Last Daisy Event: International Night and Awards Ceremony

This year I tried to get the girls to toss more of their ideas out for what they'd like to do as a theme for our big event. They were very interested in what was happening in Haiti, and one of our girls has dual citizenship in both France and the US. After talking for a while the idea of an International Night came up. (Things about this would also help toward earning their first Try-It - People of the World.)

For the first two years a friend of my husband's had come in and done folk dancing with the girls. We asked him if he would be willing to come and lead the entire party in a couple dances from different countries. I had a connection to the Haitian Health Foundation, so I emailed and asked what we could do to help them. We decided on a canned protein drive (tuna, peanut butter, Spam) and donate the food to be shipped in a container to Haiti. My Cadette Assistant taught the girls a song in French to sing as part of the entertainment as well.

We had a potluck dinner again, and asked parents to contribute dishes with an international flair. We were very lucky and got a variety of dishes from all over the world. There really wasn't room for dancing at the camp hall we'd rented the year before, so this year we rented the Elks Club in our town. They gave us a special rate because we're a charitable organization. I also made simple programs for the event, with black ink on pink paper. The girls made flags to march in with, and centerpieces with small flags made out of paper and knitting needles stuck into flower pots.



The evening went very smoothly. We had dinner, opening exercises, Un Petit Canard, our song in French, the folk dancing, and then we brought it around to the more serious part of our evening. Since this was going to be their last chance to wear their Daisy uniforms, and to avoid parent confusion, I gave the girls all their petals and Daisy patches at our last meeting. They all had them on their tunics at the International Night so I announced the awards they'd received and had them do a twirl. Then I announced the awards that would go on their new Brownie vests and shook their hands, and presented them with their envelopes.

We gave gifts to our volunteers - we gave my Cadette Assistant a patch and necklace, and my Assistant Leader/Cookie Coordinator a box of chocolate covered strawberries. The girls presented me with a card they'd all signed and an awesome camping stove!

The last part of our night was Bridging. After much thought to how to bridge, I decided on the human bridge, where the audience raises their hands in the air to make arches and the girls run under them. I took of each girls Daisy uniform and their parents waited at the other end to put on their new Brownie uniforms. My husband put on my daughter's. After I sent her through I took of my Daisy Leader pin, ran through myself, and my mom put on my Brownie Leader pin.