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– 11,000 Girl Guides from age five-plus will camp with their families this weekend –
Dublin, 29/10/2020 – The 11,000 members of Irish Girl Guides (IGG) are bravely preparing for a spooky Halloween Camp At Home this weekend and they would love members of the public to take part too.
Children and young people throughout Ireland are invited to join them in this fun event. They have compiled a Halloween Camp At Home activity pack with lots of ideas for spooky games, crafts and activities that will appeal to all ages. There are recipes for tasty Halloween treats and there are some scary stories too.
There is no need to own a tent to take part in the camp. Participants can make a blanket fort under their kitchen table or pile up some cushions in the living room to make a makeshift shelter for the night.
With trick or treating postponed until next year, IGG volunteers decided to come up with an alternative way to celebrate Halloween at home. The idea is for children to use their imagination and have some fun. It is up to them how spooky they’d like the experience to be!
Using the ideas in the activity pack, which is available to download from the news section of the IGG website www.irishgirlguides.ie, participants can decide if they want to head outdoors to make a Magic Potion or play Spooky Bingo, or whether to stay indoors and make bats, mummies and ghosts. Those who dare might want to play Musical Zombies or Pin The Wart On The Witch!
To keep up their energy levels for all the spooky activities, they can head into the kitchen to rustle up some Strawberry or Banana Ghosts and Eerie Eyeball Cakepops, which can be washed down with some Snot Tail! The bravest will, no doubt, want to hear some scary stories before snuggling into their sleeping bags, or under their duvets, for the night.
Camping and overnight events are an integral part of the Girl Guiding experience but these have not been able to take place this year because of Covid. Instead, IGG’s volunteer leaders have been coming up with creative ways to continue to engage with their youth members. This will be their third Camp At Home this year.
Sarah Canavan, a 24-year-old IGG volunteer from Killarney, has been instrumental in organising these events and she is hoping this weekend’s Camp At Home will be as successful as the ones earlier in the year, which saw thousands of IGG members from age five-plus taking part.
“We received really positive feedback from girls and parents telling us how the Camp At Homes had boosted the spirits not only of the girls, but of whole families who enjoyed taking part in activities and challenges, including scavenger hunts and toasting marshmallows over campfires,” said Sarah. “Some of our older girls even completed virtual summits of Ben Nevis by running up and down their stairs more than 500 times!”
“This is a challenging time for everyone and children and young people are feeling the stress and anxiety as much as adults. We have been promoting activities that boost the physical and mental well-being of our youth members. We have adapted our activities in line with government restrictions: some of our units are meeting online while some are getting together in small groups for outdoor activities. Some volunteers have been dropping activity packs to girls’ homes and keeping girls involved in that way.
“We are doing everything we can to support young people and we hope this fun initiative will help people find healthy and positive ways to keep themselves active and busy, both physically and mentally.
“We are asking everyone to share their Camp At Home photos on social media using the hashtag #IGGCampAtHome.”
Irish Girl Guides welcomes youth members from age five-plus and adult volunteers from age 18+. No previous Guiding experience is necessary and ongoing training and support is provided. For further information, see www.irishgirlguides.ie or tel: 01 6683898.
Contact:
Fiona Murdoch, Communications Officer, Irish Girl Guides
Email: communications@irishgirlguides.ie Tel: 085 8570565
Notes for editors:
Irish Girl Guides (IGG) has around 11,000 members throughout the 26 counties. Its 1,600 volunteer Leaders provide an informal educational programme of fun and challenging activities that foster confidence, independence and leadership skills in girls and young women, enabling them to develop to their full potential and to become responsible citizens. Youth members from age five to 30 can choose to earn a wide range of badges, including Aviation, Climate Action, Community Action, Cultural Diversity, Global Traveller, Engineering, Europe, Responsible Consumerism, Science Investigator, Space and STEM.