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  • Pack Jackets

    #1
    I took my den hiking yesterday through Hoyt Arboretum. It was a lot of fun. The scouts practiced their frount country guidelines of being courteous to others by calling back to the others: "keep to the right," everytime we met other hikers going the other way. We received several positive comments from people about how much they loved Cub Scouting when they were kids, etc. The scouts were all in uniform, but they were wearing jackets over their shirts, so you couldn't hardly tell, except for their caps. I was thinking that they would have looked really sharp if they had all been in matching jackets, and so I started hatching plans and ideas for getting the pack into blue jackets. I've seen packs in matching tshirts, and I've seen pictures of troops in matching jackets, but I've never seen Cubs. I wonder if anyone here has ever tried anything that worked (or failed).

    My first idea was just to add jacket to the uniform list that I give to every new scout. I would list it as an optional item. I would suggest that it be blue, about the same color as the uniform, and I would suggest that it have a hood and pockets and be waterproof. It rains a lot here in the Pacific Northwest.

    My second idea was to choose soemthing approparite and having it embroidered at a local business, the same business that does all the fan apparrel for the local high schools and the community soccer league. Then, parents could go order one in the right size for their scout and maybe even add his name. I could give one away every year to the top popcorn seller or something like that.

    Or, I could do both.

    I was also thinking about a pack sweat shirt. Lots of boys wear sweatshirts over their uniforms.

    Or a long sleeve t shirt for under their uniform...

    What do you think?
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  • #2
    Don't fix what isn't broken. Be satisfied in having executed a fun, safe outing.
    My $0.02,
    • 2 Likes

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    • #3
      Coats/jackets are something every parent has to consider for their young Cub. It will be outgrown. Generic , nice coats can be handed down to siblings, "inherited" from older brothers, sold, given to thrift shop, BOUGHT at thrift shop.
      It is nice to THINK about matching blue Cub jackets (look on Scoutstuff, many Cub jackets available) but unless you have a really "into it" group of parents with bucks to spend, I'm not sure your gonna get much enthusiasm behind the idea. Will the boy wear it to school? Maybe. More Boy Scout caps, tshirts and sweaters to school than full unis.
      I still have my high school letter jacket (like I could fit into it!) hanging in the back of the hall closet, and lots of Scout patches in the shoe box. No Cub Coat. Any such thing would have been passed on to another Cub mom real quick by my mom.
      Average Cub will go thru 3 shirts between Tiger and Webelos, and not because they wore out! And they are bought big!
      Here's an idea: Make sure they have matching caps (forget the rank caps) .
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      • #4
        If you don't have an in with a local silk screener, pack sweatshirts are going to be pretty pricey (more than $15.) We had Pack t-shirts, which everyone liked since we could find our boys when the uniform shirts inevitably came off.

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        • #5
          gotta say I like the idea, but some good reasons why not to do it have been presented.

          I'm not a big fan of the T-Shirt thing...... half the scout year is spent wearing the T-Shirts, so these rank patches and other awards that we are trying to encourage so much effort towards, get shown maybe a handful of times each year. No wonder the boys don't get really excited about any of the rank patches etc...!

          Even the T-Shirt gets covered up a lot as suggested, with either a sweatshirt or a jacket.

          I'm in Florida, so the Jacket has minimal use for us, but I have often thought of a jacket or something to display the temporary and other misc patches taht the boys collect. I know that's a different thread topic, but it does tie into the need for a jacket or something.

          I'm actually liking the original poster's suggestion.... perhaps a jacket, sweatshirt, shirt jacket depending on climate and your location.... instead of a pack t-shirt! Meant for over uniform wear and it could double as a place for the patch collection.
          • 1 Like

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          • #6
            If you, your scouts, and parents like the idea - go for it.

            There will be many reasons not to do this - cost, changes in size, etc... But, at the end of the day, if your group likes the idea and is excited by it, why not?

            One possible alternative suggestion would be fleece vests. I've seen those a few times and they look pretty cool.
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            • #7
              What I have found that works well for cold days, and still allows the scout to show-off thier uniform is a vest. They can wear long sleeve thermals or t-shirts under their uniform and a vest over. If it is really cold, I wear an under-armor (or similar) base layer, a sweatshirt & then the scout uniform over. This is plenty of layers for most scout outdoor activities.

              I use this "layers" strategy when talking to the parents about how to dress appropriate for the weather in our city's christmas parade, while still showing that we are a cub scout pack,

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              • #8
                I would just be happy if they wore the pants and not jeans. Some of the Cubs use the shirt as a jacket and won't even button it. But it sounds like you have a great group that finds value in the method of uniforming. If the parents don't grumble about, go for it. Just realize a $35 jacket may cheese off some parents because now you have upped the uniforming coat over $100.

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