Sunday was the 18th birthday of our Young Leader, Amelia (Snowy Owl), who has been working for her Leadership Qualification (LQ) since completing her Young Leader Qualification at 16. The only thing she had left to do was to make her Promise as an adult, so we fixed the date for our first Brownie meeting after her birthday.
Behind her back, the Brownies then planned for an 18th Birthday party to celebrate her birthday – as of course she wouldn’t have been able to celebrate with her friends. All the girls contributed to a birthday card – with parental permission of course! – each designed a letter towards Happy 18th Birthday and then their parents took a photo of them holding their letter. They also wrote notes to Snowy Owl with lovely messages for her, which we included inside the card.
In their most recent pack that we have been sending out during lockdown, the girls were all given 6 blank triangles to design and decorate and then cut up to make bunting to decorate where they were sitting for their Zoom, a balloon to blow up and a candle and holder to put on a decorated muffin.
The Brownies all prepared their own plate of party food including the decorated muffin and a cocktail drink. Three of the girls organised and ran games towards their Gold Awards. They were amazing!
Earlier in the day, I took round invitations to the party that two of our Brownies had made for a Skills Builder Challenge which they had posted to me, some party food, decorations, a little birthday cake and some candles, and of course a Promise badge for her Mum to pin on at the appropriate time. All a big surprise!
We all dressed up in our best party clothes. We asked parents to light a candle on each Brownie’s muffin, sang Happy Birthday and everyone blew out their candles together to help Snowy Owl!
We then had a Promise Ceremony, where Snowy made her Promise, with her mentor present. The leaders, Sixers and two youngest Brownies all put on uniform tops over our glad rags, as our youngest two Brownies also made their Promise for the first time, and our three new Sixers renewed their Promise.
It was a really memorable evening, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves!
So exciting to hear that the region have created a new Badge – “I made my Promise virtually!” We’ll definitely be getting some of them!
And congratulations are due, as thanks to her mentor, Amelia’s LQ book and evidence was in the post next morning, and she has now been awarded her Leadership Qualification!
Well done Amelia!
Rosie, Leader, 1st Goonhavern Brownies