Sparks Winter Themed Sleepover

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Carissa

The girls and leaders from the 1st and 2nd Sparks joined forces last weekend for a Winter Wonderland themed sleepover at a local community hall.

For many of the Sparks this was their very first sleepover ever. The leaders were impressed with how well everybody did. The Sparks really took to the spirit of sharing and being a friend, and there were no major problems at all. Even girls who were a little nervous about missing their families and being away from home were so busy having fun and being with their friends that there wasn’t a single melt down, even at bedtime.

snowman

The winter-themed activities included making their own “toss the snowball through the snowman” games to take home, making snowflake headbands, and watching everyone’s favourite movie (Frozen, of course) on a big screen almost like being at the movie theatre. It was quite spectacular to see 22 Sparks singing along to Let it Go with perfect diction and clarity!

dancing

Girls also got to eat yummy pizza, sing their favourite campfire songs, and spend time dancing with a disco light.

They even went to bed at a reasonable hour, without very much fuss at all.

buddies

It was a wonderful night of fun and friendship.

This was a very successful first sleepover for these units this year. Both groups look forward to taking their Sparks on more exciting outings, sleepovers, and camps throughout the year.

Iron Chef: Best Appetizer, 12th Rangers!

Posted on November 2, 2015 by Carissa

Burnaby Mountain District is very proud of our 12th Rangers for being awarded Best Appetizer at the 2015 West Coast Area Iron Chef competition.

Every year, Pathfinders and Rangers from Burnaby, New Westminster, Vancouver, Richmond, and Ladner gather for an intense competition of outdoor cooking skills. Using the kinds of cooking equipment they would have access to at camp, girls prepared a full meal Iron Chef style at Deas Island regional park in Delta. The annual competition has a Halloween-theme as it always takes place at the end of October.

Their winning dish in the appetizer category, an Egg Salad Skeleton Wrap (pictured above), was judged based on taste, presentation, creativity, and nutrition.

It’s good to know that the 12th Rangers will be well fed when they go to camp this year. Clearly, these girls have great skills. Way to go!

Guides have a Halloween Party

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Carissa

This week, the girls in the 22nd Burnaby Mountain Guides had a Halloween party! The girls took a break from their regular Girl Guide uniforms and came in costume because of the special occasion.

Fun included many pumpkin and Halloween themed activities.

Crafts are a favourite activity of these girls. At the party they coloured Día de Muertos masks, and also did a spooky pumpkin seed tree craft.

And it wouldn’t be a party without games and treats. They rounded out the evening with pumpkin bowling and decorating a pumpkin-shaped rice krispie treat!

Many units are celebrating with Halloween parties this week. Thank you Guides for sending in these fun photos.

Happy Halloween from Burnaby Mountain District!

Sparks Enrollment

Posted on October 25, 2015 by Carissa

Burnaby Mountain’s newest unit, the 2nd Sparks, had their first ever enrollment ceremony today.

Eight new girls were enrolled, plus one girl who was a Spark in another unit last year. Special guests, the new Burnaby Mountain District Commissioner and Deputy District Commissioner came for the event, as did several of the girls’ family members.The ceremony involved the girls sliding down the rainbow, just like the girl Crystal in the Sparks ceremony. Girls felt very special as they said their promise and got their first collection of badges, including their Sparks enrollment pin.

Following the ceremony, girls and their guests got to enjoy some delicious cupcakes, fruit, and juice. It truly was a merry occasion.

At the end of the day one dad remarked, of his daughter, “between all the rainbows, friendship, and sharing, it’s like this program was designed right around her!” It’s so great to see the girls enjoying the Sparks program. Welcome to Girl Guides, girls!

Sparks Dr. Seuss Themed Camp

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Carissa

It wouldn’t be Girl Guides without camping!

Most of the units in Burnaby Mountain went camping one way or another in the month of June. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) most of them were too busy having fun to spend much time snapping pictures. We were lucky enough to get some shots of the fun-loving 1st Sparks from their awesome Dr. Seuss themed camp at Camp Olave.

