Serving food at pack meetings

[littlek]

Hello All! It's getting close to race time!!!!

 

A quick question though.

 

We have a committee member who has suggested that at pack meetings we have a dinner. Pizza, hot dogs, occasional potluck, etc.

 

Thought being that it will help families with getting kids fed. It also may help get more to show up for the meeting.

 

My concern as the CM is that it will add confusion to the meeting. Later starting times due to slow eaters, parents wanting to clean-up instead of watching, etc...

 

Does anyone have experience with this idea, good or bad?

 

k

[rkfrance]

Keep em short and sweet. One hour, one and a half tops. Adding a "dinner" to your schedule will only reduce your funds and expectations will grow with each meeting. Pizza this time, maybe burgers the next. What's after that, four course with desert?

 

We usually have some kind of snack, cookies, punch, etc. for our regular pack meetings. Save having dinner for the Blue and Gold. We also have a potluck picnic for our last meeting of the school year.

 

Other than that it's a few activities and awards then out the door.

[Cubmaster-Fred]

I also would not serve food at the Pack meeting. We do snacks occassionally but save the food for B&G. This just adds to much to the meeting.

 

I do not know what time your meetings start but try adjusting the time if you are having trouble getting boys there.

 

Fred

[littlek]

We have in the past met at 6 pm on Tuesdays. That was to let the kids get home early enough to do school night stuff. We are chartered by a small private school with only students in the pack. Several families live @ 20-30 minutes away.

 

We will be meeting on Friday this year so a later start time may not be as bad, say around 7pm. I like the snack idea. Do you do them before or after pack meeting?

 

k

 

[Cubmaster-Fred]

We do the snacks after the meeting. When we do them we try to do something in line with the themes.

 

We meet on Mondays at 7pm. Haven't had a problem yet.

 

Fred

[littlek]

Good ideas.

CM Fred- I like the theme idea. Does your pack follow BSA themes or your own?

 

k

[ScoutNut]

We meet at 7 PM on a Tuesday for our regular Pack meetings. Snacks & drinks are at the end of each meeting and are the responsibility of the hosting Den. As of last year, we have made a determined effort to cut back on the sugary stuff & junk food. We usually do cheese/crakers, pretzels, & lots of fruit, with milk & juice to drink.

 

Complete dinners we save for B&G & Christmas Pack meetings. These both are held on a Saturday and begin by 6 PM. I would not do one every month. It is a lot of work, extra cost (paper products, Pack purchased food, etc), & IMO, would tend to burn folks out.

 

If you have a problem getting families to show up for Pack meetings then the solution is not food. You need to first, have each leader impress on their families the importance of attending & having their boys recognized in front of everyone. Second, you could have an incentive for attendence. Something like a flashy Den flag ribbon to go to each Den with 100% attendence at the Pack meeting. Or, use the BSA attendence award for the boys who attend ?? # of Den & Pack meetings. Once you have everyone hyped up to attend, you have to give them their money's worth. Make sure your Pack meetings are FUN and involve the WHOLE family in the FUN. Recognitions are only 1 part of the Pack meeting, and even those should be FUN! Games, songs, skits & other FUN activites should be a part of each meeting. If you remember your Leader Training, part of your Den meetings should be preparing for the monthly Pack meetings.

 

If the boys, & their families, are having FUN, they will be much more likely to try their best to make every Pack meeting possible!

 

[Cubmaster-Fred]

We follow the BSA themes for the mosat part. Certain times of the year we wander from them (an example is October). In October we have our annual Halloween costume contest at the Pack meeting. It is usualy judged by a local VIP such as a police officer, Fire Chief, or just a boys Grandmother.

 

Let the themes tie your month together but don't let them dictate what you plan to do.

 

Fred

[Eamonn]

Back when I was Cubmaster, we did serve a snack at the end of pack meetings. This was more along the lines of a treat than anything else.

To be very honest we paid no never mind to sugar, nutritional values or any of the good stuff (Heck I deal with that all day long at work.) Our biggest concern was the mess it would make and keeping the cost down.

We did look at Themes at our Annual Planning Meeting and used most of them, making changes if we had something better or if there was something happening locally which was a better fit. This normally resulted in our using about 70% of the themes.

Eamonn.

[Lynda J]

Several problems with this idea.

It will take you at least a hour to serve, eat, and clean up. So this means you will have at least a 2 hour pack meeting. What do you do when a kid or parent gets sick from the food served.

Who will pay for this. Pack or parents.

It is much better to let people eat on their own.

The only time we did food as Cubs was for B&G.

We do cookies now with the troop only at COH.

You need to keep Pack and Troop meeting short and to the point. Adding food into the mix will simply make the meetings longer. You probably won't get people there any earlier.

[Cubmaster Mike]

The school where we hold our pack meetings was built on top of an anthill. Therefore, anything with sugar left lying on a flat surface for more than 20 minutes attacts little buddies.

 

We save dinner for the B&G and only serve snacks at the halloween pack meeting and at the Pinewood derby.

 

I don't buy the story from some parents that the meeting interferes with dinner. A lot of our boys are in sports and as a coach I've never seen or heard of little Johnny missing the baseball/soccer/swim meet because "it interfered with dinner." A poor excuse at best.

 

CMM(This message has been edited by Cubmaster Mike)

[Lynda J]

I agree Mike. I close my repair shop on scout nights at 5:00. I go home wash the grease and oil off and get into my uniform. I hit WHatABurger feed Kevin and me and then pick up two boys that have no way to get to the meeting. I get to the meeting at 6:30. If I am running real late sometimes Kevin and I don't eat until after scouts. But I accept the fact that on scout nights we aren't going to sit down at the table and have a big meal. It is just reality. If I can clean two people up feed us and pick up two other kids in 1.5 hours it shouldn't be a problem for others. We don't have this problem in our troop.

[kittle]

We have a snack after Pack meetings. We only have meals at B$g and maybe one other time during the year. Now with that said, we have a couple of parents that sill bring pigs in a blanket, veggie tray, or sandwiches on Pack evenings. But this is because they know that the boys prefer this to just cookies.

 

Kittle

[msnowman]

We usually snack after regular Pack meetings, cookies & juice, nothing major. Like many groups we save meals for B&G, though if we have a party we do "bigger" snacks, like chips, veggies, etc, but still fingery type foods. Those are what we have for our Halloween & Christmas Party, as well as the gathering after AoL/Bridging over. We end the year with a cookout and start with an Ice Cream Social (that's in 2 1/2 weeks actually).

 

We find that while the boys are snacking and sharing time with fellow scouts, the adults also have fellowship time. Its easier to talk to a parent when their boy is occupied and you have a captive audience.

 

Michelle

CM - P102

 

 

 

 

[madkins007]

I would not do it, but I would not dismiss the idea either.

 

I MIGHT suggest to the person who asked that they form a small committee to investigate the idea and to shop it around the pack to see what the consensus is.

 

I'd bet they back off it quickly, but they might well come up with another far better ideaa!

 

Aim to harness that creative energy!