  Before the girls left, we finished their necklaces.  They chose to use a ribbon, yarn, or parachute cord we had remaining from past projects.  We tied a cow hitch (knot) by making a loop in the middle of the ribbon and threading the loop through the middle hole of the washer.  We took the two ends of the ribbon and passed them through the loop, pulling the ends to tighten the hitch on the washer.  The girls were familiar with this knot because they used them when they made macrame bracelets last month. 

5:20pm   Morse Code.
Step 2 for the Junior Detective badge is "Communicate in Code."  My husband and I recently started watching Downton Abbey.  In the first minute of the first episode of the first season, I saw characters using Morse Code to relay the shocking message about the sinking of the Titanic.  Before the meeting, I cued up the clip so the girls could see Morse Code in action.   

One of our co-leaders shared this worksheet she had come across when preparing a homeschool lesson for her daughters:  

http://www.magictreehouse.com/teachersclub/resource_center/pdfs/17-save-our-ship.pdf 

I printed copies of the worksheets.  Our girls used the Morse Code key on the worksheet to decipher the message to the captain of the Titanic.

 

During this portion of the meeting, we had some time to work on a handwriting activity.  Step 4 of the Junior Detective badge is "Try Out Detective Science."  I remembered using a book called Love Your Handwriting by Heidi Swapp when I was into writing titles for my scrapbook pages.  I modified one of Heidi's activities for our girls to work on during this meeting.  The girls played with their handwriting by writing the word trefoil in various ways.  Once they had completed the worksheet, they exchanged papers and examined the similarities and differences in their handwriting.




5:45pm   Braille.  
In this post, I described how our Brownies and Juniors learned about Braille.  During this meeting, they were able to complete some steps for the Brownie Senses badge and the Junior Detectives badge.

6:00pm   Closing.  Our girls love to end the meeting by singing "Make New Friends" and doing the friendship squeeze.

Please note that we don't always incorporate each of these components into every meeting.  It happened to work out this time, so I thought it was worth sharing on this blog.  Thank you for reading!

Craft: Braille Name Tag

The Brownies in our troop are currently working on their Senses badge.  Step 5 is "Touch and Feel."  When our older girls completed Step 5 to earn their Senses badge, they created a "feel wheel."  I emailed the families prior to the meeting and assigned each girl a different texture like bumpy, furry, hard, sticky, smooth, and rough.  The girls were asked to find an item from home that felt like their assigned texture.  They each brought that item to the meeting to share with the other girls in the troop. 

Now that we have another group of Brownies, I wanted them to try something different to complete Step 5 for the Senses badge.  One of the alternative choices for Step 5 provided in the list of badge requirements encourages the girls to learn about Braille.  They are asked to use the Braille alphabet to figure out how to write their names in Braille.  

For the past year or so, I have had a part-time job as an assistant to an author.  I have accompanied her to radio interviews that happen to be recorded at the Cincinnati Association for the Blind.  Knowing our girls would be learning about Braille, I was able to talk with a couple people while waiting for the author to finish the interview.  They offered some printed information for me to take back to the girls, including cards with both the Braille alphabet and numbers.  They also gave me a Braille edition of an issue of Reader's Digest.  

I decided it would be fun to have the girls make Braille name tags during one of our meetings.  We also had the Junior Girl Scouts in the troop make them because I had plans to use the name tags in a future activity.  

Using my resources wisely, I found some paper scraps among my scrapbooking supplies and cut strips for the name tags.  I measured the strips 1.5" high, and I allowed about 1.5" for each letter in the first name.  For example, a name tag strip for "Laurie" would measure 1.5" high by about 9" wide.  Referring to the Braille alphabet, I drew two rows of six, small, blank dots for each letter in the name.  I included one dot on the bottom left of the first letter to indicate a capital letter.  I darkened in the dots that corresponded to each letter in the name for this picture.  The girls should be able to look at the alphabet and darken the appropriate circles themselves.  I purchased a package of 4mm multicolored rhinestones from Hobby Lobby when they were 50% off, of course!  The girls glued the gems on the name tag, using either tacky glue or Elmer's glue.  Most of the girls decided to use one color rhinestone per letter.

This was a relatively easy and inexpensive craft.  Even if your Girl Scouts are not working on the Senses badge, this craft could easily be tied into other programs.  Our Junior Girl Scouts are working on the Detective badge.  Step 2 is "Communicate in Code," and learning about Braille satisfies this step.  Additionally, Step 1 for the Detective Badge is to "Practice the Power of Observation."  As we talked about Braille, we discussed the ways blind people can be observant even though they can't see and how those ways are similar and different from observation skills used by people without impaired sight. Years ago, we had an Everybody Counts program for our girls.  Braille name tags would have been a fun craft to include in our agenda.  Next time!

