Guides costs HELP

[BakeryChaney]

How much does girl guides cost?
I know it varies from place to place but if you are a leader, volunteer or parent can you tell me how much you pay please? Trying to get a rough figure before committing. And how often? Termly, weekly, monthly?
TIA everyone.

Guides we pay £20 a term plus an extra £20 in Jan for yearly stuff can't remember but I think insurance, it goes to Guiding HQ. Day trips etc are around £5-10 and are maybe once or twice a term.

Cubs we pay £12 a month and then days out are around £5-10 and these are about once a month. I find cubs alot better value than guides as they seem to do so much more stuff, have more days out and activities, and do more badges.

Guides camp hasn't happened due to covid but cubs was £15 for a one night one and £50 for a 3 night one. better value than flipping school residential at £250 for 3 nights

Also uniform is on the pricier side I think around £15 for each item but we got all ours second hand, if you look at local fb sites they often come up on there

as PP said, check with the leader. Most units around me charge around £30 per term and may or may not make a separate charge for the annual subscription. But it can vary a lot mostly depending on hall hire. But don’t be afraid to ask if you can spread the cost out, even if they say termly as standard, they should be willing to discuss other options if needed. Equally you can ask if they have any secondhand uniform available to buy at lower cost, and do ask whether they really need uniform bottoms (rainbows and brownies), as many units are perfectly happy for girls to just have the uniform t-shirt.

Sometimes big jamborees May be a few £100 but they’re a week long with loads of brought in activities. Lots of units don’t do this type of camp at all though, we never did.

Weekend camps where everything is done by the leaders themselves will be much cheaper. We offer pack holiday to brownies for under £50 for a weekend. We also do PGL weekends for around £100 as well. Again though, none of them are compulsory, we’ve always had some girls who choose not to do residential trips for various reasons.

Our subs are £36 per term; we meet in a church hall and have rent to pay as well as guiding fees.
Our upcoming jubilee camp is a weekend for £40; that includes all activities, food, tents etc. all parents have to do is provide personal stuff like a sleeping bag and clothes for the weekend and get the girls to the camp. Many of ours are car sharing. We went to a big week long camp in 2019 and it was £270 for 7 days worth of activities, food, tents - again the parents brought the girls as a coach would have added a large amount to the camp cost.
I went through guiding and loved it, compared to school trips the camps are good value and I have made friends for lide
as a guide and as a leader.

As a former Brownie, Girl Guide and Ranger, this thread has made me feel quite nostalgic! Great to know it's still as affordable as it was when I was a youngster, and that you still don't need to commit to uniform until you take your promise. Even as a child, I thought it was a good idea to let girls see if they enjoy it and want to keep going before mum paid out more than subs.

I'm a Brownie leader, we currently charge £35/term which includes the annual membership fee ("census" we call it) plus a £10 joining fee for badge book/bag. Pack Holidays usually £50-60 full price for a weekend, but we have reduced costs recently with some subsidy from a community grant. We do a couple of extra optional trips per year to the panto, climbing centre etc which are about £10-15 each.

As girls get older, if they want to go on international trips these can run into the thousands but a)are totally optional, and b)girls are expected to do fundraising, get grants etc, not fund it all from mum & dad's pocket.

You can also split the cost and pay monthly by direct debit. Mine works out about £11.00 a month, camps can be more expensive but the last two my daughter has been on were £85 each.

mine are in scouts. DD has really enjoyed it and got a lot out of it.

We are £40 a term subs (aprox £4 a session) - the annual membership fee comes out of this

no joining fee, parents just need to buy the jumper or shirt. the necker is provided for free.

Camps are optional and not everyone goes on all of them due to other commitments on weekends etc so if she doesnt go to one no-one would think anything of it.

We do have a hardship fund so if anyone is struggling to pay then they can be subsidised on discretion of the leaders

Just to add re uniform, we always had lots of second hand stuff which ex brownies would donate back and we would ask for a small contribution so you don't have to buy new.

