What scouts wear.

The short version

You don't need everything on day one. New families are welcome at meetings and events in ordinary clothes while they get sorted out. Nobody is turned away for not having a uniform yet.

And contrary to whatever your scout tells you, the first thing they actually need isn't a uniform. It's their handbook. Each rank has its own book, and it's what your child works through across the year. The Scout Shop stocks all of them.

The “Class A” uniform

This is the official uniform, worn for pack meetings, flag ceremonies, and other special scouting occasions. For most ranks it's the button-up uniform shirt with its patches, plus a belt, neckerchief, neck slide, hat, and shorts, pants, or a skort.

Lions are different. Kindergarten scouts wear a Lion t-shirt and hat rather than the full uniform, which keeps the first year cheap.

The suggested minimum is the shirt, neckerchief, hat, and belt. Official pants, shorts, and socks are optional, and so is the neckerchief slide, since a neckerchief ties perfectly well without one. Nobody in Pack 162 will ever push you to buy more than you want to.

Buy a size or two big. The uniforms are genuinely well made and most last several years, so there's no sense in a perfect fit in September.

The “Class B” uniform

A gold Pack 162 t-shirt with any comfortable pants or shorts, worn for campouts, den meetings, and most informal gatherings. This is what scouts are in most of the time.

Class B shirts cost $10 and are ordered through the pack member site at austinpack162.com, usually at the same time you pay dues. See How to Join. Cotton and poly options, youth and adult sizes. Our Shirt Chair brings orders to the next meeting, or arranges another time with you.

Where to buy

Class A uniforms and handbooks come from the Capitol Area Council Scout Shop, in person or online. The Austin store is:

Before you buy anything, talk to us anyway. Scouts grow fast and families cycle out of ranks every year, so it's always worth asking whether a shirt in the right size is going spare.

Badges and where they go

If you buy the shirt from the Scout Shop it arrives with the Scouting America seal, the American flag, and the Capitol Area Council patch already sewn on. After that it's your call how far to go. Some families add every patch, some leave the shirt as it came.

The Pack 162 patch, which you get when you join, goes on the right pocket. The left pocket is where earned rank patches go. Pack and den numerals are optional.

Scouting America publishes an official beginner's guide to uniform insignia showing exactly where each patch belongs. Don't worry about getting it perfect. Plenty of parents sew the pack numeral on upside down the first time, and someone will happily show you how.

Cost shouldn't stop you

If the cost of a uniform is a barrier for your family, please talk to us before you decide against joining. Get in touch through the Contact page, or read more about joining the pack and what it costs.