Any excuse to celebrate is a good one, and friendship is one of our favorite things to celebrate! Whether you want to celebrate International Friendship Day on July 30, or spend an entire week filled with sisterhood, these friendship activities will help your Girl Scouts stay connected with their besties, forge new relationships, and, most importantly, have fun!
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Snail Mail Surprises
Everyone loves getting something exciting in the mail, so why not start a snail mail pen pal program? Your girls and volunteers can send letters to each other or join up with another troop to make some brand-new friends. Make sure everyone gets to both send and receive a card or letter. You can even encourage girls to reflect on positive aspects of their lives and to share what they love or are excited about in their letter or postcard.
For added creativity, buy fun stamps online and decorate the letters with gel pens, stickers, and more. Girls can even craft small SWAPS (Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere) to fit into the envelope! Anything that’s small and folds flat would make for a welcome envelope-surprise, like small cross-stitch or embroidery projects, friendship drawings, or even origami. Not only can letter writing provide some creative and relaxing screen-free time, but it also helps girls feel connected to their troop, no matter when they get to see each other next.
Friendship Bracelet Fun
Friendship bracelets are a fun, hands-on activity and a Girl Scout tradition. Host a troop meeting where your girls learn how to make them together and later exchange them via the mail. Your girl can start with a friend’s favorite colors, or they can all pick colors for each other. All you need is colorful embroidery floss, scotch tape, and a pair of scissors. Your girls will strengthen their friendships with every knot.
Pro-Tip: Whether a friendship bracelet beginner or pro, you can add to your skills and creative toolbox! Watch our Facebook Lives for beginner and advanced techniques, read online resources and fun patterns, or snag a pre-made kit. (Psst… our partner JOANN also has all the materials you’ll need.)
Digital Sisterhood
There are plenty of online ways to be a sister to every Girl Scout. Do you have a Girl Scout celebrating her birthday over the summer while your troop isn’t meeting in person? Have the rest of the troop build her a digital Kudoboard, with images, gifs, and notes telling her how much she means to your troop! You can also have girls build digital collages, slideshows with photos, or even playlists that represent your troop or friendship. All of these are great ways to stay connected and feel celebratory all year round.
Plan a Virtual Sleepover
Being socially distant doesn’t mean the fun has to wait. Set up a video chat for the night and have your troop get ready for a cozy and fun night in. Put on some comfy PJs, snag a fun snack, and enjoy quality time together as a troop! There are plenty of fun things to do on a virtual sleepover: watch a movie together online, play an online board game, have read-aloud story time, or play traditional sleepover games like Truth or Dare! Girls can make the evening even more special by setting up a tent indoors or in the backyard, or building a blanket fort to video chat in!
Competition and Camaraderie
A little lighthearted competition can get the blood flowing and the laughter started. Set up a game of trivia on a topic you’ve been learning about, or facts about different troop members for some educational fun, or play a Girl Scouts (G-rated) game of “Never Have I Ever” to start fun conversations about things you can plan to do as a troop in the future.
Another troop competition for your girls to try is virtual scavenger hunt. Create a list of common household items, put it up on the screen over video chat, and have girls run around their houses to show you each item as you check it off for them on the list. First girl (or team) to find all the items wins!
Dreaming of Adventure
Going on adventures as a troop is one of the best parts of Girl Scouts. While many troop activities and adventures are on hold for the time being, there’s still plenty to do and plan and dream up together! Spend a troop meeting going on a virtual tour of a museum in a faraway country, or digitally hike through a national park! Talk about what you find and learn together to share in the experience.
You can also create a brainstorm board of things you are looking forward to doing together when you next meet. Let girls dream big for this, whether they want to plan and save for a big trip abroad, or just talk about going on a local hike, earning new badges, or spending time together in person.
No matter what you do, spending positive time together as a troop will lift girls’ spirits (not to mention you and your volunteers’) and help them reinvest their energy in that core element of Girl Scouts: sisterhood. These are friends that can last a lifetime, and spending time and energy on special experiences together, even when you’re all apart, can make a year magical.
What’s Next:
- How are you celebrating Friendship Day and helping your girls spend time together? Let us know in the comments!
- Part of supporting girl friendship is making your troop a safe and supportive place for all girls. Here’s how you can encourage diversity, equity, and inclusion in your troop.
Katie Mock—Katie is the Marketing Copywriter for the Girl Scouts of Northern California, where she writes everything from tweets to Trailhead articles, and makes sure everyone dots their ‘i’s and crosses their ‘t’s. Although she was a Girl Scout for only a few years, her experiences with Girl Scouts, combined with attending a single-sex high school, gave her a profound appreciation for the power all-girl spaces have to change girls’ lives for the better. Katie moved to the Bay Area after graduating from the University of Chicago with a B.A. in Linguistics; when she’s not diving into writing with a red pen, you can find her geeking out about the latest sci-fi novel, cooking anything from traditional Japanese Cuisine to pizza, or cuddling her two cats.
