Adventurer Basics: Award Patches

Patches, awards, badges – whatever you want to call them, we Adventurers love them. But when you are new to Adventurers these little pieces of embroidered cloth bring up a few questions. This post is for the newbies – new parents, new staff, new clubs. (Welcome to Adventurers. We’re so excited you are here!!)

Who Earns Award Patches?

Everyone who does the award, teaches the award, or helps with the award is eligible to earn award patches. Club members and staff should always receive the patch for awards they earned. Non-staff parents who are involved may earn patches. Handing out patches to parents is a club choice. If you are a parent who wants to earn awards with your kids, talk to your director. Giving patches to parents will raise a club’s costs, but it may also cultivate a new group of future staff members.

Where Do We Get the Patches?

Adventurers receive patches from their Adventurer director or teacher. Clubs purchase the patches from AdventSource (in the United States) or their local conference. If you aren’t sure where to order patches from, talk to your area coordinator or conference director. I’m lucky to be in a conference who keeps a stock of Adventurer materials and patches on hand for easy access for the local clubs. If you plan to order from AdventSource, you will still need to talk with your conference director. Each conference has a special code to allow you to order patches.

Can I Teach My Kids Awards at Home?

Sure! Talk to your local director about getting the award patches your kids earned at home. Most directors are happy to work with excited families who want to earn extra awards. Warning: earning awards at home may mean your child may earn the same award more than once. As long as you are okay with this, most directors will work with you. Homeschoolers: Adventurer awards and Pathfinder honors are a fun addition to your curriculum. If you aren’t part of a local club, talk to your conference director for advice on getting the patches.

When Do We Give Them Out?

Whenever you want. This varies by club and by class. The club director and staff should decide together when patches will be handed it out. Here are a few ideas of appropriate times.

• Investiture – Hand out all the earned patches at investiture. This is a popular option.
  • Pros:
    • Patches are less likely to get lost before they get onto the sash when they go home in a group.
    • The kids like seeing the impressive number of awards they earned all together.
  • Cons:
    • Kids often don’t know what each patch represents.
    • Adventurers spend the entire first year with an empty sash – depending on how often sashes are worn, this may or may not matter in your club.
• At all ceremonies: Induction, Family Blessing, Investiture
• At each meeting an award is finished
  • Pros:
    • Older kids are more likely to associate the patch with the activities they did to earn the award.
    • Adventurers will have at least a patch or two on their sash from early in the year onward.
  • Cons:
    • Patches are more likely to be misplaced before meeting the sash.
    • Parents may struggle keeping track of which award belongs to which child
• Monthly/whatever frequent schedule you choose

What Is This Patch?

Although there are a few extremely obvious patches, the majority of them can be confused for more than one award. My method for identification (and sometimes to check the correct direction of the patch) has been to make a guess, search for the award via google or the Adventurer Strong App and hope for the best. If I am near my award poster, I’ll check it too. However, this spring I discovered a more techie route to identify my family’s adventurer and pathfinder patches.

What Do We Do With Award Patches?

Put them on your sash, admire them with pride, and try to remember what award each patch represents!

How Do I Get The Patches On My Sash?

There are multiple options for attaching your patches/your child’s patches to the sash. Each method has pros and cons to consider. Starting from the easiest and moving to the hardest:

Staple

I see stapled patches frequently in both Adventurers and Pathfinders. It’s fast and all you need is a stapler. I also see people needing to add staples to their patches. Do the staples fall out? I have no idea. I’d like to suggest this is best as a back-up option, not your club’s preferred award-attaching strategy. Then again, stapled patches are so much better than patches hidden in a baggie in a drawer at home!

• Pros:
  • Super fast.
  • Easy to move (ideally with a staple remover).
• Cons:
  • Not long lasting.
  • Doesn’t look as nice.
  • Not considered an “approved method.” In my conference, no one is going to say anything about an adventurer with awards stapled to their sash, but it may be an issue for your pathfinder if they have a uniform inspection in a competition.

Iron

Please don’t do this. They aren’t meant to be ironed. I have heard from multiple directors who have seen them ironed. One director said it worked fine. Everyone else said they stay for a little while and then fall off. The sash is stained where the patch fell off.

Badge Magic

Badge Magic like super strong double sticky tape. It comes precut to fit all of the shapes standard awards come in (triangle, chip, star, and even the puzzle patches). You can also buy it uncut – helpful for nonstandard patches and event patches. I used Badge Magic for years on and my kids’ and my sashes.

• Pros:
  • Very beginner friendly
  • Fast
  • Doesn’t require a machine
  • Semi-permanent: I’ve never seen a patch on a sash fall off. I have seen a patch on a frequently washed uniform shirt fall off.
  • “Approved Method” of attaching patches
• Cons:
  • Sticky – ideally, you have folded the edges of the badge magic in under the patch so nothing sticks out. But, if you roll or fold your sash, patches will peel up a bit. My sash gets stuck to the bag it’s stored in and occasionally to my pins.
  • Hard to move patches: AdventSource says the patches can be removed with dry cleaning. But, it’ll be a challenge to move them on your own if the need arises. I’ve never needed to remove patches from my kids’ adventurer sash (ignoring that time I added a duplicate award..), but I’ve needed to do so multiple times on their pathfinder sashes.

Hand Sew

Want to attach patches while waiting around for your kids? Or maybe while traveling to a club event? Hand sewing just might be the perfect method for you. You’ll need a sewing needle (I just used a basic sewing needle – nothing special is needed), thread, and, ideally but not required, a thimble.

• Pros
  • Fairly permanent
  • Easy to move (with a seam ripper)
  • Looks great
  • Portable
  • Doesn’t require a machine
  • “Approved Method” of attaching patches
• Cons
  • Time-Consuming
  • Challenging for anyone with reduced motor skills/strength
  • Can be painful (Get a thimble to help with this!)

Machine Sew

This is my preferred method. A few years back, I realized that I had been sewing patches on Adventurer and Pathfinder dress uniforms for years, so it was silly that I was afraid of sewing them on a flat sash. I started with my new Pathfinder’s sash, and every sash since then, I’ve sewn the patches on. Eventually, I will remove all the badge magic from my Adventurer sash and sew on the patches and finally update it.

• Pros:
  • Fairly permanent
  • Easy to move (with a seam ripper)
  • Faster than hand sewing
  • Looks great
  • “Approved Method” of attaching patches
• Cons:
  • Need a sewing machine
  • Hard to put patches on on-the-go
  • Time-Consuming
  • Fear of sewing machine

What Goes on an Adventurer Sash?

Basically, anything on the sash should be related to Adventurers. On your sash, you’ll put:

• Adventurer Award Patches: awards/chips/stars – whatever you call them in your conference!
• Adventurer Event Patches
• Adventurer Investiture Achievement Class Pins – they can also go on the uniform shirt pocket (Staff)
• Anchoring in Christ Pins (Parents) – they can also go on the uniform shirt pocket
• Adventurer Merit Pins – Adventurer of the year, Club of the year, etc.
• Adventurer Certification Pins (Staff)
• Adventurer Camporee Pins

What Does Not Go on an Adventurer Sash?

I bet there are lots of awesome extra things you could add to your sash to personalize it, but not everything belongs on a sash.

• Pathfinder honors – earned a pathfinder honor as an Adventurer? Awesome! Hold on to it so you can put in on your new Pathfinder sash as soon as you move up to Pathfinders.
• Random tourist patches
• National parks junior ranger pins and patches
• Trading pins

Did I cover your question? Do you have another one? Leave me a comment, and I’ll see if I can answer it!