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The Enrichment Project
Girl Scouts: Creative Awards
Steps
1. Start with the list.
The worst thing you can do is to forget an award. Create your list for each girl from your
planning notes, forms and other documentation you have. Review it with another adult
or girls in your group. Make sure they have a way to contact you in case they remember
something after you review the list.
2. Sort your list.
Sort your list into types of awards. For Girl Scouts, sort of cial badges from patches so
you can see the size range you are working with. Do you need a way to present pins
so parents can see them from the back of the room? Are items small and youre afraid the
girls will lose them? Do any of these need their own treatment to emphasize extra efort
on the part of the girls? Make sure you keep notes as you look through your list.
3. Including the girls.
During the planning stages, you may give as much or little responsibility to the girls to plan
and execute the Court of Awards as you feel appropriate. New girls will not know what to
do, so you may nd yourself doing most of the work. You can have experienced girls
mentor them from within your troop or from another. This may include anything from
crafting items to use in the ceremony to running the ceremony.
They can be a great help with creating the way you hand out badges. For example, you
can purchase a small terra cotta pot for each girl for their badges. Instead of giving away
blank pots, let the girls decorate them. This saves you a lot of time. They will feel like they
contributed and will be more excited about their awards.
Explore ways for girls of any level to help with their Court of Awards.
4. Theme.
Sometimes, the nature of the awards themselves will give you a theme. This can be the
awards earned, a favorite eld trip, a party or service project the girls especially enjoyed.
You can let the girls choose as well. This theme will inuence the awards you give and how
you present them.
Example: My Brownies chose to earn a lot of nature Try-Its one year. For their nal Court
of Awards, the bridging Brownies wanted an animal / zoo theme to t what wed been
doing. They had each girl use headbands and make ears of their favorite animals. They
chose animal, bird and insect songs to sing. Instead of bridging to Juniors, they broke
out of Brownies complete with a simulated cage.
5. Search the Web.
Has someone done an award ceremony similar to the theme youve chosen? This will help
your planning. Search the Web for items you can incorporate. If you cant nd something
similar, make a list of the items you want to include from our possible delivery methods
below and incorporate those into your theme.
Girl Scouts:
Creative
Awards
A Court of Awards
is a visual way
for girls to receive
their insignia.
Unfortunately, many
leaders throw all the
patches, pins,
badges, etc. into
a zip-top bag and
hand it to the girls.
This negates the
hard work the girls
have done in the
program and the
importance of their
rewards from that
efort.
This badge
program allows you
to explore a variety
of ways to present
awards to your girls
and will, hopefully,
spark your own
creativity.

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Project
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Delivery methods
6. Opaque containers.
Opaque containers may be boxes, baskets, bags, water bottles or more! Choose one of
the following or a similar opaque container and brainstorm how you could incorporate this
delivery method into a Court of Awards.
Boxes Boxes dont need to be purchased. You can use a template and make
your own. Dont stick with the square box. Chinese take-out boxes, pyramid
boxes for an Egypt theme, a paper purse or even mail tubes designed as
recrackers can add to your awards ceremony. You can even have each girl bring
in a box from their favorite Girl Scout cookies.
Baskets You can get cheap ones at dollar stores and have the girls decorate
them with paper owers. They can weave their own baskets from paper. They
may even be able to crochet small baskets.
Bags Drawstring bags are easy to sew. You can use color schemes or even
get blank ones and let the girls tie-dye them.
Bottles A water bottle would not only be a diferent way to give out awards,
but the girls would have a keepsake after the event. You could even place
additional items in the bottle like candy, confetti, SWAPs, etc.
7. Faux vest or sash.
You can use a real vest or sash if the girls do not already have one. You can also make
a faux one out of the listed materials in a at or three-dimensional version.
Paper bags
Duct tape
Heavy paper
Ribbon
Depending on your parents, you may nd it easier for your rst Court of Awards to provide
the vest or sash (depending on what each girl has) so the parents know where the awards
should be placed. Search the Web for samples to give you inspiration.
8. Using owers and nature.
Even girls who are not girly love owers. A short list below gives you ideas to start.
Search the Web to nd out what other leaders have done. Remember, you can make extra
owers so girls who have earned less are not so obvious during the ceremony.
Stem (pencil, pipe cleaner, oral wire, skewer, etc.) with award as the ower
Add awards with wire to a pre-existing stem with silk owers, foliage, leaves, etc.
One large focal ower with streamers, attach awards to streamers
Let girls color cardstock owers, attaching the awards to the owers as petals
or leaves
Cut circles (or buy cake circles) and use awards as petals
Hershey kiss roses with awards attached to ribbons
Glue cupcake liners onto popsicle sticks and put award inside the liner
Foam owers
Ribbon rosettes or yo-yos as owers
Paper punched owers
Origami owers
Presenting owers and nature items can be done in a variety of ways as well.
Pots with owers stuck into foam or through glass stones
Vases with owers arranged
Wreath with owers attached, woven or hanging from ribbon or bow
Pre-assembled bouquets
Foam blocks with owers placed randomly and the girls pick their
own bouquet

