A Scoutmaster's Blog

Since 1986, Boy Scout Troop 68 of Melrose has held a Christmas Party. The parties were first held in someone’s home but sometimes the parties were held in other venues, especially when the troop’s membership began to grow. A few parties were held at the city hall. This year’s party was held in a church facility and followed the troop’s last court of honor for the year. We invited the second year Webelos to attend the party.

Each Scout was asked to bring a snack for the party The troop provided the pizzas and the beverages. No one went home hungry from this activity. We had food left over.

The first activity was the gift exchange. All the gifts were placed in the middle of the tables. Scouts took turns shaking a pair of dice. If he shook doubles he picked a gift from the center of the table to place in front of him. Once each Scout or adult leader had received a gift the real fun began.

In the past we would open our gifts at this point to see what they were. This year, the Scouts voted to try something different. The gifts would not be opened until the end of the game. Participants had to guess what was in the packages and determine which package they wanted to try to receive.

The Scouts set a ten minute time for the game. Once the time began the dice were passed around the table. Each participant would shake the dice. If he shook doubles he could trade the gift in front of him for a gift in front of another Scout. Whatever gift was in front of you at the end of the ten minutes would be yours to take home. Most Scouts liked what they received but I did notice a couple trades going on after the game ended.

The Scouts moved onto various other games during the evening. Shortly after 9:00 pm we watched a movie. The Scouts choose Home Alone for their entertainment this year. There were a couple Scouts who had not seen this movie yet.

We wrapped up the festivities around 11:30 that evening. A winter storm was on the way and we wanted everyone to be home before it began. The Scouts had a lot of fun during this last troop activity for the year.

I have been collecting the Hallmark Scoutmaster Snoopy ornaments for about 15 years now so I was looking forward to picking up this year’s ornament today at my local Hallmark store. I saw the ornament online a couple weeks ago and it looked like a great addition to the collection. According to the Hallmark website:

Scoutmaster Snoopy and his Beagle Scouts know that great days are ones spent fishing with friends. Celebrate the timeless tradition of scouting with this cute Peanuts Christmas tree ornament featuring Snoopy, Woodstock and their yellow feathered friends.

I thought it was a great idea for the design. I was really looking forward to buying two of them, like I usually do every year. I walked into the store, gazed at all the various ornaments on display, and then found Scoutmaster Snoopy. I guess you could say the feeling I felt when I first saw it was… disappointment.

The design was great, but the ornament was very small. And I do mean small. It looked to be about half the size of last year’s ornament which was already a bit smaller then the year before. All the other ornaments on the display wall looked to about about the normal size that we have come to expect from Hallmark. So why was this Snoopy ornament so much smaller than the others?

By the way, this year’s ornament was the same price as last year’s ornament, even though it was so much smaller.

When I got home I took out the last two previous years ornaments to see just how much smaller this year’s was. The feeling began to change from disappointment to a little bit of anger. The 2022 model seemed to be about 40% smaller than the 2021 model. Take a look at the pictures below and see for yourself.

If this is how Hallmark plans to treat this series in the future then I may be done collecting Scoutmaster Snoopy ornaments. Yes, I bought this year’s decoration but I only bought one, not the usual two. I could not bring myself to buy a second one because I felt like I was being ripped off by Hallmark.

What do you think of this year’s ornament? Do you plan to buy one? What do you think of the size of it? Leave a comment and let me know if you like this year’s “The Peanuts® Gang Fishing Friends Ornament”.

Thank you for stopping by A Scoutmaster’s Blog.

It is that time of year. It is time to make the DVDs for the Scouts of Troop 68. Not that is a requirement by any means. But it is kind of a tradition that I began once I started taking digital photographs. It was easy to take the digital photos, convert them into slideshows, and burn to a DVD, so why not share them with the troop?

This year, for 2020, I decided to make an annual dvd for both the troop and for the Cub Scout Pack. The Cub Scout DVD will contain four slideshows featuring the January Pinewood Derby, and the February, July, and October Pack meetings. The Boy Scout DVD will contain 6 slideshows featuring activities, troop meetings, and a special advancement outing.

The Boy Scouts will receive a bonus DVD featuring this year’s Egg Drop Competition held at Camp Watchamagumee in June. I just recently got around to editing the footage so I thought it would make for a nice surprise.

Every year at this time I keep asking myself if I should continue to create these videos, and every year I seem to keep doing them. The first one was done in 2003, so that means this is the 18th year. I have often wondered if anyone ever takes the DVDs off their shelf to watch them years later but I have talked to a few people, especially parents, who like to go back and watch them once in awhile.

