Shadbolt Seasonal Festival

Posted on December 17, 2013 by Carissa

Girls from the 1st Sparks, 24th Brownies, and 54th Brownies all came out to a community event at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. The Seasonal Celebration featured crafts, snacks, music and more from various cultures showing how they celebrate in the winter time.

Girls got to meet particularly animated characters like the Gingerbread Man as they wandered through the different activities.

Girls got into the spirit of the season and had a great time making crafts with their friends.

This great family event was a huge success. Thank you Shadbolt Centre and the City of Burnaby for putting it on!

Sparks Sleepover Movie Party

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Carissa

The 1st Sparks recently enjoyed a sleepover at Richmond Guide House. The theme was a movie pajama party where the girls watched Disney’s Tangled. They had pizza and popcorn, and did a craft themed to the movie. It was a great chance for the girls and leaders to bond early in the year and to have a great time.

The craft was to make Rapunzel hair. Each girl was given a long braid that they could decorate with clips, flowers, ribbons, and butterflies… just like the part in the movie where Rapunzel gets her hair decorated. The craft turned out great!

Then the girls went into the “movie theatre” — a room in the house where a projector played the movie on a big wall, just like really going to the movies. After the movie the girls went to sleep. The leaders are thrilled to report that the girls were very well behaved and slept really well… for a sleepover, anyway.

One of the highlights of a sleepover like this is seeing some of the shyer girls grow in confidence as they get to know new friends and feel more comfortable in the group. By the end of the event quiet girls were speaking up more and girls who would normally be a little nervous or hesitant were jumping right into the action. It’s amazing what an activity like this can do for the confidence of a young girl — for many of these girls it was their first sleepover ever, and it was a really great experience.

Spark and Brownie Fairy Camp

Posted on July 12, 2013 by Carissa

The 1st Sparks and the 54th Brownies recently had their year end camp together at the beautiful Camp Olave. The theme was “A Fairy Earns Her Wings” and the girls had a fun-filled weekend doing different tasks that eventually ended in a fairy ball where each girl was presented with a pair of beautiful wings.

There were crafts, games, and songs. They did activities like navigating a blind trail obstacle course and swimming in the ocean. There was even a bear sighting the first night that put a rather rapid end to the campfire, and provided much excitement.

The weather was warm and beautiful. Every single girl got into the ocean — which isn’t always the case, as the water is very cold! But these fairies needed to cool off.

One of the highlights was the fairy magic station. Regular little girls can blow regular bubbles. But only fairies can make GIANT bubbles. This activity was a hit with girls and leaders alike, and got the attention of many other campers on site.

At the fairy ball the girls earned their wings, got a fairy jewel (a ringpop) and danced to some pop music. It was a great celebration to recognize their fairy accomplishments.

Big thank yous to all the leaders who organized such a successful camp. There were a few volunteer mums who came to help out and they were amazing. For many of these girls this was their very first camp — we’re glad it was such a great one.

Club Aviva Sleepover

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Carissa

This weekend the 1st Sparks (along with a few Brownies) spent the night at Club Aviva gymnastics centre in Coquitlam. The girls had a wonderful time. They got to play in the gymnastics gymnasiums, have a pizza snack, play parachute games, and then sleep in the gym.

The leaders were tired out just watching them race through the gym and use the equipment. Some girls had already had gymnastics training whereas others were using the equipment for the very first time. Either way, they loved it.

The trampolines were probably the biggest hit of all. Who doesn’t love bouncing?

Why yes, that Spark is about 15 feet up in the air. She shimmied up there like a monkey. This seems like a good time to thank the amazing Club Aviva staff for having us for the night and for making sure we had a great time while also being really on top of our safety!

The other really popular area was the foam pit. Girls could jump or swing in and land in balls of foam.

Now that this unit has done two sleepovers already this year, it’s time for them to start getting excited about their 2-night camp in June. Some people believe Sparks can’t do the same fun things as older girls, but this unit sure proves them wrong. These girls are unstoppable!

Sparks and Brownies go Mini Golfing

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Carissa

Over the past few weeks the girls of the 1st Sparks and the 54th Brownies have used the mini golfing facilities at Eaglequest Golf in Coquitlam. The groups weren’t there on the same night, but both were lucky to have great weather and had a good time.

The Sparks went first in early March. It’s definitely one of those “dress for the weather” kind of activities.

spark golf 1

It was chilly outside and the course was pretty dark by the time they were done, but the girls had a blast. For many this was their first time playing mini golf, but nevertheless there were some skilled golfers on the course! Spark golf 2

A couple of weeks later the Brownies hit the course. They had the advantage of daylight savings time and enjoyed a beautiful sunset through most of their game.

brownie golf 1

The Brownies played a little more competitively (they actually kept score!) and also had a great time.

brownie golf 2

Herritage Christmas

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Carissa

On December 17th, the 1st Burnaby Mountain Sparks and the 54th Burnaby Mountain Brownies went on an outing to the Burnaby Village Museum Herritage Christmas. It was an especially exciting time because they invited families to join — since the museum is celebrating the 100th birthday of the carousel, admission was free so it was easy to have lots of people come out.

All together there were 32 girl members, another dozen or so siblings and cousins, and a bunch of moms, dads, aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas, and even a couple Guider husbands.

Girls went out in small groups to do a Christmas treat themed scavenger hunt and see such attractions as the blacksmith, the old fashioned movie theatre, a visit to traditional Father Christmas, and do a craft.

The highlight, of course, was the 100-year old carousel. They filled the carousel one and a half times!

Sparks Pizza Pajama Party

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Carissa

Last weekend the 1st Burnaby Mountain Sparks had a sleepover pizza pajama party at Richmond Guide House. It was a great opportunity for the girls and leaders to get to know each other — and with the unit having 10 new girls, 2 new junior leaders, and 1 new Guider this year, this seemed pretty important!

The decorated sleepover totes — really cute draw string backpacks sewn by Emerald.

Future fashion designers hard at work

Dinner, of course, was pizza. One of the highlights was the “movie theatre” where the girls got to watch The Lorax projected onto the wall. And it wouldn’t be a movie theatre without popcorn!

Getting ready to watch the movie

In the morning everyone was pretty sleepy, but a good time was had by all. The girls made new friends and some really great memories of their early days in Sparks.

Everyone is now excited for some of our upcoming events. Did you know that the Lorax speaks for the trees? He says that “UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing’s going to change. It’s Not.” Hmm. I wonder what we could do if we had some trees… Stay tuned!

Burnaby Mountain District

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