Moving up memorably
‘How can I plan a fun celebration for older girls moving up sections?’
Moving up celebrations give girls the chance to honour their Girlguiding experience so far. It’s a time for them to get together with their guiding friends and go out with a bang before they move up to a new section!
Honouring Girlguiding traditions
Lots of you honour your guiding roots by holding Promise celebrations. It’s a much-loved guiding tradition that gives girls a chance to wave goodbye to their current leaders and have a ceremony that celebrates their time in Girlguiding.
‘We have a pot of gold ceremony. The girl leaving us stands with the leaders and the Rainbows are in 2 lines. The girl receives a badge, card and a present wrapped in gold paper. We then say how much we have enjoyed her being in the unit and she jumps over the rainbow! She then skips, jumps or runs along gold stepping stones away from the leaders and between the Rainbows. She’s met by her new unit leader who welcomes her into Brownies.’
Stella, Rainbow unit helper in Bedfordshire
Whether it’s water sports, scavenger hunts or trips abroad, we met with volunteers who’ve run brilliant outdoor activities to help inspire your own unit adventures.
What about celebrations for older girls?
You’ve told us you’d like more inspiration for moving up celebrations for Guides and Rangers. It can be tricky to think of new things to mark that special moment for older girls.
Here’s a few ideas that might help you to plan something fun and exciting for Guide and Ranger aged girls.
1. Re-live their favourite guiding memories
Often, Guides and Rangers have spent a big chunk of their childhood in Girlguiding, and they have lots of happy memories thanks to volunteers like you. Why not take a trip down memory lane and get your girls to plan a unit meeting full of their old favourites?
‘Our Rangers plan their last night. They tend to choose an activity that they have done before and really enjoyed or is something from our unit. We’ve decorated Colin the caterpillars, played one final Goose Chase game, cooked on fires and sung silly songs! It’s personal to them and it’s really lovely to wish them well before they go off to university or take a gap year.’
Emma, unit leader
Check out our programme activity finder and filter by ‘Guides’ and ‘Rangers’ for ideas.
2. Wind down with a self-care evening
Girls have a lot on their minds. Our most recent Girls’ Attitudes Survey shows girls’ and young women’s happiness has been steadily declining since 2009. Fewer girls say they’re very happy and more feel anxious. In fact, only 14% of girls aged 11-16 say they’re very happy. That drops to a stark 8% for girls aged 17-21.
Give girls the chance to de-stress with a self-care care evening. It could be exactly what they need to wind down and reflect on their guiding achievements.
Your self-care evening could include things like:
- Yoga. Find a local instructor or ask parents and carers if they know anyone who could run a session. Or you could follow free yoga classes on YouTube like Yoga with Adriene.
- Activities in our Be Well theme, like the Feel good skills builder (stages 4, 5 and 6), Perfect your poses (Guides, pack 11) or Relaxation station, (Rangers, pack 9).
- Make your own de-stress mists or pillow sprays. Mix essential oils with water in a recycled spray bottle. Girls can choose their favourite scents and take home a special memento from their moving up celebration.
You could also try things like face masks, nail painting or watching a movie.
3. Have a ‘make your own’ party
Does your unit love arts and crafts? Host a ‘make your own’ party and inspire girls to get creative! They’ll have something to take home or give to a guiding friend to celebrate their time in Girlguiding so far.
You could make things like:
Bath fizzes
Most bath fizzes can be made with baking soda, cornstarch, and any bath oil you can find in a supermarket or your local shops. You can add essential oils, dried flowers and a dash of food colouring to decorate your creations. Take a look at our DIY bathbomb tutorial!
Bubble tea
Also known as boba or pearl milk tea, bubble tea is a Taiwanese drink which originated in East Asia in the 1980s. Although it’s been around for a while, it’s had some extra attention recently thanks to social media platforms like TikTok.
Traditionally, it’s a mix of flavoured tapioca pearls (the ‘bubbles’), sugar, black tea and milk. It can be made sweeter with things like fruit juices or flavoured syrups. You can buy the ingredients or at-home kits online.
Candles
To make your own candles, all you need is wax flakes, wicks, straws and fragrances if you’d like to make them scented. You can pop them in recycled ceramic pots or buy fun molds online.
Crocheted scrunchies!
Have you watched our tutorial on how to crochet your own hair scrunchie? New to the magazine this year, it’s a project that both you and the girls can easily follow to make your own hair accessories.
4. Let loose at a themed dance party
For units with high energy and girls who love music, dancing and having a good time, host a themed dance party! It could be things like... Your self-care evening could include things like:
- A festival themed night with wellies, BBQs, glitter and music – perfect for any girl who’s leaving your unit at the end of the summer term.
- A dance workout party! Follow fun YouTube classes. There are lots of free and empowering dance workouts to pop music. Try this dance songs video or this Disney themed Encanto workout.
- A guess the playlist party. Girls can put together a playlist of their favourite songs and get other girls to guess whose is whose!
- A dopamine dressing party. Girls come dressed in whatever makes them happy. It could be bright colours, patterns, fancy dress or pyjamas!
5. Cosy up for a movie night
Pick a movie and get your girls to plan the snacks or activities for a classic Girlguiding movie night!
You could craft a big ‘spin the wheel’ and get every girl to write a movie on it. Spin a counter to pick a movie at random! You could theme your snacks to the location, characters or plot of the movie. Be sure to check that the movie you pick is covered by our license.
For more fun sleepover ideas, check out this article which showcases what other volunteers are doing.
How do you celebrate your girls’ guiding milestones? We’d love to see what parties, events or special evening you plan to celebrate how far your girls have come! Tag us @Girlguiding on social media.
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