My DD is at Guides and we pay £8 a month.

DD has left guides but her unit was £110 a year, requested in September but with a box to tick if you'd prefer to pay monthly/quarterly. Weekend camps were around £50, she did a longer one in the summer which was a week and I think that was about £200 but it covered everything - tents, bus transfers, food, activities (they did paddle boarding, abseiling, sailing) and again, they offered installments over months.

Ours is £34 per term. Camp this year is £150 for four nights, transport not included, it's coaches that really push the price up. It's around 90 minutes away, lots of parents are teaming up to drive

£25 a term for us... haven't done an overnight trip yet but day outings have cost us about a £5. It's definitely been worth it. Dd loves it and it has massively helped her socially.

My unit is £40/term for 10 sessions. Our camp is around £100.

we pay £12 a month and uniform was £13 for her jumper and £10 for polo shirts I think?

I think on the whole its really good value. Mine loved brownies but didnt get on with their guide unit (in our case the scouts did so much more unfortunately.)

Also our guides only did the big jamboree which was costing a few hundred and my daughter didn't enjoy it. They didnt do nany of the weekend/field type camps that I remember doing which she would have liked!

3 night big festival camp in August all inclusive food, activities is £90 (inc early bird discount and a division subsidy) Another 2 night camp is £35 inc food.
We did an activity day £15 inc 3 outdoor activities. There’s a water sports day in summer think it’s £15 inc coach. These are all optional activities not all girls do them.
If you are low income help may be available.
Out biggest outlay is hall hire - we are trying to find a cheaper one. Our subs are £105 a year paid as 3 terms.

We are back weekly in person. We try and do a mix of activities cooking, crafts, external people coming in eg yoga teacher. In summer we do more outdoor stuff - canoeing, campfire.
If it’s an activity on a meeting night we will pay part from subs - pottery painting, trampoline was bring £3 we pay rest. Some weeks we expect girls to bring something eg an ingredient.
Camps and the bigger division days out are back on this summer. But these are optional.
We just require a uniform T shirt but most have hoodie too.
I think we offer girls a good range of experiences and the activities are much cheaper than if you took them or with school.
We have fun. It’s a good space for girls to mix with girls from other schools and chat. I love the interaction eg this week little ones worrying about Sats and bigger ones who did them in last few years reassuring them.
A girl who joined recently and is very shy finally spoke to me and some of the other girls. Was lovely to see.

They can do D of E through Guides if they want. Some also got on to be Young leaders which can go towards D of E I believe or just generally looks good on cv.

All of these comments have been really helpful, positive and encouraging. I'm definitely going to contact our local unit and see if they have spaces. If nothing else it will get her off her phone! I love the sound of the trips and camps too. Especially after the last few years. Thanks everyone!

Hope it works out op. Out brownies is massively oversubscribed but we need more Guides. We have a no phone policy during meetings so they actually interact.

We have a rainbows which is 3 pound a week and a brownies which is 25 pound a term

@Dixiechickonhols I'm very pleased to hear about the no phone policy! Very pleased! I hope this is the case for DD's unit.

Also to add I think you can gift aid the subs (not camps or uniforms) if you are a UK taxpayer

Not Guides, but Cubs. I pay £40 a term and the annual membership is factored into that.

Camps are additional. I paid £80 for a two night residential at a local PGL, which DS loved and they're camping under canvas in a couple of weeks. That'll be £15, so basically covering the cost of food and site hire I guess.

If they do additional things as meetings, there's no extra charge. Recently they went to a newly opened climbing centre in our town and to a local am dram pantomime. Both were paid activities if you were Joe Public, but the Cubs did it for no additional cost to parents.

I was in Guides and loved it. My leader was massively into international trips, so I did several of those. I was very keen fir both DC to join the Scouting movement. DS1 is uninterested. DS2 is a social butterfly who joined at Beavers and loves it.