"I Dream of Brownies" Enrolment Ceremony
By: Catherine Lawrence, 94th Ottawa Brownies

Thanks to Catherine Lawrence, who sent this ceremony to me!

Ahead of Time: Make tree hats out of green bristol board strips and decorate with cut out or dried leaves. Give to parents to wear just before the ceremony – the parents become the forest.

Props Needed: Tent, sleeping bags, deck of cards, campfire, flashlights, toadstool, reflecting pool, owl mask, crown, wand.

Set up: audience chairs facing long wall of meeting space, with lots of space between chairs. At one end, set up camp (tents, sleeping bags, etc.). At other end, set up toadstool and pool.

Ceremony

New Girls (Tweenies) are camping with Brown Owl. They lie down on their sleeping bags and start complaining.

New Girls: “I’m cold,” “There’s nothing to do,” “I’m tired,” “I want to go home,” “I’m bored,” etc.

Brown Owl: Oh, girls. It’s late anyway, why don’t you just go to sleep?

Girls and Brown Owl fall asleep. Dim the lights. Brown Owl moves into the forest (audience) and puts on Owl mask. Snowy Owl, Tawny Owl, and second year Brownies make a circle around the toadstool.

Brown Owl: T-wit, t-woo, t-wit, t-woo.

Girls wake up, surprised at the noise.

New Girls: What was that? Where’s Brown Owl? etc.

Brown Owl: T-wit, T-woo, T-wit, T-woo. Follow me, if you will. There’s something magical on Fairy Hill.

The girls pick up their flashlights and follow Brown Owl through the forest (i.e. weaving through the parents in the audience) and then stop and hide behind the chairs.

Brown Owl: Listen and watch and you will see. The Brownies create fun magically.

The girls watch from behind chairs in the audience. Snowy Owl, Tawny Owl, and second year Brownies dance around the toadstool singing the Brownie Song.

Snowy Owl, Tawny Owl, Second Year Brownies: We’re the Brownies, here’s our aim. Lend a Hand and play the game. (x2)

New Girls: Giggles

Snowy Owl: Stop, I hear something. It sounds like Tweenies. No, it must be my imagination.

Snowy Owl, Tawny Owl, and second year Brownies dance around the toadstool singing the Fairy Song, the Elf Song and the Pixie Song.

New Girls: Giggles

Tawny Owl: Wait, I hear it too.

New Girls: Giggles

Tawny Owl: It’s definitely Tweenies, but where are they? Elf and Fairy, could you please see where the Tweenies are hiding? Maybe they would like to have some fun with us.

Snowy Owl: Maybe they would like to be Brownies.

Second year Brownies go and find all the Tweenies hiding in the forest and bring them around the toadstool. Brown Owl flies over too.

Snowy Owl: Hello Tweenies. Welcome to Fairy Hill in the land of Brown. We are Brownies. Would you like to be Brownies too?

New Girls: Yes

Snowy Owl: Great! We have a special sign that we use. It looks like this.

Snowy Owl and Tawny Owl show the girls the Brownie Sign.

Tawny Owl: To be a Brownie, you also have to promise to be true to yourself and to help others, are you ready to do that?

New Girls: Yes

Tawny Owl: Then please tell us what your promise is.

New Girls:

I promise to do my best,
To be true to myself, my God and Canada;
I will help other people,
And keep the Brownie Law.

Brown Owl takes off her mask and puts on a Crown.

Brown Owl: Thank you girls. By promising to help other people, you have freed me from the spell that an evil wizard cast upon me years ago. Welcome to the Kingdom of Brown.

Snowy Owl: Before you can join the Brownies, you have to throw some fairy gold into Brown pond, make a wish and see if you can see any Brownies.

Each girl throws dues into pool then form a circle around the pool. Brown Owl waves her magic wand as the girls spin around.

All: Twist me and turn me and show me an elf, I looked in the water and there saw myself.

Tawny Owl: There is just one more thing that you need to do. Fairy and Elf, please bring these new Brownies to see the Great Commissioners of Brown.

Brown Owl: The Great Commissioners have the most powerful magic in all the land. If you get a pin from a Great Commissioner, the magic of Brownies will fill your heart. But you have to remember to show them the Brownie sign.

One by one the girls get pinned by the Commissioners and shake hands with Snowy Owl and Tawny Owl. Brown Owl takes a picture of every new Brownie (and second year Brownies). Girls then go back to campsite, lie down and fall asleep. When all the girls are back at the campsite (including the leaders and second year Brownies), girls slowly wake up.

Girls: “I had the strangest dream”, “Me too”, “That was weird”, “what a dream”, etc.

Snowy Owl: Are you sure it was a dream? Look at your sashes – you all have Brownie pins.

Girls: Cheers – yea! We are Brownies.

Girls jump up and down, do high fives, etc.

All: Do the Grand Howl.

Thank the Great Commissioners for joining us and invite parents to share refreshments.


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