Blue & Gold Banquet Planning Guide
It is Blue and Gold season! The Boy Scouts of America includes the following information around the Blue and Gold Banquets:
“Blue and Gold Banquets are a tradition in Cub Scout packs. They are a celebration of the anniversary of the founding of the BSA on February 8, 1910, and therefore usually take the place of the February pack meeting. Often, badges of rank are awarded. The Arrow of Light ceremony may even be included as the 5th graders cross over to a troop. Sometimes community leaders or special guests are invited to attend. The meal can be a pot-luck dinner or other arrangements can be made – whatever suits your pack.”
So basically, anything goes! This is designed to be a time of celebration and fun. The key to any good party is in planning the details. Now is certainly the time to plan everything out – from the high-level theme all the way down to the little things. The easiest way to get organized is to make sure that you have a point person – someone who is in charge of delegating the duties. This will also be the best way to make sure that one person isn’t doing all of the work themselves! In a world where we are all busy and where time is our most important resource, we have to make sure to maximize the time that we do have.
To start, if you haven’t done so already, appoint a “point person”. Someone who can keep the main checklist, and remember to follow up with everyone. This person should definitely love organization and should excel at firing off quick and happy texts to check-in on everyone regularly! The point person is also the main contact and connection to the Cub Scout master.
Next, have a main meeting. Even if it is a Zoom call (a free conference-type call), this is an important chance to get everyone on the same page and divvy up responsibilities! This is where you should take about 10-15 minutes to hash out ideas for themes. This is also where you can come up with a list of ideas for venue options and set a date. I loved Sherry’s blog on theme ideas, if you are looking for some inspiration!
After that main meeting, everyone will have their tasks to accomplish, along with the dates for when those individual things need to be completed! Enter in the point person once more. Be sure to send out reminders and touch-base texts/emails to make sure that everything that needs to happen is happening!
Lastly, have a final meeting about one week out from the party date. Go through all of the details, from start to finish, and check in with everyone. Be sure to tie up all loose ends and provide support to anyone that feels lost or stuck on their tasks.
For an idea around timing, check out the timeline below!
9-11 weeks out: Appoint a point person. The point person can then reach out to parents to see who would like to be on the Blue and Gold Committee – people that will help in putting the whole event together.
8-9 weeks out: Have a kick-off meeting or call with Committee to set a date, decide on a theme, pick a couple of venue options, decide on a form of entertainment, and divvy up responsibilities
8 weeks out: Make venue reservations and book/arrange the plan for the entertainment. Use your committee and Cub Scout parents to help you find someone who fits in your budget! Everyone has friends and people love to help. This is also a good time to book food if you are bringing in catering.
6-8 weeks out: Send out Invitations! Be sure to include the date, time, cost, and theme! If you are looking to save money here, Paperless Post, Evite, and Punchbowl all have free templates to use and send email invitations! The best part about these? They feature added options to add the event to e-calendars with reminders. You could also consider using Venmo to collect money from parents. I know I always forget to write a check or get cash for events, but when I can send money electronically, I can get it done right when I have the invitation open! Trust me – so simple and so fast.
3-4 weeks out: If you are doing a potluck-style dinner, get your volunteer cooks and meals lined up so you can fill in the holes, if there are any.
1-2 weeks out: Hold your final meeting. Create a full itinerary, complete with times and who is in charge of which section (food, entertainment, decorations, etc). Go through the entire itinerary and make sure that everything from decorations to food to entertainment are all lined up and ready to go! Line up volunteers who can help with day-of-party setup.
Day of event: Set everything up, know that some things most likely won’t go perfectly as planned (that is part of the fun!), and HAVE FUN!
For more party tips and theme ideas, check out our Pinterest board! We have gone through and pulled some of our favorite decorations and food ideas as well.
