The Ultimate Leader Guide for Celebrating Juliette Gordon Low’s Birthday
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Updated September 2021 with ideas to meet virtually or socially distant.
In just a few short weeks, the final Girl Scout holiday of the year will be occurring. Founder’s Day is on October 31st, the birthday of the founder of the Girl Scouts, Juliette Gordon Low. Born in 1860 in Savannah, Georgia, “Daisy” Low would grow up to found a movement that has had a positive impact on girls around the world since 1912.
Troops around the country can spend one of their October meetings celebrating her life and “doing a good turn” in her honor.
Here are 10 easy Girl Scout Founder’s Day meeting ideas that will highlight the importance of this day.
How to Start Your Meeting
Before starting any community service project in honor of Ms. Low’s birthday, it is a good idea for the girls to know exactly who she was and why she is important to the Girl Scout movement. You will want to print out some pictures of her to show the girls.
The Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta have a fabulous FREE downloadable book full of activities and printables for scouts of all ages. You can find it here.
After teaching the girls about Juliette, you can play this free downloadable Founder’s Day Bingo game.
Pandemic 2021 Update-You can do this virtually. Before the meeting, deliver or have the girls pick up from your home everything they need for this meeting (and any others as well).
Birthday in a Bag
Many years ago, my Junior troop celebrated Founder’s Day by making a Birthday in a Bag. It was a community service project that had my girls each bringing in a box of cake mix, a tub of frosting, and a can of peaches (an homage to Juliette’s Georgia birth). They decorated bags and then I donated them to our local high school food pantry. You can read how we did it in this blog post.
Baby Girl Gift Basket
This is a fun activity to celebrate the day. Your troop will create a gift basket to give to the first baby girl born on October 31st.
Before your meeting, you will need contact your local hospital and ask if your donation will be accepted. Once that is in place, create a Signup Genius or some other kind of communication form and ask each girl to sign up for something on the list. Baby shampoo, baby wash, rattles, etc. Buy a blank bib and a mint green onesie and with a fabric pen write “Future Girl Scout”.
A hand made item from each girl can be a card welcoming the little girl to the world or telling the baby why being a Girl Scout is fun.
Pandemic Update 2021-The card can be made at home as part of your meeting.
Make a Keepsake Box
Over time, your girls will collect Girl Scout treasures. Another craft that they can do is make their own keepsake box for Girl Scout SWAPS or other special scout items.
You can Mod Podge using any kind of paper…tissue, scrapbook, magazines…whatever you have on hand. The only thing you need to do in advance is prep it.
On top of the box you will want to Mod Podge a colorful picture of Juliette Gordon Low. You can use this famous portrait.
Around the picture that the girls glue to the top of the box, they can also glue down some strands of faux pearls.
Pandemic Update 2020–The box can be made at home as part of your meeting.
Duct Tape Craft
If you are going to decorate white bags for the Birthday in a Bag craft, here is how you can make a birthday cake with duct tape.
Rainbow Duct Tape and other styles
Available at Discount School Supply
Pandemic Update 2020 You will need to prep the duct tape in advance and put in the activity bag each girl receives from you.
Plant Daisy Seeds
Once you have gone over who Daisy Low was, why not plant daisy seeds in her honor? Buy a set of pots for the girls to decorate with markers, stickers and gems. They can give it to someone they care about or they can be responsible on their own for the care and keeping of their daisy plant.
Pandemic Update 2021 The soil, seeds and craft materials need to be placed in separate baggies and sent home to each girl. If you are lucky enough to meet outdoors, this is a great activity to do!
Make a Tote Bag for Senior Citizens
Available at S and S Worldwide
This Velvet Bug Tote Bag comes with 12 easy to color totes and it also includes the fabric markers. The bags measure 6″ x 4.5″. The time to do this craft is about 30 minutes.
After the girls have colored the tote in, have them fill it with sucking candies, Hershey Kisses, trial size hand lotions or hand sanitizer that you have purchased, and a note or picture wishing the person a wonderful day. These totes can be donated to a senior citizen home.
Pandemic Update 2020 The craft materials need to be placed in separate baggies and sent home to each girl. If you are lucky enough to meet outdoors, this is a great activity to do! The girls can each put items in the bag assemlby line style if you have a place to put everything.
Have a Birthday Party for Juliette Gordon Low
Since the girls are celebrating Juliette Gordon Low’s birthday, why not learn about her, make the Birthday in a Bag craft and as a sweet reward, have the girls decorate cupcakes!
You can make the cupcakes at home or use another idea that I read elsewhere. Ask your local supermarket bakery if they can make cupcakes for you and charge you for an unfrosted, undecorated one. In the Facebook group where I read this tip, the bakery only charged 50 cents per cupcake.
After decorating the cupcakes, put one candle on each cupcake, light them, and then sing to Juliette. The girls can blow out the candle and then eat their treat. Remember to have wipes or napkins for all the icing on their faces!
Use these Daisy Sprinkles as an embellishment for your cupcakes
Pandemic 2021 Update Send a cupcake home with each girl and some frosting in a baggie. Put sprinkles and other cupcake toppers in baggies as well. You can decorate them together, sing Happy Birthday, and then eat! Add s festive birthday napkin as well. If you are meeting outside, girls can sit on blankets and decorate.
Make Cards for the Military
Girl Scouts, especially those who are new to who the GSUSA are, need to be taught that one of the missions of the movement is to do service for others. Making cards to be sent overseas to the military is one thing that is easy to do.
Since it takes a while to get there, make Thanksgiving cards using stickers, feathers, and hand prints. Talk to the girls about why they are doing this and why we should be thankful to these men and women. Add some hard candy to them and send!
Pandemic Update 2020 This is an easy craft to do at home or meeting socially distanced.
Make a Pearl Necklace
Share with the girls that in order for Juliette to start the very first Girl Scout troop, she had to sell her rare and expensive pearl necklace in order to fund it. Depending on how many volunteers you have, you can have the girls make their own “pearl” necklace or bracelet (necklaces will take longer to finish)
Before the meeting, prep the elastic by cutting it to the length you want and and tying a knot. You may also want to put a piece of scotch tape at the end so it is easier to thread.
You need the following:
Bowls for beads
Pandemic Upadte 2020 Make craft bags for each girl to do at home or socially distanced if you are able to meet in person.
Try Some Daisy Traditions
The Girl Scouts of Western Ohio have a list of seven different things that you can do for Girl Scout Founder’s Day that will easily incorporate into your meeting. You can read about what these are here.
What is your troop doing for Girl Scout Founder’s Day?