Please check back to see how these name tags will be used in our Self Esteem Workshop planned for the beginning of March. Thank you for reading!

Christmas Party 2014

This is our first year having a blended troop:  five Junior Girl Scouts and three Brownies.  We had our troop Christmas Party last night.  When possible, I like to incorporate badge steps into our meetings, activities, and events while allowing the girls to help with the planning. 

This year, the Juniors decided to work on the Detective badge.  The first step for this badge is "Practice the power of observation."  I remembered playing the Tray Game at a baby shower.  I thought this game would be a great way for the girls to work on their observation skills.  I collected a variety of Christmas-related items and placed them on a tray.  The girls (Juniors and Brownies) were given about thirty seconds to view the tray, and then they were given one minute to write down as many items as they could remember.  (For future reference, I would give them more time to write).  In years past, we have not awarded prizes for game winners at our troop parties.  This year, I found really cute Christmas socks at Dollar Tree.  I bought a few pairs, and the winner of the Tray Game was first to choose a pair of socks from the prize bag.

I was really excited to see that Step 5 for the Detective badge is "Follow the clues to solve a real mystery."  One day while I was bumping around online, I came across Merri Mysteries.  This website offers mystery party game kits that are available for purchase.  The website is organized into various categories:  murder mysteries, mysteries that aren't murders, for girls, for boys, for teens, for schools, and for holidays.  I couldn't wait to share the idea of a having a Mystery Party/Christmas Party with the girls in the troop.  After reading through the options, I chose the "Who Stole the Cookies?" (Mini Version) Mystery Kit.  It is not a murder mystery.  It is written for 8 to 16 guests, so it is appropriate for the size of our group.  The characters in the story are fairy tale characters all the girls know and love.  This mini version can be done in about 30-40 minutes.  Most importantly, this mystery involves cookies, and Girl Scout cookies will be available in the very near future.  This Mystery Kit seemed like the obvious choice for our Girl Scout Troop Christmas Party. When I presented the idea to the girls, they agreed to use $20 from troop funds to purchase this mystery kit.  

A Host Guide is included with the script for the mystery.  This makes party planning really easy.  The kit provides tips for preparing for the party, costume ideas, and suggestions for the decor and menu.  Prior to the meeting, the girls drew characters out of a hat.  I emailed the parents the cast list, and I included the costume suggestions listed in the kit.  Families were encouraged to use what costumes or accessories they had at home or to borrow from others in the troop.  The plan was to give a pair of those Dollar Tree Christmas socks to the girl who correctly guessed which character stole the cookies.  If there had been a tie, we would have drawn a name to determine the winner. 

Left to Right:  Cinderella, Goldilocks, Alice, Peter Pan, Dorothy, Snow White, Aladdin, and Little Red Riding Hood

We didn't decorate our meeting space for the Mystery Party, but we did have some special snacks.  In addition to the Detective badge, the Juniors are working on the Simple Meals badge.  The Brownies are working on their Snacks badge.  Both badges have a step that offers the choice of making a holiday treat:  Simple Meals badge Step 4 is "Create a delicious dessert."  Snacks badge Step 3 is "Try a sweet snack."  While planning out our year, I suggested we have a Cookie Exchange during our Christmas Party.  The girls and leaders were asked to bake cookies at home with their families.  They then brought a dozen of these treats to share with the other girls in the troop.  We had them vote for the "Best Cookie" (based on appearance only), but they were not allowed to vote for their own.  The winner received a pair of the Christmas socks out of the prize bag.  The girls chose two cookies to eat at the party, and the rest were packed up to take home.  Again, this is super simple for the host of the party, and the girls really enjoyed the Cookie Exchange.  We finished what we had planned for the party with a few minutes to spare. We filled this extra time by having the girls play the Minute to Win It--Stack Attack.  We introduced this relay game to the girls at our troop Christmas Party in 2012.  It is a huge hit (with kids and adults)!  As parents arrived to pick up their daughters, they were given this Christmas Baking fun patch we ordered from Council earlier in the school year.

Though this party was planned for Girl Scouts, it would be so much fun to do something similar with family and friends as you gather together to celebrate the holiday season.  I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  As always, thank you for reading!