Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet!

Along with the Pinewood Derby comes the annual Blue and Gold Banquet.  And along with the Pinewood Derby, I had no idea how to throw one of these and what it included.  Through little guidance and insight from others, I had to do some research on what goes on during one of these things and come up with the theme for the night: Wild West!

I thought this would be a fun theme and there were lots of ideas that came along with this theme that I kept thinking of.  I ran it by Ashley, and she was immediately on board.  So, after several months of planning, the night came.  We were so excited!  We had everything planned and re-planned and then planned again to make sure it would be full of fun, participation from everyone, and organization.  We wanted it to be special for the families and show them that we care about their boys.  So, here are pictures of that night!

As much as I think taking pictures of yourself in the mirror is really dorky and completely awkward (I mean where do you look?...at yourself or at the camera??), I totally did!  Ashley and I wanted to dress up just a little bit, while still holding true to the "western" theme.  I'm so mad that we didn't get a picture of us together the entire night!

We had a corner that showed the parents what the Scouts have been doing and some of the projects that they have completed: Going Green posters, plaster foot prints, heritage charts and maps, and a poster of pictures that we took from past activities and service projects.

For the first 30 minutes as families were arriving, we set up one wall of the gym with games and crafts for the kids to keep them occupied and prevent them from running crazy.

Our picture station.  Kids had fun sticking their faces through the holes and making funny looks at the camera.  Ashley has all of those pictures, and I'll need to update this post once I get those pictures.

There was a craft section as well, where we had little cowboy and cowgirl paper dolls where they stuck stickers on them to dress them up and put faces on them and everything. 

Ashley made a "Pin the Badge on the Sheriff".  I got little mini candy bars to give out as prizes for incentive to play, which was a hit.

If they couldn't pin the badge, then they had a second chance at earning a candy bar by hopping on one foot, rubbing your belly, and patting your head all at the same time.  It was pretty entertaining to watch!

Some leaders even got involved!

 We had the Young Men Boy Scouts do our opening flag ceremony.  They did a great job!

Similar to the Derby, we had a "Lil' Buckaroos" section with western coloring pages and crayons to keep those little hands occupied during the banquet!

Just some pictures of the room before everyone arrived and touched it all :).

The long table in the back was for the food.  There is a large cowboy boot pinata in the middle with barbed wire garland (fake of course) going along the center of the table to tie everything in to the theme.  We served chili, baked potatoes with all sorts of toppings, and lots of desserts!

 Close-up of our tables.

Close-up of the programs for the event that were at each table.

Once the ceremony part of the banquet actually started, the pictures stopped because Ashley and I were running it all.  I couldn't do both.  But I do wish that I took pictures of the boys' skit!  They had a lot of fun doing that and it got some laughs, too!  It was pretty cute.

I do have to say that I hope I will never have to plan and do another Blue and Gold event ever.  It was a TON of work and, for me, that box is now checked :).

Cub Scout Pinewood Derby!

Well, apparently it's that time of year!  I was told a couple of months ago to start planning the Pinewood Derby for our boys.  I had never been to one, and I had NO clue what it all entailed.  One of my leaders, Ashley, and I started searching online at blogs and scouting websites to see what this was all about...we were seriously clueless!  Luckily, the Primary President has been to a few of these and was able to take over the brackets for us while we handled the boys, awards, weighing in, and letting the cars go.  Oh, and the decorations of course!  Ashley and I were surprised to find that no stores around here had any kind of racing things.  So, we had to make due with what we could find to make it appear special for the boys and their families. 
We made "Pit Passes" for each boy and the helpers of the Derby.  The boys were excited about these and they felt important wearing them. 

The car table where the boys placed their cars after being weighed and adjusted to the 5.00 oz weight limit.  After they were on the table, absolutely no touching of the cars could be done, except by the boys themselves, but just to be carried from the table to the track and back again.  Yeah, Pinewood Derby rules are strict.  And we had a person from District there, so we had to crack the whip on the rules as to avoid any disqualifications that could take place.  Yikes. 



Ashley and I got Pinewood Derby shirts from the Scout Shop when we were picking up awards for the boys.  There were only 2 left and they were big, but we didn't care because we wanted to support our boys and, of course, look like fun and involved leaders! We wanted to take a picture of us, in them, together.

And then one of our friends, who is a Primary leader, said it looked like we were pointing at something else...

Which created this reaction....

So, we lowered our hands.

Our awesome Elders who did fantastic at being the official judges of the race!  Poor kids were nervous to make people mad, but they did great and I think they really enjoyed being a part of this.

Jaden was having a blast.  He kept asking for his own car.  I said, "Honey this is just for the scouts, but we are here to cheer them on and support our boys!"  Then he said, "But I'm a scout, too."  I felt bad, but he had fun, regardless! 

Some races weren't so close.

...but with good sportsmanship!  I was so proud of my boys!

Saddest picture in the world.  Every race there is a winner and a loser, but when you see the face of utter disappointment on one of your boys, it's really sad!

Other races were "photo finish" close!  Good thing our awesome Missionaries had a cell phone with a camera on it, which even played it in slow motion if we needed it to make a final decision. 

The faces explain it all!  Yeah--it was a close one.

Lining up the car on the track perfectly seems to make all the difference.  Each boy went through this process when placing their car up there.  They were serious about it.

Walking down to retrieve their cars.  Some boys would run along side of the the track as the cars went down in anticipation of seeing if their car finished first.  Others watched at the starting point.  These boys are like best friends.  You can tell that they are proud of each other and happy with how they did.  Plus, they both qualified for Districts (regardless who won) since they are the only two Webelos that we have in our pack!

Some of the awesome cars that the boys made!

Each Ward had a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winner for each group: Wolves, Bears, and Webelos.  Then came the Overall winners!  If you want to know how to make your boys' Pinewood Derby cars, then here is the big winning car:

And here are our Overall Pinewood Derby winners!  Two boys were from my pack and one was from the other.  They all did great and were so excited to be dubbed the "big dogs" of the Derby.  Way to go boys!

We got the Overall 1st place Winner a trophy, to set this accomplishment apart from the other winnings.  I guess he thinks he's really cool (with that face and all) by getting a trophy!