The Sparks had a great time reading stories, doing crafts, eating Seuss-themed food (green eggs and ham, anyone?), and doing all the other awesome camp activities like swimming, nature walks, and s’mores. In one activity, girls learned the foundations of building a good campfire by using edible materials — this girl was so proud of hers we needed to take a picture of it before she could eat the pieces!

The girls hammed up for the camera at their Dr. Seuss seaside photo booth with fun props and Who Hair Dos.

Some of their favourite characters were Thing 1 and Thing 2 as well as The Lorax.

They also had a great time singing their campfire songs and making (and eating!) their s’mores.

At the end of the day, camp is mostly about the food, right?

For many of these Sparks it was their first time doing a two night camp. The girls were very resilient and dealt with some challenges including late ferries that added a little bit of stress to the beginning of camp. But none of that slowed them down. The girls had a great time at Camp Olave and look forward to going back next year!

Badges, Badges, Badges!

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Carissa

Girl Guides LOVE earning badges. Recently the girls in the 22nd Guides had a badge testing night where they got to show off their hard work on interest badges as part of Girl Guides of Canada programming. Interest badges are a great way for girls to explore their interests, try new things, learn new skills, and have fun.

At badge testing, girls are responsible for showing leaders what they have done to satisfy the requirements of the badges. Here are some of the girls during their testing.

These two girls demonstrated different kinds of artistic skills for the Art Production badge.

These two baked up some delicous snacks for the Tasty Treats badge.

This girl earned her Cycling badge.

And this girl presented her Event Planning badge.

The unit would like to thank District Commissioner Gerry for coming to the meeting to help with badge testing. All the girls had a great time earning their badges and presenting their work. Another great example of the cool personal development opportunties in Girl Guides of Canada!

What happens at a typical Guide meeting?

Posted on May 19, 2015 by Carissa

Most often we here at Burnaby Mountain District like to post about the really super awesome outings, events, and meetings that our girls are getting up to (stay tuned for a post in the next few days about the amazing district sleepover at the planetarium!). But sometimes it’s good to post about a regular weekly meeting. You might be wondering what does a Guide group do at an average meeting?

The girls at the 22nd Guides recently decided to answer that question for local Brownies who will be advancing to Guides in the coming year. They invited some second year Brownies to see what Guides is typically like.

The answer, of course, is that there is no “typical” night at Guides! These girls like to do all kinds of things from arts and crafts, to cooking, to community service, to planning for their upcoming events, to playing games, and more.

As a special treat, the Guides treated their Brownie friends to an activity of cupcake decorating, showing off how they have honed their decorating (and eating) skills.

And it wouldn’t be Guides without the fun and friendship of hanging out with your Guiding buddies. This is a unit that knows how to giggle!

Sparks Do van Gogh

Posted on May 5, 2015 by Carissa

Last night the girls in the 1st Burnaby Mountain Sparks went to a 4 Cats art studio to participate in a painting workshop to recreate Vincent van Gogh’s famous masterpiece, Sunflowers.

A wonderful art facilitator gave tips on drawing and painting the vase full of flowers. Girls were encouraged to think about warm colours and cool colours and to group those together to emphasize mood.

The girls had a great time and produced some really awesome art. By the end of the night they had each made their very own acrylic painting with modeling paste on an 11″× 14″ pre-stretched canvas. The 1st Sparks love 4 Cats!

Rangers at Camp Olave

Posted on April 16, 2015 by Carissa

Last weekend the girls of the 12th Burnaby Mountain Rangers went to camp. It was not an especially adventurous camp — they wanted a weekend to chill out by the beach, hang out with their friends, and relax. Sounds pretty nice, doesn’t it?

The lucked out with some beautiful sunshine coast weather. Although they spent a lot of time outside, they also enjoyed lodging in the adorable Gingerbread cottage.

This unit has girls with a wide variety of Guiding experience — some of have been members almost their entire lives, whereas others have joined as recently as this year. It really doesn’t matter how new or old their friendships are, this small unit had a wonderful time camping together.

Several of these girls are also junior leaders in our Sparks and Brownies units and show their dedication to Guiding year round by working hard in those roles. They certainly deserved the weekend off to relax.

Here’s to plenty more opportunities for Rangers to relax and make great Guiding memories.

Burnaby Mountain District

Register today at www.girlguides.ca!

Category Archives: Unit Event