Nature Explorer: Badges Basics

Official Badges:

Fun Patches:

Michael's or Joann's also have iron-on patches. I used a 40% off coupon to get a 12 pack of patches for only $4.20! My daughter and I raised a caterpillar over the winter and it emerged the day our troop was planting a butterfly garden at the school in the spring. We released the butterfly with the troop in the new garden. Perfect!

How do you decide who purchases the badges and when do you hand them out?

New Daisy Troops:

Have the parents purchase the uniforms and the daisy petals or collect enough dues to cover the costs. Give out the petals during each meeting they are earned so they can see their accomplishments growing on their uniforms. Once fall or cookie sales program money comes in, use the profits to purchase any other badges or journey awards they earned during the year. If there isn't enough money to cover the badges, you will need to charge more dues or have the parents purchase them. Discuss the budget with the troop as this is an important part of the financial literacy program!

Existing Troops:

If you are lucky enough to live near a council store, purchase the badges often and hand them out quickly. This way the Girl Scouts can wear their awards for as long as possible before bridging to the next level. Almost every meeting we have at least one member unable to attend, so the girls understand why I don't purchase the badges ahead of time. If the council store is too far away to visit regularly, plan for a court of awards presentation 3-4 times a year. Wait for a sale or free shipping and stock-up.

I live close to a council store so I pick up official badges regularly, but wait to order the fun patches to receive the best rates. I aim to hand out badges at least once before Christmas so any new Girl Scouts have something to show on their uniforms. Then again when the cookie program patches come in and again during any bridging ceremonies. We are fairly active during the summer so I will make a final fun patch order before we welcome new Girl Scouts in October.

How do you present them to the troop?

Do what works for your troop and budget! If you want to show off your creativity, present a group of badges with a theme.

Check out my Pinterest board of badge presentations

Make a simple gift bag or box for each Girl Scout, or even just use an envelope. This was my spring awards presentation for my busy little bees. I picked up the favor boxes in a package of 5 at Dollar Tree. I added a little fun patch and off they go safely home until they can be added to the vests.

Safety pin the badges together ahead of time and then attach them to the uniform so they make it home safely. This was really helpful for our first year Daisy Scouts.