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9. Playing with sticks.
As you gured out under owers, you can do a lot with a stem and something to represent
the ower itself. Why not use something other than owers? Here are some stick ideas.
What else can you come up with?
Pinwheel
Wand
Lollipop
Chocolate trefoil sucker
Marshmallow stick for roasting
10. Books and cards.
For a low cost delivery method, you cant beat paper. From books to cards, you can
purchase or make your own
Program books Within the book, place a special sheet for each girl with
the awards she has earned.
Photo albums You can purchase small photo albums and make cards with
attached badges and information about placement, the award itself, date it
was earned, etc. You can also put photos of the girl earning her awards.
Cards Use the cards mentioned in photo albums as a stand-alone item.
Hand-made book Cut standard sheets of paper to create a book and let
each girl decorate it.
11. Holiday specic.
If you have a holiday close to your Court of Awards, use it for your theme! You can often
nd small baskets, boxes, etc. at the store. Here are a few holiday ideas for you.
Christmas
Inside stockings
Inside plastic ball ornaments
Stand-alone ornaments
Attached to candy cane
Attach to wrapping ribbon of a girls gift
Decorating a miniature tree
Halloween
Inside jack-o-lanterns
Wrapped with cellophane to hand out as treats
Lunch bags cut as you would a jack-o-lantern with faux tea light inside
Valentines Day
Inside a valentine
Inside a valentine mailbox
Attach to paper heart doilies
Die cut a heart multiple times, fold in half and glue to make an accordion book
and place awards on pages
Heart shaped box or basket
Other holidays
The holidays you celebrate do not have to be national ones. Look for Girl Scout holidays or
even fun ones that are started by organizations or online e-mail greeting card companies.

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12. Seasonal ideas.
When youre planning your Court of Awards, ask yourself what the season is known for?
Pull ideas for activities from your brainstorming list. You can start with these ideas.
Fall
Rakes with popsicle sticks and wire with awards between the tines
Attach to leaves
Attach to a branch or drawn picture of a branch
Color tags the colors of fall leaves and attach awards
Winter
Snowakes
Snowmen from pre-cut circles, paper plates, etc.
Sleds
Spring
Spring owers
Watering pot with awards attached to shing line
Summer
Beach buckets
Seashells with awards hidden inside
Awards attached to owers of leis
13. Adding to your possibilities.
Youve been thinking of all sorts of ideas that t within the groups above. Now, try to
brainstorm delivery methods that do not t into any of the above. Heres some to start
your session.
Use awards as Olympic medals and put on ribbons to place around each
girls neck
Attach to simple die cut shapes that t your theme
Fold paper plates in half and color a rainbow on one side with the awards
inside or attached to the back
Place awards in balloons and have the girls pop their awards out
Ribbons on helium balloons (make sure theyre securely tied of)
Kites with awards for ribbon or attached to the kite itself
Paper fan with ribbons and awards
Paper sh with awards as scales
Attach magnets and stick them to a piece of metal decorated as a bulletin
board, refrigerator, etc.
String of paper dolls with an award on each doll
Shooting stars with awards attached to streamers
SWAP hat use the awards as SWAPs
14. Attaching awards.
If your head isnt spinning enough, you need to think about attaching the awards to paper,
ribbon, wire, pipe cleaners and more. You can staple, glue, tie, pin, clip or nd another way
to attach your insignia. Research ways you can attach awards and the advantages /
disadvantages of each. Keep your notes for future reference.
15. Handing out awards.
Break the monotony of handing out awards. Here are a few ideas to start with. Read
through them and then come up with a few of your own.
When a girl comes to get her award, have her randomly pick the next girl
and let her do the announcement
As mentioned above, have the girls choose their own whether its picking
owers or pulling lollipops from a tree
Create a treasure hunt with clues to follow to their treasure (awards)

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16. Special awards.
Sometimes you want to recognize a job well done, a special service a girl or adult did,
parent volunteers . . . the list goes on. Here are a few ideas for you. Feel free to research
and add more for others to share.
Youre special Highlight why the person is special. Ask your girls and parents
for help.
Certicates You can purchase certicates from Girl Scouts or your local
discount store. You can create and print them from the Web. Perhaps youd like
to create your own. Special pins or patches can be attached to a certicate to
help show how important the award is.
Bookmarks Bookmarks or other small printable items are good to hand out
and can be personalized to an event, award or girl.
Ribbons Ribbons can be purchased with pre-printed sayings like Good Job.
You can also create your own.
Personal awards Make your own laminated pins, charms, SWAPs or whatever
you feel like personalized for your theme or the award itself.
Sites to Explore
www.scoutingweb.com/scoutingweb/ceremoniesgirl.aspx
www.dltk-cards.com/award
www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/certicates
www.ehow.com/list_6874303_crazy-ideas-girl-scout-awards.html
www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/index.htm
www.brownielocks.com/month2.html
impressionsbyrochelle.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html
www.ruthannzarof.com/mirkwooddesigns/templates.htm
stampington.com/the-studio/tempting-templates
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