Last night was my youngest son's Blue and Gold banquet. We are now starting our final year in cubscouts, it seems like we've been in it forever (reality, it's only been I think 8yrs now... but that is forever in "corralling cats" terms). If he decides to cross over to boy scouts next March and not early, then I will have both sons in boy scouts at the same time for one month until my oldest ages out. Since hubby is now scoutmaster, he is already trying to get a camping trip with both boys present arranged for next March :)
Our den was in charge of putting on the show this year, and we had fun with a pirate theme. It was the theme of our pinewood derby, so we decided to run with it. I found out a few weeks ago that the summer camp they attend is also having a pirate theme this this year.... it's a pirate-y year I guess!
It was a little difficult to figure out what to do for food and entertainment. We originally had The Pirates of The Puget Sound hopefully lined up, but they apparently lost their insurance. They would have been perfect. We called around to many, many different entertainers and we went with
Xakary the Magician. Though he came last year, his show this year was different and just as fun as last year's production.
Then the food. Wow! Prices for catering seem to have increased quite a bit. We checked out everything from last year's restaurant, to food trucks, and other places we haven't tried yet. First of all, the Blue and Gold is a birthday party for cub scouts, not fine dining. I think over the years peoples' expectations have grown, but we dialed it back this year so that we could keep the food cost closer to the $5-8 per person rate. Well, $5 is out. We hit closer to the $8 price, but it's hard to go much over that for an event that needs to be as close to revenue neutral as possible. We ask for a $5/person or $20/family donation to defray the cost, and then the cake auction helps further (decorations, drinks, serviceware, dessert cake, program printing, as well as the meal are the costs). For the main meal we went with a place called Potbelly. They do warm sandwiches and though the price seemed to keep changing, our meal was excellent and the salads and all the fixings for the sandwiches were really good. We supplemented with Pirate Booty and other chips, as well as grapes. It is a sticker shock to plan for 200 people. I know other cub packs do pot lucks, so the cost doesn't have to be way out of control.
I wasn't really sure how it would be received ("sandwiches?"), but over the last three years in a row, we've had Italian food. People were looking for a change and last year we heard a few complaints. So far this year I haven't heard anything negative.
For decorations, Kevin and I donated our art projects :) towards that. We did get table coverings and some pirate coins that we saved receipts for, but I found these cool crates on Pinterest. I sent Kevin a picture asking how hard it would be to make... and off to Home Depot we went. Thankfully those supplies weren't too much (though, in all I think the 30 crates came to just under $100), and we had an assembly line going! I made flags using some old fusible I needed to use up as well as fabric from my bolts I had on hand. They turned out cute!
The programs were cute too! The parents in charge of that even singed the edges. Details!
We sent the crates and pirate booty found within (coins, beads, keys, flags) home to whomever wanted them. I kept the candles though. I raided a few thrift stores around town to supplement my own candlestick holder supply :) The kids loved especially one brass candle stick holder that had a thumb hole in it like the old old OLDEN days. I saw a few different kids walking around the room with it... I loved that! Though, secretly I was whispering in my head "please don't drop the candle" :) The candles are LED, but they have this waxy resin that cracks with too much handling. I have two that have it chipping off.
The best part is that I did most of my shopping from Amazon. I found a great deal on rolls of table coverings and bulk of 12/package of the round covers. That was a better deal than the dollar store. However, when I went back to buy more pirate coins, they raised the price by a couple of dollars per package. I know amazon has their pricings change based on searches, so I am suspect that happened. I'm not discussing how much I spent on candles, but I am set for any occasion now!
Tables for the cakes:
Dessert Cakes:
Auction Cakes:
We had other cakes show up after I took pictures. We even had cookies to bid on (which Kevin was one of the winning bids!).
The Auction Cake I made (thanks pinterest!). A tasty carrot cake, no raisins:
Food table along with cake table:
Webelos 2 practicing to cross over:
It seems like I've been working on this event forever, probably as long as it seemed to take you to scroll through!! LOL! I am close to getting my house reorganized again so I can play with my new Juki MO-1000 serger. That was an early birthday present from hubby. I'm sure I will post about that one down the road. Plus I need to finish putting together my Straits of Mackinac quilt. Thanks for sticking with me.
