Making wear it fun. Not wearing it is not an option (legally or as a rule for our insurance), and why we wear it is also made pretty clear. But if it can be less of a "aww, do we have to?" and a bit more of a laugh at the start of the season about them, they might be more accepted. Hmm, trying them on - maybe if I bring them to a den session and do something like a relay race in patrols putting it on, run to the end and back, take it off and pass it back to the next....assuming we have even numbers in the patrols...always a challenge
We changed from weekly in Sept, which sort of worked, and pushed it in January which was a 100% success, for once a term collection. (We think apart from a few who forgot pretty often or parents didn't have change and gave every few weeks, there were a few Cubs pocketing the money as well! Names on the outside of envelopes (with either full subs or reduced, as required by the family) meant it was easy enough to collect and tally - we do the names outside envelopes and fees inside for camp fees on arrival anyway so parents were used to that.
My accounting woes are more trying to get the other leaders to let me know how much of the older €2/week collections they each have, and get an idea of our overall position. We have plenty but I don't know if I can reduce this terms' subs, if we have enough to plan a biggish outing in autumn once boating is over (entrance fees), keep camp fees lower, get some craft materials for rainy days, or just keep ticking over. Group will give us money if we need it, but as we collect subs, we really shouldn't.