Friday, November 11, 2016

Brownie Stomp

Since our Brownies have a long weekend over Remembrance Day, we decided to hold a sleepover Wednesday/Thursday for the girls.  We had a great turnout - I put that on us having told the parents about the date of the sleepover when they first registered with us in September.




Our Brown Owl calls a sleepover like this a stomp - because we get all over town :-)

Brown Owl also is a bus driver, so we got a really sweet deal on our bus to get to all the stops.


We asked our parents to make sure the girls had eaten before they arrived.  They arrived at 630 - set up their beds, and then we were on the road at 7.  First stop?  Our local vet.  They took the girls on a tour of the clinic, then showed them all the surgical equipment they use, and the wall of things they've pulled out of dogs and cats' stomachs.

Second stop - RCMP


The girls got to take home a pack of RCMP stickers, a Safety Bear Activity Book, and a paper hat.  They got a tour of the RCMP detachment, they got to interview a female RCMP member who was there, and they got to go back into cells and see the jailer.

Then we went bowling.  Some girls loved it, some hated it, but they all had a fun time.  The girls were getting hungry by this point -

So then we went to our local pizza place, made our own individual pizzas and took them back to the church to eat.

Then we got the girls to bed.  The whispering didn't stop until after midnight, and the girls were up at 630 the next morning.  After making sure the leaders had their coffee, we laid out breakfast while the girls packed up their things and put them down by the front door for easier pickup by parents.

Our church charges a small fee for overnights, but more if we use their kitchen.  Because we ate pizza the night before and had a cold breakfast in the morning, our costs were lowered by about 50%.  Huzzah!  We had apple juice boxes, muffins, yogurt and a couple of fruit platters for the girls to dig into.



If you're planning a night like this yourself, this is how we kept costs down.
-most places will give tours for free.  RCMP and Vet Clinic were free.
-ask your parents if any of them drive bus.  Our Brown Owl is able to use a community bus, but a school bus driver may be able to ask about borrowing the bus to their bus line, or be able to drive a bus that you rent yourself, saving you money that you'd have to pay the driver.
-ask about the place you're staying over giving you a discount if you don't use all the facilities.  (ie kitchen).  It's great to cook with the girls, but we will be doing that at our spring camp out, and they still got to make their own pizza.
-the bowling alley has a discount for schools or groups.  You could always ask if they have a special discount, or are able to give you a discount because Guides is a non-profit.

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