For the ceremony part, I created a way for each girl to step up to receive her award, by making a step out of empty pallets. Home Depot was so kind to donate them to us. I asked for 3. I covered them with 2 plain white table covers ($2) from Dollar Tree. This sort of signifies a "bridge". I prettied them up by tying balloons to the sides.
As each girl crossed over, she received a Junior uniform, membership pin, badges, and a bridging certificate. *Note how my little Miss Laila is not far from me during any of this. Can you see her?
The certificates were free printables I found online. I just printed them off onto white cardstock and filled in the names.
No ceremony is complete (ok, nothing involving kids is complete) without refreshments, and since this is a celebration, I asked parents to volunteer bringing cupcakes, treats, and drinks. I bought green and brown candy melts at Michaels for a thin mint puppy chow recipe I wanted to make from Pinterest (click here for the link), but it didn't turn out as pretty as the picture because after the cereal was coated in powdered sugar, you couldn't see the green/brown colors, it just looked like every other batch of puppy chow I've made. But it did taste like girl scout thin mints and they were still a hit!!
The only cost involved from our troop budget was for the balloons (I bought a dozen latex balloons for $17) and party supplies for $12 (green tablecloths, plates, napkins).You could even ask parents to volunteer that part too if you needed.
Now we will work on earning some badges and patches for our new vests! Here are some pictures of our ceremony:
Congratulations Juniors!
