Ideas for an Eagle Ceremony

[Zoemakes5]

Hi all!
Was hoping for some ideas for an eagle ceremony and subsequent reception. We are thinking of holding the ceremony a beautiful park that sits on a crest that over looks the mountains and ocean. There are two "time slots" that we are considering. One is morning (around 9 or so) and one is evening (culminating in a sunset). Both have appeal for very different reasons. The park does not have electricity and I'm thinking we're going to need to do something for shade, at least for the older people who will attend. Afterwards, typically people have a meal. But, remember, no electricity! Ideas for supplies? Food? Decorations?

For preplanning I have to make up a scrap book covering his time in scouts. Does anyone have any insights into cheap scrap book supplies? While alot of what I'll want will be actual boy scout scrapbook supplies, I will still need quite a bit of outdoorsy/camp themed, water, fishing, and community service, some Christmas (they do a Christmas parade every year), maybe some musical notes...well a wide variety. I know this can get pretty expensive, so any suggestions people might have are greatly appreciated.

Also for preplanning need to do invitations. Any good suggestions there? Both DIY or companies?

Thanks so much for your ideas! I want to make this really special for my son and all of our family and friends without spending what I would on a wedding reception!!

 

[3boymthr]

These are the invitations our troop always uses:

http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply...PRODUCTS&c2=GIFTS&c3=CARDS&c4=&lv=3&item=2571

Very reasonably priced and I think you can pick them up at most scout shops too to avoid the shipping.

As for food, I've seen everything from a dessert buffet to a full blown meal, it's all up to you and varies greatly with the time of day the ceremony is held.

I would recommend avoiding an outdoor ceremony though, unless you have a permanent pavilion/roof or unless you want to invest in renting a tent. These ceremonies are not usually easily rescheduled as they involve a lot of people being there for the actual ceremony from the scout troop - the last one had 20 kids participating. DS usually participates in the ceremony and there are usually a couple of practices, etc. For these families of your troop to reschedule for rain could be quite a burden.

 

[MichelleinMaine]

Sounds like a beautiful location. i do agree with pp about a back up in case of rain. (Does the organization that charters the scout troop have a hall- like a church or Amvets, etc?)

As for food, I have never heard of an Eagle ceremony with a meal. Not sure what time you are looking at for a sunset. If you did it at, say, 7pm, though, I think it's perfectly reasonable to just have a cake with punch/iced tea. (A little more elaborate, add in some cookies,veggie tray, if you really wanted finger sandwiches, though I don't think you need to go there. An outdoor location (and scouts + alot of teen boys!), I'd be thinking picnicky food vs anything fancy. If you were focused on a meal- you could get the big party subs from subway and add chips/soda, etc.

And congrats to your Eagle to be! Hoping my Star son gets his rear in gear soon, lol.

 

[DisneyNutMic]

Oriental trading has a scrapbook catalog. It used to have the scouting stuff in it as well. Congrats to your son. Mine is an upcoming Bear and I'm the den leader. That's a great accomplishment for all of you.

 

[kmccain]

My son is an Eagle Scout. I was lucky and did not have to plan his court of honor but this is what they had. It was catered. Everyone paid for that but it was reasonable. The troop he was in was very close and everyone wanted to be there. There were 2 that got pinned that day. There were people from the community that came and spoke and gave them awards also. They will get a certificate signed by the President if you write to them and let them know.

He took a 3 sided board and put different things on it from all his years of scouting from Tiger right on up. Pictures, certificates, ribbons, etc. He had all his derby car there on the table in front of it and some of the things he had made for badges.

It was very moving for me! I pinned him and he pinned me with a mother of an Eagle pin and his father with a father of an eagle pin. You wont forget it!

We used the scout invitations reccomended by the pp

Congratulations! It is quite an accomplishment!

 

[Jill in Chicago]

If you have the ceremony outside be prepared for horrible weather. You never know. I forget where you live, but to me air conditioning is a MUST in the summer. I would vote for air conditioning over a view any day. You can always go out and take some shots (with a tripod) of your scout with your family outside.

As for the scrapbook it does NOT have to be expensive. Keep in mind that the photos and the journaling are the focus. As soon as you add colored/patterned paper and stickers the focus is then on that. Also, scrapbook designs come and go, just like wallpaper, bedding patterns.... You want something classic.

Pick one color scheme, beginning perhaps with khaki, and then choose colors (blue, rich gold, forest green...) that compliment khaki. It seems like this one color scheme will not work with all the photos, but it will.

What you can do is have one (two page layout) with a navy blue background. Then put a piece of khaki paper behind each photo for a mat. Maybe add a dark green stripe of colored paper along the bottom and DONE!

Then choose one type of lettering/font to title each two page or one page layout. (Every layout does not have to be two pages.) Places, such as Archivers, local scrapbook stores and schools have FREE die cut machines. Of course at a school you would have to ask first. Or just use your computer and make titles. Do not buy sticker letters. Huge expense.

Use ONE type of lettering for each title. This will give your album a coherent, classy look. Adding different type/fonts is tough. It can be very chaotic.

Gather your photos. Put them into categories: Do NOT worry about making "fantastic," or "cool" layouts. Trust me, your son will not care. What he will care about is the photos and how great the album is.

Cropping the photos in circles and ovals looks great. Cropping them with fancy edges scissors rarely does. No need to round the corners.

I used a plain 3 ring binder. I covered it with quilt batting and then covered that with an actual boy scout shirt. Our troop has extras just for these albums! The smaller the shirt size the better. You will need to cut the shirt up. On the front I sewed on the Eagle patch. I sewed the shirt, BUT you can fold the edges over with a hot glue gun. Then you cut out a "page" for the front inside cover and a page for the back, glue it over the hot glued edges and a nice neat album.

