How much do you pay for Beavers?

[Frettle]

DD5 will be 6 next September so I am thinking about clubs to keep her occupied as she is a very active child and a social butterfly, and I struggle to keep her entertained on non-school days. Our local church has posted about their Beaver group and I am wondering how much other parents pay. I know it varies based on area and the group itself but I would like a rough figure based on uniforms, trip costs and contributions per term/month. I am in a low income, deprived area so I am expecting it to be on the lower end.

Thanks!

We are £30 per term (3 terms per year). Uniform is just the sweater (wear our own trousers) which was £20 but the club try and recycle so often can get one for free.
trips are very cheap and heavily subsidised within our group - also optional.
my other DD Goes to brownies - slightly more term fees but trips subsidised

£36 per term (home counties). Plus one off contributions for group outings to places like indoor ski slope, museums, climbing centres.

Ours is £30 per quarter. Jumper, kneckerchief, woggle and joining badges £25. Trips are extra but sometimes reduced through money in the scout pot. It's the cheapest of all the activities my child does and offers the most variety!

£10 a month. Uniform polo and jumper are £15 each, may be able to get cheaper secondhand or from another parent. I gave my child’s uniform to another parent as don’t have another child to do Beavers. Some units have a fund to help parents who can’t afford subs / uniform so you could ask if they offer any financial support.

Just to add most scout district will have funds to help for anyone unable to afford to go otherwise and to help with camps and trip costs etc… so don’t let the cost put you off without speaking to the potential leaders first

£15/month London

Ours is about £35 per term.

Two overnight options a year - £15 if a sleepover, camps up to about £50.

Very occasional optional extras at around £10-20. I don’t think I paid anything extra at all last year, this year we have an activity day on a Saturday which is £10.

Get a jumper which is big enough to last two years! There is no mandatory uniform, but the vast majority will have a jumper to sew their badges on to.

If you struggle, districts have funds to help with costs. Always ask!

South London, we pay £115 a year for squirrels and expect beavers will be the same. Uniform plus trips are more. They went to the panto last weekend which was £13 per child, and have a group camp coming up which is £35 each. I thought it was a lower cost activity but if we did all of the optional extras, it adds up.

Same as pp, our group always says there is a fund for people struggling to pay.

Brownies and Guides local to me are £12 a month (charged all year) you can usually get cheap second hand uniform. Our units will charge less to parents on low income - have a discrete word and ask if you need to. Local trips are included in subs, camps are maybe £60-80 for a weekend.

If you volunteer as a leader in our district, subs are free! You don’t have to be THE Leader, just on the leadership team

£12 a month for us.

Ours is £42 per term, but we have a fund available to support anyone who wants to join but is prohibited by the cost.
But you also need to be on the waiting list from age 3 to guarantee a place once they turn 6!

DS2 has just quit beavers. We used to pay £14 a month all year round plus uniform. Trips etc more but my DS never wanted to do the sleepovers so I can’t remember the cost

Ours is£50 a term (3 terms). But haven't really paid extra for weekly activities/trips as they are taken from the fee. Paid for an overnight stay something like £25.

Ours is £35 a term (x3 per year).

I just bought new uniform because mine is moving up to cubs, which I think was £33. There is lots available secondhand though.

Then there are a few trips and camps/sleepovers a year, which are obviously optional. I think the camp was maybe £40? And this term they are doing one session at a local climbing wall, which is £15. Otherwise, most activities are included in termly dues. There have been a few other paid ones, like archery or my older one in Scouts went kayaking. Basically, when they need to hire an outside provider, but only a few times a year.

It’s very worth it if your child is that way inclined and the leaders are good. I’ve found it much, much better than Girl Guides. My dd did two different rainbows groups over the years and they were a bit shit. Beavers at least they get outdoors. Mine has learned campfire building and gone on night hikes and done archery and climbing and orienteering and science experiments. Obviously the older ones do more adventurous things, but I’ve found it to be excellent. My eldest has gone all the way to scouts and younger one starting cubs after 2 years as a Beaver.

Consider volunteering with the group. Does not need to be with the kids, they will need fundraisers, treasurer, secretary etc . Some groups offer free of reduced fees for children if volunteers .

Girls are older now but it’s still the same. We pay £10 per month. We carry on paying it through the year but it doesn’t run in the holidays. Covers all the crafty stuff. Uniform is often available free donated by older kids as outgrown. Subs covers everything and there’s a couple of fundraiser events pays for the odd day out. Overnight camps at that age were done in the hall so they’d toast marshmallows and cook on a campfire then head back in.

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We pay £14/month for Cubs (it was the same for Beavers). There is no discount offered despite DH running the group and spending many hours planning and training as well as the time spent with the Cubs; it's nice to hear other groups offer this though as it might not come close to equalling the effort involved by the volunteers, it is a nice gesture and recognition.
Regular trips out eg hikes or visits to fire stations/religious buildings etc are no extra. There are a few one-offs through the year that are extra, such as a day at a local theme park, but these come with a heavy group discount and adult volunteers are either free or paid for by group funds. The last 2 night camp (Fri eve to Sunday lunchtime) was £15pp, and we've been to daytime only camps at £10 - more expensive as it was an district-wide thing with fancier activities. There is always a trip at the end of the school year which is paid for with group funds too.
Overall, it is cheap for the hours taken up and variety of activities provided.

£42 a term here.

My DS went all the way through Beavers/Cubs/Scouts and DD tried Rainbows/Brownies/Guides. I also volunteer with Beavers. Our Beavers is now £30 per half term but this covers all weekly sessions, including a few sessions each year where we pay for activities from external suppliers. The only extra costs are optional weekend activities/camps. There are usually 2-3 of these per year and the cost is usually around £20-30 (depending on the activities and whether there's a sleepover or meals involved. In our area, Beavers/Scouts own quite a few camp sites etc and offer loads of activity weekends staffed by well trained volunteers which keeps the cost down. In this area, Brownies/Guides don't have the same network of venues and volunteers so offer fewer outdoors activity days/weekends and when they do they are with an external provider which is much more expensive (I think we paid about £250 for a 2 day brownies activity event quite a few years ago compared to £30 for a very similar event with cubs). It all depends on your local group and leaders really.
The other thing to be aware of is that groups usually guarantee their beavers a space in cubs (and cubs a space in scouts etc) so if the groups are full it can be difficult to get a place in cubs/scouts if you didn't join in beavers. Where I am, we often find that girls start in rainbows/brownies then want to switch to cubs/scouts as they get older and want to go on all the camps etc on offer but they are often full and have to wait and see if anyone drops out.
As pp said, many groups have funds to help if finances are difficult but you'd need to ask the leadership team.

I run Beavers and our subs are £11 a month. We are in a more well off area so money isn't a big issue for our parents.

We do a couple of day trips a year which are anything from free to about £15 depending on the activity.

We do a ann overnight camp which is about £35 (accommodation cost is about half of that) and then we do a large group weekend camp with the whole group (all sections aged 4-15) and that costs about £75-100 depending on the activities eg watersports, climbing, silent disco etc

Everything is optional and not everyone goes to everything.