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Girl Scout Uniforms:How to Choose What is Right for Your Troop

mommymommymommy | Feb 17, 2010 |

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Girl Scout uniforms are part of scouting life. As a Girl Scout Leader, you are responsible for choosing what parts your girls will wear. As part of a Girl Scout troop, the girls do need a uniform. To be honest, they do not look any better than they did when I was a Girl Scout in the 1970's! In this age of designer clothes for young children, wearing a full fledged Girl Scout uniform just won't fly.

Ten years ago, when my oldest daughter started as a first grade Brownie Scout, the girls in the troop all bought the skort, vest and socks. On the day of the meeting, the girls were so excited to wear their uniforms to school!

By third grade, they only wore the vest to school.

By fifth grade, those who girls who remained in Girl Scouts kept their vest in their backpack until the meeting after school.

Besides the "coolness" factor, you need to consider what kind of expense the families in your troop can handle when choosing a Girl Scout troop uniform. Some girls in your troop may be getting financial help for the registration fee. You will be collecting dues, too, as well as the girls buying handbooks. Those are more important to have than the pants or shirt.

For my Daisy troop, I decided that we would have our own "uniform". The girls needed to buy the vest. I suggested to the parents that the vest should be larger than their daughter's present size so they could grow into it and use the same vest or tunic for two years. The girls would also wear a white or mostly white shirt and blue jeans, two things they already had in their wardrobe.

When my troop became Brownies, the only change in uniform was to buy a new vest to use for the next two years. As they bridge from Brownies to Junior Girl Scouts this spring, there will be two slight changes to the uniform we wear.

First, they get to choose whether or not they want a vest or a sash. I explained to them that a sash would not fit as many patches, but the choice of what to wear is still theirs. If your girls want a sash, then make sure they get the extra large size so they have more room for patches.

The other change is that the girls made green tee shirts in order to earn the Brownie Art to Wear Try It patch. I bought large tee shirts for the girls to paint and grow into. They can wear this or a white shirt to our Junior Girl Scout meetings.

No matter what you choose to have your girls wear as part of the Girl Scout uniform, there are certain parts that need to be on the vest or sash.

The American flag needs to be on the top of the Council Id set.

The Council ID badge set shows what Girl Scout group your troop belongs to.

The troop number also goes underneath, and then the troop crests. Memebership pins and disc go beneath that, and then bridging patches and other awards.

Girl Scout uniforms are essential to scouting. They make the girls feel like they are part of a team.