Or.... just buy a khaki album and call it a day! There are many inexpensive albums out there, BUT do plastic page protectors. A must!!!

 

[Tink9295]

Hi, First let me congratulate you! My son's Eagle Board of Review is tomorrow evening. So I hope to be planning a ceremony very soon.

Our troop usually has the family run the ceremony. We pay for everything minus what the scout has left in their individual scout account. The ceremony is for that scout only. I've attended full dinners, luncheon with sandwiches and one's with just appetizers.

Be sure to have a back up location in case of bad weather as the other posters said. Ours is usually in a church hall.

I am hoping to plan my son's ceremony soon. I would like to have heavy appetizers that will suit all guests. I think the menu will look like this:

chicken wings
pigs in a blanket
small pizza slices
antipasto kebobs
meatballs of some kind
wraps cut into small slices
finger sandwiches
scallops in bacon (if money allows)
Veggies with dip
chili dip
cheese platter
fresh fruit salad
punch
cake
cookies
brownies
and probably other items as well.

Good Luck. It's a very happy time in your life. Enjoy.

 

[Zoemakes5]

Thanks everyone!

The families do plan and pay for everything in our troop, with heavy participation by the leaders in the ceremony itself.

We live in the San Diego area...August rarely has weather issues, Jan is another story. Lots of rain, then. But I agree with a back up. We were looking at late evening or early am to avoid the heat. We were also going to borrow those pop up gazebo covers to provide shade.

I haven't been to an eagle ceremony here that didn't have a meal of some sort. A couple that I think of as like a graduation open house, with dollar bun sandwiches and chips, etc, but most have more of a full meal. Pizza seems to be a favorite.

Thanks again for your suggestions!

 

[marthachick]

For preplanning I have to make up a scrap book covering his time in scouts. Does anyone have any insights into cheap scrap book supplies? While alot of what I'll want will be actual boy scout scrapbook supplies, I will still need quite a bit of outdoorsy/camp themed, water, fishing, and community service, some Christmas (they do a Christmas parade every year), maybe some musical notes...well a wide variety. I know this can get pretty expensive, so any suggestions people might have are greatly appreciated.

Proud Eagle Scout mom here! For DS's scrapbook, I bought a "Boy Scout" Scrapbook & pages at AC Moore or Michaels. I had seen some "Eagle Scout" ones but couldn't find them locally. Check ads & use a 40% off coupon as just the scrapbook is spendy.

One of my favorite pages in the book is where I asked DS to tie 6 or 8 knots with some small twine. I glued them to small pieces of paper to make them stand out from the background page. I labeled them with the names that he told me. Also, I used a scrapbook page for guests to sign instead of a register. I just wrote "Guests" at the top & everyone signed it & some wrote a short message like "Congratulations!" or something like that. I then slid it in the plastic cover & didn't have to worry about keeping a separate guest book. If one sheet isn't enough, use 2 sheets since I think you would want the sheets to face each other in the book and not have it front & back.

I wrote him a letter from me & DH telling him how proud we were of him & reminding him of some of the fun (and funny) times we had during his scouting adventures. This was the first and only scrapbook I have ever done so it took me a LONG time to do it but it really looks good. I got "scout colored" paper to use. I would tear sheets & leave the edges torn to write stuff on or "frame" stuff but it "fit". It had a little rugged look just like a scout would imagine. Also, at the end of the scrapbook, I left room for his Eagle Ceremony stuff & the letters he later got from the President, Vice President, etc.

Oh, and BTW, Congrats on your new Eagle! You will be so proud! PM me if you have specific questions.

 

[mello]

It's a lot of work for everyone! But so worth it. I love the idea of the evening timing ending with sunset. That sounds lovely. I would think you could get away with just cake and punch. We did cakes from Costco, along with popcorn and trail mix, and punch for ours.

For scrapbooks and supplies, check out JoAnn's online (or Michael's if you have one) and use their 40% off coupons. I wound up doing 3 albums for my son, one each for Cubs, Boy Scouts and Eagle, and I got them all at JoAnn's online for around $14 each. (I think they were like $38 or something at the Scout shop.) I got lucky at Michael's when they were clearancing out a bunch of scout papers and embellishments. You might check with your Scout council or on Craig's list to see if anybody has some leftover papers and embellishments (and even tableware, centerpieces, etc). I had a fair amount of leftover scrap stuff and table setting stuff, so we made them into kits and donated it all to the troop for whoever came along next.

Best wishes on all your preparations!

 

[mello]

It's a lot of work for everyone! But so worth it. I love the idea of the evening timing ending with sunset. That sounds lovely. I would think you could get away with just cake and punch. We did cakes from Costco, along with popcorn and trail mix, and punch for ours.

For scrapbooks and supplies, check out JoAnn's online (or Michael's if you have one) and use their 40% off coupons. I wound up doing 3 albums for my son, one each for Cubs, Boy Scouts and Eagle, and I got them all at JoAnn's online for around $14 each. (I think they were like $38 or something at the Scout shop.) I got lucky at Michael's when they were clearancing out a bunch of scout papers and embellishments. You might check with your Scout council or on Craig's list to see if anybody has some leftover papers and embellishments (and even tableware, centerpieces, etc). I had a fair amount of leftover scrap stuff and table setting stuff, so we made them into kits and donated it all to the troop for whoever came along next.

Best wishes on all your preparations!

ETA: I thought of a couple more things that might be nice touches to add since you mentioned no electricity. We once went to an outdoor evening Court of Honor where they had torch lights, and that added a really nice touch. At my son's COH we did a candle ceremony, and ds and dh made the candle holders out of logs. It turned out looking really neat and everyone loved it.