Every year on February 22 the Girl Scouts celebrate "Thinking Day."
This is a special day when Girl Scouts and Girl Guides all around the world think of each other and give thanks and appreciation to their "sister" Girl Scouts. The Daisy, Brownie and Junior troops at Rosa Parks Elementary (Grace and Hannah’s school) got together and decided to have a special celebration this year. Because the 22nd fell on a Friday this year they held a lock-in at Girl Friends and Company. This is a local business, that as the name implies, is a place for girl centered activities including birthday parties, and overnights. The theme of the lock-in was Girl Scouts Around the World. Each troop selected a country and learned about Girl Scouts in that country. At troop meetings before the event the girls planned what they would say, what their “booth” would look like, what they wanted to wear, food samples they would share and made swaps for the upcoming event. Swaps are pins that the girls trade. For this event the swaps centered on the country the troop represented. For example one troop had Italy and did Shrinky Dinks of the Mona Lisa. For Mexico they had little straw sombreros, China had lanterns with dragons drawn on them.
Grace’s troop is a co-op troop which means that each Mom takes a turn running a meeting. Grace’s troop selected China as their country for Thinking Day so another mother and I put together the meeting to plan the China booth and then helped supervise the booth during the event. Hannah’s troop had Mexico. Palestine, Dubai, Italy, Canada, Africa and Egypt were also represented.
Hannah and Kendall Representing Mexico
When the girls arrived at the event they were given a plane ticket and a passport. They were grouped so that there were only two girls from a troop together "on a plane". The high school girls hired to help with the event acted as flight attendants and helped guide the girls on their trip from one country to another. When they arrived at the country the girls represented they told the others on their plane about their country. They told about their country and Girl Scouts in that country – how were they different and how were they the same as scouts in the U.S.A. They also shared pictures and items from that country as well as food. Although our chicken pot stickers were popular the Italian Ice was probably the favorite. The girls did like our activity - trying to pick things up with chop sticks. They had rice, candy, animal crackers and ping pong balls to pick up.
Grace and Katherine with their Passports
I stayed the night and slept with Hannah’s troop – a wise move on my part. Her leader was strict about going to sleep and it worked. Other troops got little to no sleep. With all the Girl Scout events I have attended between Grace and Hannah my air mattress and sleeping bag is well used. I am looking forward to the day I can send them to one of these events and I stay home in my own bed. I sure hope Rachael is more independent at these things.My camera battery died at the lock-in but I did get a few pictures of the China exhibit and of the girls in their outfits. They learned a lot and had a great time. Although it was a lot of work for a lot of people I liked that the lock-in wasn’t about cheerleading, make-up, the latest pre-teen sensation, the latest Disney movie or being a Diva.
China Booth by Brownie Troop 858
Some of the girls in Grace's troop
Grace's Passport
Some of the Swaps
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