Brownie Investiture Ceremony

Sunday the 8th was our investiture ceremony. The girls who were with our troop last year technically were "bridging" up to Brownies, but we had new girls and we wanted to be inclusive of everyone, so we combined our ceremony so that all the girls were starting on the same foot.

We held the ceremony in a local park that has a canyon with a beautiful woods of tanoak and liveoaks. Even though it had been overcast and rainy for days the sun came out and it was pleasantly warm. The girls had made decorations by making pictures that showed examples of the Girl Scout law; we strung them in a line from a curved oak tree that was bending its way up the hill. The spot we chose was on a slope with a creek at the bottom. Before the ceremony, the girls wanted to hit the creek, so we distracted them by having them pose with funny faces for photos.

Once the ceremony began, the girls marched up the hill in a line. Wini led the line as the "leader daughter" - frankly, only because she got there early enough to practice the route with me as we had only practiced in our meeting room. Wini led them up the hill, then over a bridge we made with a Barbie balance beam placed over a blue yoga mat to represent a bridge over water. Then they formed a horseshoe facing the parents.

They performed a silly version of the Brownie story (in which a girl goes out to the magic woods at night, is told by a wise old owl to look in a pond and say a chant and she will find a Brownie), then they repeated the GS law and made the GS promise. Here's how the ceremony goes from there:

LEADER:
"Cross your little fingers,
Stand upon your toes
That's a bit of magic
Every Brownie Girl Scout knows.
Now we all are standing in a forest glade.
Listen very carefully
See the magic made.
Open your eyes
Here we are in the big woods
Before you is a pond
You can almost hear the Wise Old Owl
And the friends of whom you're fond."
(Assist each girl to the pond and while turning her - repeat:)

"Twist me and turn me and show me an elf,
I looked in the water and saw.
(girl says, "Myself".)

(Place Brownie Girl Scout pin on uniform upside down, give Girl Scout handshake, and ask the new member to repeat the Girl Scout Promise. She then stands to the side. Repeat process for each girl.)

After the ceremony, the girls hit the snacks, and then it was wild runs down the hill to walk on the stones in the creek, climb on the pipe across the creek, and swing on the rope swing where a few weeks earlier a mom had broken her arm (as an older girl informed us).

Pictures to follow, this is a test post.