Planning a Derby-themed Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet
Pick a theme for your Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet.
When we plan the Blue and Gold Banquet for our scouts, we start with a theme. This year we had ours in May, rather than our traditional February. It also happened to fall on Derby Day, which in Kentucky is a huge event. So, we had to make it derby themed!!
Last year, we had a camping themed Blue and Gold Banquet.
This is my second year of decorating for the Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet and I think I’m getting the hang of it! Luckily, I always have a few moms that pitch in to help set up. One of the moms who also happens to be married to our original Scout pack founder knows everyone well and she makes our seating charts.
Delegate the Work of Decorating and Preparing for the Blue and Gold Banquet.
It’s important to have one main person who is doing the planning and delegate the work out to others.
Our Cub Scout Master always plans the main food and we usually do a potluck style banquet where everyone brings one dish. We have also historically had a pizza banquet where we ordered pizzas for all. This year our Scout Master made hot dogs and pulled pork. During our camping themed event, we grilled hot dogs and hamburgers with potluck sides.
Then, we usually have one person who is in charge of decorating. The last two years that has been me. I delegate a few things out to my trusted moms! When it’s time to put it all together, we usually meet two hours prior to the banquet and it’s all hands on deck!!
This is my packed car headed to go decorate for the banquet! My trunk and front seat were full too!
Decorating a Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet
The Main Table Decor
Always start by considering table decor to match the theme.
Since this is a kid Kentucky Derby themed party, I knew I needed to incorporate some red for our Run for the Roses but I didn’t want to lose the original blue and gold. Red needed to be an accent color.
For the Kentucky Derby-themed table decor, my student (I teach nurse practitioner students in my clinical setting on occasion) found this idea for me on Pinterest. I would give credit to the originally pinner but I have no idea who it was – all I saw was a screenshot of it.
Anyway, I got Dollar Tree brand toy horses that come in packages and I spray painted those a glittery gold. I just simply spray painted them.
I also painted some Mason jars a beautiful bright blue. I started by using some old Mason jars around my house but when I went to buy them, I found some affordable plastic Mason jars in bulk at Michaels. (Which to be honest, the plastic around Cub Scouts is likely much safer!!) I also had Mason jars in different sizes so that it gave the eye a pleasing visual.
Once both spray painted items were dry, I glued the horses on top of the jars with super glue. (Again, got the super glue at Dollar Tree – I try to do this in a very affordable way!)
I also put gold sticker numbers on the jars. I got the gold stickers at Hobby Lobby in the scrapbooking section.
Those were my table decorations. I tried to pair a large Mason Jar with a smaller jar for the visual appeal, but unfortunately, after a few late RSVPers, I didn’t have enough so some tables just had one large one.
I thought my final product for the main table centerpiece was perfect for both Blue and Gold and Derby themes!
Setting up the Tables and Table Accents
This year, I used just plain blue plastic tablecloths. Last year, I alternated them with yellow “gold” tablecloths. I got my tablecloths at Hobby Lobby this year, as they had 99 cent ones that were very brilliant blue and quite sturdy and thick.
However, while I didn’t alternate table cloths, I still had some color variants to break up the blue. I had gold plates, cups, and utensils (Dollar Tree bought!). I use the plates and utensils as part of the tablescape. Then, once we go to the buffet, they can just carry their plate with them. I also placed little gold paper cups on the tables (I bought those at Hobby Lobby) and put trail mix in them for appetizers.
For the final effect of the tablescape, I found some fake rose petals at Dollar Tree in their wedding section. I just scattered those along the middle of the table. It set off the blue mason jars with the gold horses, and it gave us a real run for the roses feel!
Blue and Gold Banquet Cakes
I got our cakes at Kroger again from their bakery. We have so many people it usually takes 2 full sheet cakes to feed them all and I get one in chocolate and one in white.
Typically, I get a cake that just has lettering that says Blue and Gold Banquet with our Pack number, and the other I get to go with the theme.
So, this year we had beautiful gold and black racehorse with red roses around the sides.
Sadly, they messed up our lettering on the first cake, and while they fixed it, it was not pretty at all – at least they gave it to us for free as it was so ugly…
I also saw some horse balloons at Kroger and got two of them to be on each side of our cake table!
Lastly, we had two bundles of gold and blue balloons on each side of the stage. (The picture below is before we separated the balloons.)
Blue and Gold Banquet with Derby Theme Final Product
It ended up being a fantastic Blue and Gold Banquet and I have to admit I think it ended up beautiful!
What theme have you done for your Blue and Gold Banquet? Have you done a Derby-themed Blue and Gold banquet? I’d love to hear about it!! Next year, I will be decorating as well so I’m always looking for fresh ideas!
This shows you that you can decorate with a very small budget and use basic Dollar Tree items while still making a gorgeous banquet for your Cub Scouts.
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