16 September 2008
Several Swaps
Posted by admin under: crafts .
Share-With-A-Pal, Something-With-A-Pin, a token to swap with another Girl Scout. I’ve heard various definitions of what a Girl Scout swap is. It is simply something that a Girl Scout makes and then gives to another Girl Scout that she doesn’t know when they meet at a Girl Scout event. The swap is generally an easy craft. It has to be since the girls will usually be giving out dozens of them. If you have to spend more than a few minutes on a swap then you’ve chosen the wrong design. Our troop has mass-produced swaps using clothespins and spray paint, printers and pre-cut pages, and designs that are so easy to complete you only spend a few seconds on each one.
We attend a few council and service unit events each year where our Girl Scouts meet girls from other troops. They are shy about sharing their small craft projects, but once they get the ball rolling the girls end up giving out and collecting dozens. Some of the ideas are elaborate. Some are simple. They are all used as a way to get the girls to mingle and feel like they’ve been social with new people.
Here are some sites that advertise their ideas for Girl Scout swaps. I hope you get some good ideas for your next swap-worthy event.
http://www.girlscouts.org/program/gs_central/swaps/
http://trudyd.homestead.com/swaps.html
http://parentingteens.about.com/od/girlscoutsandgirlguides/a/swaps_girlscout.htm
- Bridge to Ambassador Patch
- Girl Scouts Advocacy Network
- Let Them Know Pix Trix
- GSUSA: Recruiting the Fair
- Shrinks a Million
4 Comments so far...
Cici Says:
17 September 2008 at 3:41 pm.
http://www.makingfriends.com/ Making Friends.com has a great site. They have swaps; badge kits and crafts for Girl Scouts AND Cub Scouts (great for Blue and Gold). They also have supplies that you can order (if you need something hard to find like the coiless safety pins) online. There are many printable instruction sheets and templates.
Enjoy!
Cici Says:
17 September 2008 at 3:45 pm.
Oops! ScoutSwaps.com is part of MakingFriends.com. Oh well. At least you know now that it’s a great place for Cub Scouts too!
A Year in the Life | BoyandGirlScouts.com - News, Opinion, Advice Says:
21 June 2009 at 2:37 am.
[...] There was some attention paid, but after all the effort I saw things like a throwaway post listing Girl Scout swaps getting more hits. You just can’t force people to care about things the same way you [...]
Lindsay Foster Says:
13 August 2009 at 10:25 am.
Our Troop actually developed a SWAPS Try It (which became a Council’s Own Try It for Girl Scouts Texas Oklahoma Plains Council) and a SWAPS badge for Junior level Girl Scouts. We include information about what SWAPS are, how to make different kinds, how to host SWAPS events, etc.
Also our someone mentioned Cub Scouts – in our BSA Council, SWAPS are known as “den doodles” and are frequently exchanged @ Cub Scout Day Camp.
