Celebrate Founder’s Day: Big Dreams, Sisterhood, and Birthday Joy

Celebrate Founder’s Day: Big Dreams, Sisterhood, and Birthday Joy

October 12, 2026

October brings plenty of opportunities for imagination—and October 31 gives Girl Scouts an extra reason to celebrate! Along with Halloween, it’s Founder’s Day, when we honor the birthday of Girl Scout founder Juliette Gordon Low.

While Halloween invites us to get creative and dress up as someone else, Juliette built a movement that helps girls discover who they are. We love both! Whether girls are trying on a costume, exploring a new interest, or finding the courage to speak up, there’s joy in imagining what’s possible.

This month, invite your troop to celebrate Juliette’s legacy in ways that reflect their own interests, ideas, and personalities. Here are a few ways to make these traditions your own.

Get to Know Juliette

Explore the story of the woman who started Girl Scouts and the vision that continues to bring our sisterhood together. Invite girls to share what they find surprising or inspiring about Juliette, then ask: If you could start a movement today, what would it be?

Younger girls might draw their ideas, while older girls could imagine a mission, name, and first activity for their movement.

Choose a Service Project Together

Honor Juliette’s legacy by making your corner of the world a little brighter. Invite girls to identify something they care about in their community and choose a way to help. They might collect supplies for an animal shelter, brighten someone’s day with handmade cards, or organize a neighborhood cleanup.

Let girls guide the choice, help plan the project, and take on roles that match their abilities and interests. Afterward, reflect together: Who did we help? What did we learn? What could we do next?

Working together toward a shared goal is a meaningful way to celebrate the power of Girl Scouts.

Share the Birthday Joy

Looking for a service project with a birthday twist? Celebrate Juliette’s birthday by helping other kids celebrate theirs! Your troop could assemble birthday kits for a local resource center or food bank, filled with supplies such as cake mix, frosting, birthday candles, paper party supplies, and a cheerful handmade card.

Before collecting items, contact the organization to ask whether it accepts birthday kits and what families need most. Some may prefer treats that don’t require an oven or additional ingredients. Follow its guidance on food packaging, allergies, and other supplies.

Let girls help plan the kits, shop for supplies, decorate the bags or boxes, and write birthday wishes. It’s a thoughtful way to turn a celebration of our founder into an act of kindness—and remind another child that their special day matters.

Create Your Own Birthday Traditions

Make the celebration yours! Sing “Happy Birthday” to Juliette, enjoy a birthday treat, wear costumes to your meeting, or create a troop birthday wish list filled with experiences girls hope to have this year.

You could also invite each girl to share something she loves about being herself—and something new she wants to try.

However your troop celebrates, Founder’s Day is a chance to honor the possibilities Juliette saw in girls and the possibilities girls see in themselves. Her legacy lives on whenever girls dream big, use their voices, and have a sisterhood to lift them up.

Show us how your troop celebrates! Whether you’re assembling birthday kits, completing a service project, learning about Juliette, or creating your own Juliette Gordon Low Birthday traditions, we’d love to see girls’ creativity and kindness in action. Share your celebration on social media, tag us @girlscoutsoc, or email us at marcom@girlscoutsoc.org!

There’s a Badge for That!

Celebrate Founder’s Day and work toward your Girl Scout Way badge! Your troop’s celebration can help girls complete Step 5: Enjoy Girl Scout traditions.

Want a keepsake of the celebration? Troops can also choose a Founder’s Day or birthday-themed fun patch to wear on the back of their vest or sash!