Thinking Day 2010

Each year in February, girls participate in activities, games and projects with global themes to honor their sister Girl Scouts and Girl Guides in other countries.

Our local Girl Scout Council set up this year's Thinking Day activities at Arnold Elementary's multipurpose room on Friday with a passport style theme. Girls could "visit" different countries and experience foods and crafts from around the world. Each girl was given a flag sticker for her passport.

My troop #365 selected Ethiopia for our country. It was an easy choice with one of our scout's parents (and neighbor of mine) who are from Ethiopia. The girls in the troop made pins with beads and Betty (Kate's mom) made Dabo Kolo for our tasting item. Dabo Kolo is a snack that tastes much like a shortbread cookie, but cut into small pieces. This was very kind of Betty to do this for us since Dabo Kolo is quite time consuming to make. It tastes great, so one can't go wrong with cookies for sampling! It was a guaranteed hit!

Each troop was responsible for selling something from their country and giving out samples of a native food. The girls sold their beaded pins for five cents each and the Dabo Kolo was free for the taking. The money raised went back to the council to support the Girl Scouts and Girl Guides across the world.

Here's my friend Leyla and her mom with Sweden as their display. I jokingly asked, "Where's the Swedish meatballs?" They served lemon bars that were awesome!

There were 14 countries represented at this year's Thinking Day.

Kate and Emmie looked very cute in their traditional Ethiopian attire.

Here's Madison, Emmie and Clare visiting Morocco. It was almost as good as Epcot's World Showcase at Disney World. Notice I say "almost".

The theme for World Thinking Day 2010 is girls worldwide say "together we can end extreme poverty and hunger". This theme will guide troop #365 to our next community project. More about that to come.