I need help!

[Swallow]

Okays, I am in a bit of a hole at the mo, and i need some help. I've bassically taken over a Youth Showcase thing happening in September at the Governer General's House (on his grounds... which are gorgeous... anyway. getting distracted) i'm looking after the Guide part of the showcase. What we are meant to do is organise something to 'show off' what our organisation is about. And now i'm kinda stuck. I can't bring any kind of weapon into the grounds, so that rules out archery, darts and ballistas (i really wanted to make them to have a flour fight, but they consider it a weapon, i meant, seriously, the things would be so flimsy made, we;ll be so far from the house how ingenious do you think Guides are at making killing machines?? and should i be worried?) anyway, i was going to have a few team building activities, then i came to my attention that the Scouts have organised an abseiling wall.

So very very very very very very very very jealous. Damn i wish Guides had their kind of money (for all of that their website is horrendous, you'd think with that kind of dosh they could at least afford a reasonable website designer. Guides trumps scouts in the technology respect) anyway, i need something that:
1. Doesn't look like i'm competing
2. Shows an aspect of guides that no one else would expect (In otherwords, no bloody crafts, why would i want to do that?? urgh.... i'm a 10+ leader for a good reason, tried knitting with them once, will never, ever ever do that again.... let's not talk about what happened with the cross stitch)
3. Is KICKASS and a lot of fun

i have an order for a whole ton of balloons and a few guides willing to do balloon animals, so we were thinking of doing a whole ton of ridiculous things to do with balloons, but do you guys have any idea? Is there anything at all that you think would be really cool to pull off? I'm running out of ideas, and out of time, so any help you can give me would be spiffy!!

[Elspeth]

I don't know how if this will be any use, but I remember reading my ancient version of the Guides' handbook and being fascinated by a section which dealt with the proper way to get out of a car ("We don't want everyone seeing our pantyhose, girls!"). Now, I know for a fact that the Guides have come a long way since the sixties (it was a very old, second-hand edition of the handbook - I wasn't really a Guide in the sixties...), so can you do something reflecting the changes? Most people probably think the Guides just wear blue uniforms and sew badges onto their sashes, so this is probably a good opportunity to let people know just how things have changed.

Can you throw it open to your midgets? Maybe they'd have some interesting ideas that you could work with. I'm afraid I haven't been helpful at all.

[Swallow]

PMSL!!! I LOVE those old books, so great for a laugh. I have a whole cupboard filled with them, and when my midgets are hunting for ideas, they'll come back all indignant, and then get confused when i start laughing....

there is a scout handbook published in the 80s which something to the effect of: (and i missquote) "Scouts should always offer to help at Guide halls, there is lots of work there to be done, that women cannot do. So they will be grateful for your help."

That had me laughing so hard, for so long. So many times i've been on a mix scout/guide camp, and watched them screw something up, only to step in and take over. Campfire in particular. We had this one time when the scouts couldn't get their fire lit, and they were using all of the accellorants, and my guide group just set about doing our own, it was lit well before theirs, and they were still busy tossing fuel on, while we were toasting marshmellows... tehe, oh, it kills me.....

It's a pity i can't burn things on the grounds either.... i love burning things.... and there is nothing like a fire to draw people's attention...

[Talmina]

you could start with setting up a good campsite and stuff like that. are you allowed to use camp stoves or something at least? since its a well contained fire. you could do a demonstration of setting up camp and stuff on a hike, just substitute a fire with a camp stove

[Swallow]

hey.... i was thinking about something like that.... the fact that you brought it up, tells me a lot... thanks! ;D

[Lix]

we were on tv once abseiling, and what did they have me doing? putting up a bloody tent
*grumble* no wonder i left ages ago!

[Morag]

Do you do any self defence stuff? Never done guides so I wouldnt know but maybe you could have them show off the self defence if they do.

And what happened with the cross stitch? *ducks* ;D

[Swallow]

You wouldn't be able to believe it if i told you, so fantastically stupid the tale of teaching my midgets crossstitch that you would look upon it as complete fiction.
Let's just say craft and my girls don't mix. They prefer to do outdoors stuff and burn things.. ;D Nice to see i can give my pyromania to others... share the love i say

[DragonMornir]

ideas:
pack rack building race
bell tents( gotta love em lol) race
run a patrol nite program of some description...
scouts always seem to get it better dont they?? d**m scouts lol
im a Joeys leader but i was a Guide when i was 10-16 or whatever the age is lol was a brownie hehe back when the uniforms were still brown lol
anywho what resources u got to work with?

[Rushton]

My whole impression of the guides comes from the 'Chalet School' series by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer - and these were written in the 50's so you can imagine...
They always seemed to be hiking, or working on ways to rescue people who had fallen down cliffs ;D

Maybe you could set up an orienteering course on the grounds, like a treasure hunt where you get clues to find the next location, and at each location you could have a Guide-y activity or display.

[Dark One]

How about a competition with the scouts, where you see which team can setup their campsite first?

[Elondriel]

if it didn't have to be practical and u have a ton of baloons.... id hide sumthing in one of the baloons like 5 different keys, to open 5 different chests. then they could scramble to burst them and grab the key. hehehe
maybe there could be something in the chests that was guide related. like different items that show what guides can do and these could be displayed/set up.
like camp site in one to set up.
first aid in another.
you get the idea.

on a more practical note...couldn't they assemble something like a billy cart (love the old days) a temporary ye old house?

let me think it over a while

[Cat-Eyes]

I would help, but I'm busy waving the scout flag. GO SCOUTS!!!

Hehehhee, on Australia Day the guides had a GIANT Australia flag (while we, the scouts, all had individual ones) and it was backwards... No matter which was you looked at it, it was backwards...

Cat

_{Also, I can't think of anything}

[Swallow]

I love it when things like that happen, it kills me, so very funny.... Elondriel, they are very good ideas, but you have to think on a larger scale, we're expecting about a 1000 kids into the area, probably more, it's all apart of youth week, or children's week, or something like that. And it's not just scouts and guides who will be there, St. John's have something going, the Cadets are there... different sports groups and what have you....

Well, i've worked out one part, i'm doing a labyrinth, i have the stuff i need for that.... and i was toying with the idea of centering everything on magic... i mean, the HP4 movie would be coming out soonish, and the book had just been released.... way to cash in on a hype... and now i'm really thinking like a publiscist, maybe this wasn't such a good idea

[Elondriel]

oh, i didn't realise it was so big. Labrynth is good idea!

[Morag]

Do it in pairs or groups of three and maybe have one person directing the others through it? Maybe have little clues along the way and they have to collect them all and bring them out and then work them out when they meet up outside the labyrinth and each clue represents a different item they have to collect?