S.W.A.P.S.
A quote from GSUSA website..."Girl Scouts often make small tokens of friendship to exchange with the Girl Scouts they meet while traveling. These little gifts are called ”SWAPS,” which stands for “Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere.”
It is a fun way for girls who are shy to go up to a girl they do not know and trade a little items she made with them. It helps them to break out of their shell, meet new girls and perhaps find a new friend. They are often brought to events, usually have a theme.
There are many rules and guidelines that go along with SWAPping.
-should never contain food items
-should not be fragile
-should be homemade or at least some sort of 'putting together' or crafting involved
-should be no larger than 2" x 2"
-should contain a pin or something to attach it
-should contain a tag with girls first name (or campname) and troop #
-never say no to someone who asks you to SWAP, if you run out you can tell them sorry you ran out
-smile and ask to swap
-you do not have to give someone one of the SWAPs you just got from someone else just because they want it, you choose which one to give them
-(big one for me) it is best if each girl makes her own NOT a whole troop all making the same thing. At first you can make them together for the girls to learn, make different things each time until you have a set for each girl that is different from the sets that your other have to take to the event. I give my girls the theme of the event and suggest a number, say 10-20 or however many they want to make. I include the rules and leave it up to them if they want to SWAP. Once they understand what they are you can leave it up to them and not take up meeting time making them. Reason/example: my 10 girls all come to an event, each with different SWAPs from the next girl, your 10 girls all have the same thing. Each of your 10 girls walk to my Susie who has something cute and all want to swap with her, she politely does but is sad to have 10 of exactly the same swap now. It is unfair to Susie to have all your girls want to give her the same thing. I now have to instruct my girls to politely move on when whole group comes at them with the same thing.
