What’s more exciting than a new Girl Scout year?! As the summer months come to a close and the fresh start of a new school year is in full swing, you may be getting ready to welcome new girl and adult members into the world of Girl Scouting! Get parents excited for all of the new and exciting opportunities their daughters will have at their fingertips and show girls what it means to be a part of their newfound sisterhood by planning something special.

Investiture ceremonies welcome all new members to Girl Scouts, while rededication ceremonies are a great way for returning members to renew their commitment to the Girl Scout Promise and Law. Both ceremonies are traditions that allow us to reflect on what it means to be a Girl Scout and the empowering journey girls will undertake. Depending on your troop’s members, you might decide to hold a combination investiture/rededication ceremony.

Every investiture ceremony is special (and none have to be formal)! In fact, there are only three requirements that it must meet. New members will:

• Recite the Girl Scout Promise (individually or as a group).
• Receive the appropriate membership pin: Girl Scout Daisy pin, Girl Scout Brownie pin, or Traditional Membership pin (depending on age levels).
• Be verbally welcomed into your troop and to Girl Scouting. You may choose to welcome new members yourself, or returning girls might want to collectively give the welcome.

The rest is up to you, your troop, and their interests! Make it as unique as you’d like by setting a theme, playing games, incorporating songs or skits, and so on. A few things you may want to consider are:

• Location. It may be easy to hold your ceremony at your traditional meeting spot, but feel free to get creative with it! Gather your troop in the park, at the beach, a space at school…make it your own!
• When. If you have a troop of all new girls, you may want to postpone your ceremony a few meetings until the girls are familiar with the Girl Scout Promise.
• Activities. If your troop is still learning about Girl Scout traditions, have them do an activity where they consider how to incorporate the Girl Scout Promise and Law into their daily lives. Keep the ceremony girl-led and you’re good to go!

While each investiture ceremony will be unique to the troop that organizes it, here are a few of our favorite ideas!

• Hopping through a Daisy hoop
• S’mores making party (and a lesson on Girl Scout history!)
• Brownie Investiture (with skit script and poems)
• Pirate themed party

Additionally, consider using your ceremony as a chance to welcome new parents and adults into Girl Scouting! Girls may want to pin the adult members, sing a song, present thank you notes, or something similar! Make the moment special by getting every participant involved.

No matter how your troop decides to customize your ceremony, your unique spin on this long-standing tradition will make investiture a memorable event for all! Need more inspiration? Check out our Investiture Ceremony board on Pinterest!