Boy Scouts? Uniforms?

[pennymom]

Our Pack only requires that the boys have a shirt (with Council patch and pack numbers) and hat to start. You can add the belt later. Our Pack provides the neckerchief, slide, and book.

 

[3boymthr]

Oh, no one answered your question about belt loops. Those are special awards that they earn for doing specific activities either during or outside of their den & pack meetings. The loops are little pieces of metal with pictures on them that slide over the cub scout belt. They can be earned for a variety of things from sports like swimming, baseball, soccer & flag football to academic areas like science, math, computers, and astronomy. They even have them for pet care, manners, and video games. You can ask your leader if they have an Academic and Sports award book you can look at or you can look online at meritbadge.org to see what the available loops are and the requirements for earning them.

 

[pepperderr]

For the tiger book - do you mind slightly used? PM me if interested.

I sent you a PM. Thanks!

Thanks everyone again for all the info!

pepperderr

 

[Coll0610]

Boy Scouts wasn't a popular activity in the neighborhood I grew up in so I'd never heard of Boy Scout popcorn. When DS started, I mentioned to a couple people that he was selling popcorn and they immediately asked if they could order some. Apparently it was something they looked forward to every year and they still ask each year if we're selling it. We also decided early on that we would only bother the relatives once a year for donations, and Boy Scout popcorn is the thing we choose.

DS wore the same shirt for all of Cub Scouts, and is still wearing the Boy Scout shirt we bought him 4 years ago. So buy them big and you should get a few years out of them.

Yes, we've spent some money on Scouting but I think it's been worth every penny.

 

[mommomjoan]

I have a cub scout shirt that I would be happy to mail to you. Send me a PM with your address. Does your pack have popcorn sales at local stores? Those sales are called "show and sell". If you have 2 boys, they could do it together. There are 2 "stages" to scout popcorn sales - first the "show and sell" where they already have some popcorn which they can "lend" to you and you would return the unsold popcorn, then the pack/troop has to "settle" those costs/supplies and put in an order from the order forms. These all have timelines with the show and sell usually coming first. I would recommend a Sear's Hardware if you have one close. Sear's Hardware customers are frequently men who were scouts themselves. This is where uniforms will help you because most people will stop and talk to a polite, usually a little nervous boy asking for a "sell". It is a great chance to teach your boys many skills, including how to handle rude people, handling money and merchandise, etc. Best of all, you will probably get lots of "donations" from people who don't want to buy that crazy over priced popcorn.

Do you still have the cub scout shirt available. I too am in the Norristown PA area and my grandson just joined the cub scouts and is in need of a shirt almost immediately. Please let me know and I would be happy to come and get it personally.

 

[travelitis]

Our troop's popcorn sales fell flat, but a neighboring troop sold outside of Walmart on a Saturday and scored BIG! Maybe you could help organize your kids to work together to make it more successful like that. The troop that did so well advertised at their booth that the popcorn sales was to fund scout camp. Our troop also did a car wash. In the end, parents dished $200 per kid for camp, because we didn't have time for any more fundraising. This last year, my son didn't go to scout camp because it wouldn't help him for eagle; he's too close.

Since you know so far in advance how much scout camp is, you can treat it like a monthly activity and put an amount away for it. Another thought is that between now and camp you have an income tax refund and could set aside the money from that.

If you compare scouts to any sport or band, it's dirt cheap. Unlike sports and band, there IS a widely-recognized rank your son can achieve that is so prestigious it will follow him the rest of his life on college applications and resumes. The military even starts eagles out at a higher rank than other new recruits. Something to consider when thinking about the "expense".