Troop Christmas cards

In a couple months, you'll start seeing all those business christmas cards by the water fountain at work or pinned to the employee bulletin board. They're a nice way for organizations to touch base at the end of the year and thank clients for a year of business.

I think the same is true for troops and packs. The end of the year is a good time to send a card to every family in the troop, the chartered organization representative, maybe the district executive, and others that have helped make the troop's year a success. Including a newsletter of the year's adventures and accomplishments makes the communication more meaningful. You might even mention the coming year's plans and how the program is growing in both offerings and expenses.

Sending cards to other troops and packs in your community wishing them a successful year to come would also be a nice gesture.

Those cards don't just magically appear. Someone has to plan ahead and order them - right about now. The Gallery Collection is a publisher of greeting cards with a wide selection of styles, one of which should suit the scouts in your troop. They are also holding a design contest which could be a way for one scout to help with college.

The contest prize is a $10,000 scholarship for the best designed greeting card. We have a few scouts that are really into computer graphics and I could see one of them having a chance at winning. The contest is open to high school and college students and the criteria are:
1. Overall aesthetic appeal
2. Quality of execution
3. Creativity and Originality
4. Successful incorporation of design elements
5. Appropriateness for use as a greeting card
6. Attractiveness to The Gallery Collection’s corporate and consumer customers
7. Suitability as a design in the Gallery Collection greeting card line

The official rules and entry are available at their web site.