Holiday club - Would you expect food to be provided?

[IceRebel]

If your child attended a holiday club, which would you expect

1. To have to provide all food / snacks. (i.e packed lunch)

2. For the club to provide food.

Club is open 9am - 5.30pm and is £25 a day.

No idea about current pricing but mine went to various summer school type activities- Youth theatre, rugby camp, tennis club, dance summer schools and unless they were residential, they took their own food and drinks.

I would expect to pack my kids packed lunch with drinks. I think they usually say if food is included.

Holiday clubs here are around £45 per day. One doesn't include food (lack of facilities/chefs), and another offers a hot meal at lunch time.

Without food but with drinks provided is what I’d expect. If it’s an early start they sometimes get toast but I always expect to have to pack a raft of food

I organise holiday clubs & have done for the last 10 years. SE London 10-4 no food provided £25 all other clubs in the area are roughly the same

I've used many clubs over the years and never had any food provided.

I’m going to screenshot this thread and put it on the wall in the next holiday.

We charge £25 a week. 10am-3pm mon-Thursday. All day Friday as go on a trip. We provide fruit, a snacky thing (crisps, flapjack etc) and drinks and we get moaned at for asking parents to send the main part of the lunch (sandwich/wrap etc).

Amusingly I wastold only today by a parent that she’s opting for the “professional” playscheme run by a company locally for £25 a day. Most of their staff are 19-23. I “only” have volunteers - 1 retired head teacher, 3 teachers on career breaks, 1 ex childminder, and 3 childcare students. You can’t please everyone!

Lyra £25 a WEEK? Charge more. People don't value what they get so cheaply.

We've used lots of different clubs over the years from £17 to £45 per day. Only one provided any food at all - breakfast (win!) and snacks. The rest, children take all their food. A couple have tuck shops.

Quietly If we charge more it prices out some of the families whose kids need access to activities the most.

I find the moaners eventually drift off to somewhere that does 8-6 and charge a fortune and that suits me/us.

Same with those who react in horror at the volunteer aspect and assume the staff are all shit.

Ours in similar in price. Morning and afternoon snacks provided (fruit, biscuit, crackers, etc) and we send a drink and a packed lunch. This is 8-5.

I think that’s quite reasonable. I don’t mind doing packed lunch on school holidays as it’s only a few days and a bit novel. She has hot school dinners normally, but it’s not an issue. I’d much more they spent money on facilities and activities than catering to everyone’s food preferences.

We charge £25 a week.

That's bloody cheap, too cheap. How do you actually afford to provide activities and pay staff, when a child is paying less than £1 per hour of care over the week?

Apologies, re-reading I see your staff are all volunteers. However I still don't understand how you manage to afford, activities, food and a trip for such a tiny price.

I see Lyra. It sounds like an amazing thing you're doing, just not aimed at children whose parents work.

£30 9-4 including hot lunch, morning and afternoon snack here. Another £10 for 8-6 cover. It didn’t used to include meals, but they switched to this model about 18 months ago and I really appreciate it, as it is so much easier.

It used to be £30 8-6 without meals. But most parents didn’t use the wraparound bit. They must make enough from those of us that do to cover the meal costs for all!

No food. Apart from when they do activities that include decorating biscuits etc.

I just booked DDs holiday club for easter. 8am till 5.30pm and I have to provide lunch and tea.

And its £37 a day

I have to provide lunch and tea

I've never heard of providing tea before, what sort of things do you pack?

We decorate biscuits and bake, but encourage the children to take their makes home. Although if they wanted to eat them we wouldn't say no.

Its awkward as DD usually has a cooked lunch at school and snack tea after school club before a cooked dinner.

So basically its two packed lunches I prepare but she is very limited on what things she will eat so sandwich crisps and fruit/veg for lunch and i do cocktail sausages and sausage rolls for tea with a cake. She is going to be so bored of the contents after two weeks.

And I have to feed her breakfast every day which means getting her up early.

Around here (London) a basic holiday club is £30-£50, and you bring a packed lunch but they have fruit for snacks.

Some cost far more than that, but they're usually quite fancy and have their own food.

£25 a week is incredibly low!! Is there a reason you're doing it with volunteers and charging so little? Otherwise I'd suggest that for working parents they are saving a lot Vs needing to take leave or pay for other childcare - and for non working parents they do have a choice whether to have their child come to you at all.

Personally I'd charge far more and use the extra to subsidise anyone who truly needs it.

No food provided with our various holiday clubs either. It's actually a massive undertaking to provide a hot meal, plan, shop, serve, wash/clear up etc. Add in dietary requirements, food hygiene training, safety checks etc - becomes almost like a second business in itself!

I run a holiday club - £20 a day - breakfast (cereal, toast, fruit etc) mid morning and mid afternoon snacks (crumpets, sandwiches, fruit, milk etc) provided. Parents send packed lunch,

Ours was £18 a day a couple of years ago. Kids took a packed lunch, and I think also a snack, although I can't really remember. Swimming was provided in that price though! It was fab!

No food provided at any of the ones local to us. They charge £35ish for 9-3. For an extra £5 per hour per child you can drop off at 8 and pick up at 5.

I very much agree with QuietlyQuaffing if you give things away too cheaply people don't appreciate what it's actually worth.

We pay £10 a day (9am to 4pm) for a multi-activity holiday club OP, and DC take their own packed lunch and a bottle of water, which they can refill as much as they want when there.
The club provides snacks - usually a piece of fruit in the morning and a drink of milk (if wanted) and a plain biscuit in the afternoon.
They also sometimes give ice lollies on hot days, plus the occasional bit of cake/biscuit decorating.