To ask how much would you be happy to pay

[Littlestgirlguide25]

For Guide camp?

It's a big event for 7 nights in the summer holidays, for Guides from across the UK and some international groups attending.
Lots of exciting and adventurous activities, all food, accommodation and activities included but with parents providing transport to help keep costs low (90 min drive from home).

What would you be happy to pay for that?

I think £205 is reasonable for what you are including.

I think if they are using the guides equipment there needs to be a small amount charged for wear and tear. Guides will need ti replace/repair these at some point.

If its camping i am going to say around £250. Are the guides and their parents fundraising too?

Witsender that is so cheap, I would be amazed how you cover costs at £15. I doubt that would cover the cost of a portaloo or do they have to bring their own shovel

People need to be realistic and have more information really

In our county where an international is held every 5 years the camp itself sets their fee for camping which is well over £100 this includes site fees insurance equipment hire etc

You then need to add on your own fees, transport, food sundries wear and tear on equipment (about £10) per child

This then brings you to the actual cost when you may decide if you want to add other things like unit t-shirts etc

Your price of £205 seems very fair, don't forget there may be hardship funds from county and district if you have any struggling to fund their place due to circumstances

That's a fair price
DD is going for 4 nights which cost £130.
DS is going for four nights (with scouts) at a cost of £160.

I'd be happy to pay up to 250 for a full week.

Our scouts have their own campsites so costs tend to be low for normal weekend camps. Ours would be about 25 for two nights and going up to about 40 if there are more expensive activities included. A large one week camp I'd expect to be closer to 200 but with costs coming down with fundraising.

I went to Peak 2005 and it was around £160 so I'd have said £200-250 thesedays. We did a car wash, a jumble sale and a bag pack to raise funds.

I think £200 is a very fair price for a whole week. It would be at least double that for a school adventure trip.
FWIW, in the last couple of years I have paid £50 for a Scouts weekend (2 nights) and £90 for a Scouts four night trip (both using own transport) - and £415 for a four night school trip to a PGL type establishment with coach.

Considering our school trips for 2 nights are £150-£280 I would say a charge of £205 for a week is a bargain.

My sons school year 6 residential is £245 for 5 days fully catered in a centre parcs type place. With that in mind I'd be willing to pay £150 ish.

At the price you've given, it works out at £1.25/ hour which sounds like very cheap childcare to me!

It does sound like a fair price, though we couldn't stretch to it personally, especially with more than one child.

My DS is off to scout International Jamboree today for 7 days. The cost was £260. This doesn't include transport as it's here in Scotland. They are camping with scout owned equipment but there are lots of activities that need to be paid for.
We could pay in instalments but I know some people just won't have been able to afford it.
Fundraising is also a bit of a stretch at times- the explorer scouts visited Norway this year and there was huge amounts of fundraising for that all year. It's great, of course, to help with cost but can be pressure for families to constantly give. A tricky one.

Hi , my dd is doing KIJ , and we are paying £250 , plus £50 spending money - looking at all the events / activities we are really pleased and surprised at the low cost - this includes all food , tents and activities ( looking online they have food outlets too , so thinking the £50 may be spent on slushies We paid in instalments , and they did some fundraising to pay for some of it .
I think £205 is a really good price - have fun !!

If you can get it down to just over 100 with fundraising that's very reasonable.

I have 2 in Cubs. We got a letter in May to say there would be a 2 night camp in the first weekend of July for £100 each. My 2 were desperate to go but I couldn't justify paying £200 for 2 nights. I suppose if we'd just had 1 child we might have managed but I did think that was very steep for only a weekend trip (though I do appreciate all the work that goes into it).

Those saying the price would be a struggle, I hear you as it would be for me too, which is partly the reason for the thread. I was recently given 1 month notice of a Brownie pack holiday for DD which cost £40 - that was a stretch that month.

Does paying in instalments help? As I say we are hoping to bring the price down through fundraising to between £100-150. Paid over ten months that would be £10-15 a month, would that be doable?

DD is off to Poacher today which sounds similar to what you're offering. It's £275 but that includes transport.

I think even the full £205 is great value for what you are offering BUT we could not afford it. We could manage it if we only had one child and it was a one off. We have 3 in the guides and scouts and couldn't afford £200 extra especially if that meant we'd have to pay the same for the younger ones in a year or 2. So, whilst it is great value it is still an extra £200 families would have to come up with. £100 would be a lot easier and a bargain. It may make it out of reach for some still but most people would realise it would be very hard to make it any cheaper than £100.

DD's pack gave 12 months notice of the event and offered payment by instalments. How are you planning to fundraise?

We could manage it if we only had one child and it was a one off. We have 3 in the guides and scouts and couldn't afford £200 extra especially if that meant we'd have to pay the same for the younger ones in a year or 2.So, whilst it is great value it is still an extra £200 families would have to come up with. £100 would be a lot easier and a bargain

The world can't make things cheaper because you have lots of children!

We've just charged £100 for a 4 night Guide camp. Sat 11am - Weds 3pm. Guides brought packed lunch for Saturday but included all other food. Activities included pistol shooting, tunnelling, low ropes course, geo caching, grass sledging, trip on a coach to a lido & trampolining park & 3 different crafts. Guides could bring up to £10 spends for on site shop. Parents transported. outs self

So I think £200 for a week at a large scale event is pretty reasonable especially if you will fundraise.

For an international trip (abroad 1.5k) we had an 18 month lead in and instalments. Some parents weren't interested in fundraising so just paid the full amount. Other parents were keen to fundraise so all the money they raised came of their bills not the overall cost. A similar scheme might be useful as it focusses attention where it's needed. Obviously particular circumstances may need to be taken into account for fairness. We had one scout who had a single parent with another disabled child. Arrangements were made to ensure the scout could help at appropriate events and take advantage of the fundraising discount.

Our 2 night group camps cost £25 all in except transport. We use Scout owned campsites which keep the costs down.

I'd expect a trip like that to cost about £200 but we wouldn't be able to afford it.

We've just done a Friday tea time to Sunday tea time district camp which was £50. This covered all food, tents and activities which included canoeing, kayaking, rock climbing, a fairground, bouncy castles, lazer quest, paintballing (for Explorers) plus tonnes of other things. The children were dropped off and picked up by parents.

If you can fundraise to bring the cost down it would be good as the cost can be out of reach of some, it would be for us as I have 3 to pay for.

Paying in instalments is always good as £20 a month is easier than £200 at once.

We just had a county scout camp and for all beavers/Cubs/scouts/explorers it was £45 to attend and our group charged £20 each for food so a total of £65 for all food and activities etc for Fri-Mon (3 nights)....

One thought - think carefully about how you split the money earned from fundraisers. Often it is the same kids turning up time after time.

My off-the-cuff suggestion is 50% of the money shared equally between all guides going on the trip, 50% shared equally with all those who turned up and helped. (So £400 raised, 20 guides going, 16 turned up. Those who turned up get £22.50 each, those who didn't get £10 each off their trip)

If you are open about this at the start then people who are struggling but their kids are desperate to go can make sure their kids always turn up for the fundraising.