2014 "Go For the Gold" Blue & Gold Banquet

Last year when the Cub Scout Blue & Gold banquet rolled around, I didn't get involved.  I came, I ate, I enjoyed, and then I left.  A part of me still hadn't recovered from the banquet I'd helped with in 2012, when everyone but a handful of us left and we were there a long time cleaning up.  It left a bad taste in my mouth, especially since the event had been so well-attended and there were lots of people who could have helped but didn't.

The lesson learned that night was one that has helped me a lot since then:  if you want help, ASK FOR IT!  It's not fair to others to assume that they'll know what's going through your head and what you need help with.  People aren't purposely turning their backs on you--they just haven't been clued in.   I've been a lot better about asking for help since that fateful night, ha-ha!

Fast forward to last night, our 2014 "Go For the Gold" Blue & Gold banquet with a Winter Olympics theme. There was a HUGE turn-out, it was loud, messy, crazy, and fun, and....I loved every minute of it.

So what was the difference?

A.  Attitude--my own, that is.  Cub Scout events are not quiet affairs.  They are noisy and crazy. You kind of have to embrace that because you can't change it, ha-ha!  Some days I'm oblivious to it, and other days I want to pull my hair out over it.  Also, it was Wade's last Blue & Gold, so I felt I owed it to him to not get annoyed and have a good time.  Good thing, because HE was the one who ended up being annoyed with the little kids throwing balloons up in the air and stuff.  Normally that would bother me, too, but it didn't last night.

B.  Classy, simple decorations=easy clean-up.

C.  Games geared towards kids  (Minute-to-Win-it style, they were a blast).  This was important because I'm pretty sure kids outnumbered adults 1,000 to 1, and we planned for 150+ people....

D.  Simple program, no speaker, just a regular pack meeting format.

E.  Most important, we asked for help with clean-up and people really came through.

F.  Our Cub Scout committee really came through, too.  There were lots of little things that needed done, and we pulled it off via division of labor. :)  That doesn't mean that I didn't worry about ALL of it, but it was great to see it all come together.

G.  I got home an entire hour earlier than I thought I would.  It was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some fun pics that my friend Kristin Hawkins took...I'm very grateful to her because she stressed and fretted with me and did so much to help with the decorating!

Kristin's snowflakes were the perfect touch!  I liked how my balloon stands came out, too.  The little circles on the walls were paper plates with pictures that the Cub Scouts drew, to go along with the Olympics "rings" theme.

Another Kristin creation--she'd made these felt country flags a long time ago and had the great idea to put them up for the Olympics theme.  I loved it!  Kristin also printed up paper games like word searches for people to work on at the tables.

One of our Wolf leaders, Ryan, did a great job MCing the Minute-to-Win-It games on stage.  He drew kids' names randomly, so not everyone participated.  That kept the excitement level up, too--so many kids were hoping for their names to be pulled!  Kristin made "prizes" for those who participated--the Snowman Poop was my favorite. :)

These boys were there early, helping out!

Some of our Webelos getting awards from Sister Grant.  We have 10 Webelos right now--they're awesome!!!!  Especially that 3rd kid from the left--love that boy. :)

For our menu we had hot dogs, chips, water to drink, and then guests brought either a salad or dessert to share.  Our Cub Committee chair stayed busy in the kitchen boiling the hot dogs--everything else was just grab-and-go.  We went heavy on desserts, which was probably a good thing. :)  And we made a few announcements reminding people that we could use lots of help cleaning up afterwards--it made all the difference in the world!

I did have one failure that I'm still laughing about.  I wanted to do something special for Sister Grant, who was recently released after serving over 4 years as our Cub Master.  She is an amazing lady who always has a smile on her face and puts up with a lot of cranky parents.  She's still acting as Cub Master until her replacement has been called, and she did SO MUCH for the banquet.  So, I got our 10 Webelos boys and we did this little cheer for her using the letters of her name, Karen Grant.  K is for kind, etc.  Well, it came off perfectly when we practiced it, but when we did it for realz one of the letter plates was missing.  I asked the kid which letter he had and he said, "Reliable," so I grabbed another plate and wrote R on it.  Well, when the boys got up there it said this:

K. R. R. E. N.  G.R.A.N.T.

Apparently "reliable" was actually "Always reliable," with an A.  The crowd got a big kick out of that, and so did I.  It was an epically funny fail!