Why not start your Girl Scout year out with an old Girl Scout tradition, the investiture ceremony? What’s that, you ask?

An investiture ceremony is a special ceremony held to officially welcome girls into the Girl Scout and Girl Guide family. For returning Girl Scouts this ceremony is sometimes called a rededication ceremony. Like most Girl Scout ceremonies, there are no formal requirements for investiture, but a typical investiture ceremony has two main parts: the girls make their “Girl Scout Promise,” and then receive (or are invested with) the symbols of Girl Scout membership, the Girl Scout and World Trefoil pins.

How you accomplish those two things in the ceremony can be as unique or as simple as your group wishes! If you’re new or have never attended a ceremony before and want some guidelines, there are some great resources online from Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois and Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta for Brownie and Junior.

A quick google or Pinterest search brings up some great ideas as well! Check a few out and let your girls decide what they want to do to mark the start of the new Girl Scout year!

Most ceremonies have an opening, a middle portion focused on the ceremony’s purpose, and a closing. Favorite songs, poems, or quotes make excellent openings and closings for ceremonies!

Sometimes simple, short, and sweet are the best kind for both participants and audiences. You can choose to make it bigger by inviting parents or combining with other troops or keep it small and focused on only the girls in your troop.

While there’s no right way to hold an investiture ceremony, there’s no doubt that each ceremony girls plan and participate in with Girl Scouts connects them to the history and traditions that bind our members together across generations.

So are you ready to make special memories with your girls this year? Hold your own investiture ceremony and share a Girl Scout tradition with a new generation of girls!