Cm CLUB - Who should pay for outings?

[LoveMyGirls]

During the hols i plan to do a couple of outings which will cost about £5 per child and i'm wondering if I should charge parents for outings?

Eg mum has 3 children 2 only come during hols I have given £10 per week discount per child for siblings so technically she is saving £30 per week during hols and £10 on a normal week, but also holidays are costing her a lot more because she has to pay for holiday care so I see if from both POV.

I'm already losing £30 per week that I could have been earning, I have to pay for my dd's to do whatever we're doing and pay for myself to get in as well as petrol.

I have tried to plan things that are free but without knowing how the weather will be and also factoring in I will have 3 under 3 one of which is a baby, its hard to think of things they will all be happy doing. One week i'm planning a trip to a farm and the other to a big soft play place where I will probably pay for us to have lunch so we can stay longer.

What is fair in this situation?

Personally, I think I would do a letter, like they do at school for trips, with a tear off portion on the bottom. Perfectly reasonable, I think and it also gives you express permission for that activity at the same time! What is on your contracts with them? Mine say that I will paid for playgroups and usual weekly outtings, but parents pay for anything out of the ordinary. I.E. I used to take one mindee to pre-school gym. It was £4.50 per week, plus £20 a term insurance. Although it was me that introduced mindee, the parent was happy to cover those costs.

HIya chick, id do a newsletter saying you are planning on taking the children to x on y date and the cost of this trip will be z..please return bottom of slip to confirm you allow your child to join us...prob is then tho', they could say no and then say they wont pay you cos you wont be available??..dont think any of mine would, but some might?

i ask for a small donation towards entrance and travel.
i plan my weeks in advance (already planned April and mays outings) and only try to do 1 or 2 expensive things per week (like the zoo, farm etc) then fill the rest of the week with free things (like museum, park) and average the cost to about £2 per day

the parents have never had any upsets about paying for their children, also i tend to keep the children for longer for free if were on a day out so parents in a way are quids in

The family I used to have mum was so glad i was taking them out she was happy to pay for the trips.

This time I forgot to add anything about trips in the contract all i've said is i pay for toddler groups.

I have done the letter already which is what got me thinking, I have emailed mum to ask her what she thinks rather than sending out a formal letter this way she can have some input and then I can send out the letter with the final details

Thanks everyone!