I usually hand these out to the Scouts at the troop’s Christmas party but, of course, due to the virus we will not be holding the annual event, so I may need to drop them off at each Scout’s home. Luckily we live in a small town.

Does your troop do something like this each year? Do your troop families enjoy watching them?

It is that time of year once again. Hallmark has released its 2020 ornaments for the holiday season. Once again, they have created a special Scouting themed ornament featuring Scout Leader Snoopy, the world famous Beagle Scout, along with a few of his troop members. I believe this is the fourteenth year we have seen an ornament in this series. (If I am wrong, leave a comment.)

As you can see from the photo, canoeing is this year’s featured activity. This is the third time that water sports has been chosen as a theme, although this is the first time that portaging a canoe has been featured. As you can see, I do not believe Woodstock and his pals are offering much help with this portage.

Have you been to Hallmark yet to purchase your ornament? What do you think of this year’s design? Leave a comment and let us know.

Photos from hallmark.com.

Way back in the 1980s (talk about a time trip) the Boy Scouts of Melrose Troop 68 would hold a Halloween party near the end of the month of October. It was a fun party, just getting together, playing games, eating food. They were good times.

Of course, some of the Scouts would come dressed for the occasion. Some would not, but everyone had a good time. For those who did dress up we held a costume contest. The troop members would vote for who had the best costume. Some years I dressed up, other years I did not. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow and join the boys in the fun.

I remember the first troop Halloween party in the 1980s. I had a silicone two piece mask set similar to the makeup used in the Planet Of The Apes movies of the 1970s. It took a long time to apply and color but wow, did it look great. I wore it for that first party. I wish I had a picture of myself in that makeup. It looked awesome.

When the party for 1986 came along I did not have a costume to wear so I started rummaging through the closet to see what I could put together. I found my old Scout uniform and patch vest, some short shorts, a couple wrist bands, and an old wig my mother used to wear. Add different color socks and you get what you see in the picture. It was groovy, man!

Troop 68 has not held a Halloween party for many years, decades even. But they were fun when we did have them. Does your troop hold a Halloween party? How many of your Scouts dress up for the occasion?

My new Hallmark ornaments arrived in the mail on Friday. That makes thirteen years of Beagle Scout Snoopy ornaments in the collection. I know I do not have the earliest ones. but maybe someday I will. This year had the nice bonus of a Scout Leader Donald Duck and his nephew Scouts.

Some people have been wondering what the collection looks like so I though I would share a picture of it with you. The sad thing is that the biggest one of the collection was only $19.99 when I bought it back in 2007. Now look at how small this year’s ornament is, and the price was $17.99. A much smaller ornament for nearly the same cost. I guess that is the way things are these days.

How many of these do you own? Do you plan to collect all of them?

Earlier this week I discovered that Hallmark was selling the 2019 Snoopy Beagle Scout Christmas ornament. Since I collect them I had to place an order for a couple of them, but that was not the only thing I ended up ordering.

It seems that Hallmark decided to release a second Scouting themed ornament this year. This one features Donald Duck as the Scout Leader and his three nephews as the Scouts. The ornament is based on the 1938 Disney short film called The Good Scouts. If you have not seen it yet you should look it up. Donald is not the best Scout leader, but his nephews are not the best Scouts either.

I think is it cool that Hallmark released two Scouting themed ornaments in one year. I like it even more that one is based on the Peanuts characters and the other is based on Disney characters. I wonder what they have planned for next year? Maybe something from Follow Me Boys?

Do you already have your 2019 ornaments? Do you plan to buy them for yourself or as a present for someone this Christmas?

It is that time of year. Even though it is not yet Halloween the Christmas stuff is starting to find its way onto shelves at your favorite stores. While I agree it is too early to put out the Christmas decorations I always look forward to seeing what the next Hallmark Christmas ornament featuring Beagle Scout Snoopy is going to be. Today is the day I discovered what it is.

This year’s ornament features Scout Leader Snoopy helping Woodstock and friend work on their archery skills. Of course, the bow is longer than Woodstock and his friend but it gives a great example of a Scout leader helping his Scouts.

This year’s ornament is 2.5 inches tall. The cost is $17.99 and can be ordered online at the Hallmark website or picked up at your nearest Hallmark store. I usually get two of them, one to put on the tree and one to keep as part of my collection. This will be the thirteenth Beagle Scout Snoopy ornament in my collection.

Do you collect these ornaments? Do you have them all? I know I am missing a couple of the earlier ones.

(Pictures are from the Hallmark website.)