Fairtrade Night

One of the things I've come to learn in my relatively short time as a Assistant Beaver Leader is that some badges are easier to cover during meetings then others, some just lend themselves to children having fun.  The Global badge is one that sits on the line - there are some really boring elements "keep a recycling diary" and then there is "Try different kinds of Fairtrade products".  One thing you'll know about (most) 6-8 year olds is that if it involves food or mess they will be up for the challenge.  The Plan was to make Chocolate Bananas (a scouting favourite), except then I realised we had children who were allergic/ intolerant to Bananas and Chocolate, so the plan had to change to a tasting platter.

Then we hit the stumbling block.. we had already overspent on this terms budget and we weren't even up to half term.  There was no way we could spend lots of money on Fairtrade foods, unless we could get some help.....




So I approached 5 of the major supermarkets to see if they could donate us some Fairtrade foods, even if they could only give me a couple of products it would ease the financial pressure a bit   - what I wasn't expecting was the overwhelming replies I had from 2 of the major supermarkets - Co-Op and Sainsbury.

Our local Sainsbury's (Wadsley Bridge) Community Champion replied to say they could definitely help and there would be a basket of goodies waiting for me on Friday.  They even sent me a list of all the FairTrade products sold by Sainsbury and some teaching resources. This is what I collected!

I'd mentioned that I had gluten free children in my colony and they had gone out of their way to find a product that they could have - FairTrade Duerr’s Seville Orange marmalade.  And look at the range of FairTrade chocolate they provided there really was something for everyone (and the Beavers didn't save any for me!) - We had:
Sainsbury strawberry crème white chocolate
Sainsbury caramel crisp milk chocolate
Sainsbury rainbow candy milk chocolate
Sainsbury mint crème dark chocolate - my favourite chocolate ever!
Sainsbury milk chocolate

There was also Sainsbury own brand tea-bags, green tea bags and sugar for the grown ups.

Co-Op got back to me within a couple of days and sent me some vouchers so I could go along to the store and pick up some treats.  And WOW what a treat they had, knowing what I had picked up from Sainsbury's meant I could look for more unique or interesting things - I knew I need to get Banana's but what else would I be able to find in the FairTrade range?

Co-op own brand orange juice
Co-op own brand dark chocolate
Co-op bananas

And for the grown ups: Co-op own brand coffee

I also picked up a tub of Co-op own brand drinking chocolate so we could continue our FairTrade theme when we go to camp.

Budget spent I walked past the freezers ,,,, and there I spotted Ben and Jerry Phish Food Ice Cream - complete with a FairTrade label.... the Beavers (and Young Leaders) were going to love me!!

So with a cost of £3 my Fairtrade evening was all stocked up (I just had bread to get on the way to the hall as you can't buy FairTrade bread).

We didn't just eat on our Fairtrade evening, we played a team game which was so unfair I thought some of the children were going to cry (woops) and discussed the range of Fairtrade products you can buy that aren't food (footballs, t-shirts, cotton wool and Bath Bombs to name just a few).

And did the Beavers enjoy their night and learn a lot?

............... What do you think?

Now comes the BIG challenge ........... how do I make the one in 2 years time even Bigger and even Better!!!!!

Thank you to Lisa and Andrew at Sainsbury (Wadsley Bridge) and to Ryan at the Co-Op for your generosity.