World Thinking Day – Shine Your Guiding Light

Celebrate with Ontario and Nunavut Girl Guides in your community as we shine our Guiding lights in support of girl empowerment.

Every year, on February 22, Girl Guides celebrate World Thinking Day, a day of international friendship. It is an opportunity to speak out on issues that affect girls and young women, celebrate the founding of Girl Guides, and be connected to the 10 million members around the world who are part of the Guiding movement.

Help us celebrate by lighting up in "Guiding blue" after dark on the evening of February 22.

Guiding Lights in ON and NU

We invite Guiding members and other supporters to light candles, make lanterns, and find other ways to shine your own Guiding lights from your homes, in your meeting locations, and around your neighbourhoods.

With your Girl Guide unit, consider doing some crafting in the new year - you could decorate glass-jar lanterns, make luminary lanterns out of paper bags, or set up your own light displays in your windows or yards.

Check out the suggested activities below!

Activity Templates

Make an upcycled lantern with an empty metal can and a hammer/nail.
Print, cut, and glue together a triangular lantern or cylindrical lantern made of paper.
Cut out candle drip protectors for a candlelit walk.
Colouring pages
More activities to come!

Activity Ideas

Get visible in your community on February 22! Looking for inspiration?

A flashlight scavenger hunt in your meeting space.
Go on a lit-up neighbourhood walk (you could use blue filters on the flashlights).
Put on your headlamps for a night hike.
Host a campfire singalong event at a local lit-up landmark.
Invite friends and families to join you for a lantern-making workshop.
Have a unit decorating contest to see who can decorate their home windows with the brightest bluest display.
Make blue/lit-up crafts as tray favours for a local seniors' home.
Organize a fun, blue-themed photo booth with lanterns, flashlights, and other light-up props.

Don't forget to snap photos of your activities – share them on social media by tagging @girlguidesonnv and using the hashtag #ShineYourGuidingLight.

Submit Unit Photos

Did your unit make lanterns? Did you go on a neighbourhood walk with your new lanterns? From February 2 – March 9, we are asking units to submit a photo* of their creative ideas for World Thinking Day - #ShineYourGuidingLight.

All units that submit a photo of their unit participating in one of the activities for WTD will be entered into a draw towards funds for a pizza party prize (one entry per unit, one prize per community).

Photo Submission Form

*If you are sharing photos, please always make sure that image release forms (IR.1) have "yes" selected in iMIS for all visible participants.

Winners will be selected at random draw and notified the week of March 10, 2025. Funds will be deposited into the unit banking account.

Guiding Lights Crests

Crests are not being provided; they must be purchased by units from the Ontario Council crest ordering page.

For Guiding members participating in World Thinking Day and Guiding Lights activities, or for those who just want to be part of the fun, order your Guiding Lights - Thinking Day Crest/Guides Lumineux - Thinking Day Crest today.

Ontario Girl Guides of Canada