Guide Camp Clothing Rules

[ChoccyJules]

DD10 has brought home 1.5 sides of A4 kit list for camp!

Aside from the initial somewhat hefty outlay, it’s all very exciting.

The one thing which has been bugging me is that when on site they can only wear blue, black, grey or white clothes (When they go off-site they will be in uniform). Why is this a thing? I don’t mind making sure five or six of her t shirts are blue/white this Summer but it’s annoying having to buy two pairs each of shorts and non-denim trousers in a specific colour plus a jumper - when we have them all in other colours already.

It also doesn’t chime with the individuality/all about me stuff you see in the badge book.

Would love to hear from Guiders about this, there must be a reason.

Sometimes it's because of the site. Several of the Guide/Scout owned sites request that Guides and Scouts arrive and leave wearing uniform and spend the rest of the camp in clothes of a similar colour to the uniform.

I guess that would make sense. Bit bonkers though.

Paying for the camp and all the associated gubbins is one thing but buying clothes she doesn’t need is daft.

Our brownie camp is the same (and guides was in the dark ages when i was young.) Its basically non branded neutral coloured bottoms, so a couple of blue leggings, pair of jeans etc. Stuff people normally have or could reuse rather than buying extra uniform which would be a waste.

No jeans allowed as they don’t dry quickly. So for DD it is likely to be stuff we don’t need. Grumble.

No denim because if you've ever had to deal with a herd of girls in damp kids you never want to go through it again.

NEVER buy new for guiding holidays or camps. Charity shops are great for camp gear as you want stuff that's worn in a bit, able to take a beating and the kids aren't going to stress about getting muddy or filthy.

Guide and Brownie leader

Ah ours wear them. I guess at our Brownies they just change or stay indoors in v.wet weather. I know its different as ours arent camping thinking of it! Ignore that bit!

Can you use school sports kit toward it? My children go to an outward bound place for summer camp every year and I always use their black school joggers/shorts/sports leggings to make up the numbers.

Also their siblings' school hoodies and bottoms, current or bought ahead... sometimes it's handy having similar sized children

Most sites “local” to me (relatively speaking, astonishingly, not an abundance of them in inner London) have the rules a PP mentioned re clothing. If it makes you feel any better they also apply to adults - obviously we’re a uniformed organisation (& it’s still one of the key things about Girlguiding - we both “share a commitment to a common standard” [includes things like the Promise, Law, uniform, left handshake, Guide sign, world badge...] & “care for the individual”) - but the idea is that it’d also make it easier to spot anyone on the site that shouldn’t be there.

A very detailed kit-list might seem silly, but I promise you there will be parents who will have sent their daughters to camp without (for example) toothpaste “because it wasn’t on the list”.

Getting second-hand stuff as Becles suggested (if you can) is a good plan.

Also/alternatively, if you’ve a Decathlon near you their stuff is nice quality & reasonably priced - you can shop online with them if you’ve not a local branch. If you’re needing stuff for the actual camping side they’re good for that too - they do rucksacks sized for kids (also good if you’re a small adult!) & again, everything is priced ok because it’s own-brand. Primark furnished me with my non-uniform navy shorts a couple of years ago & they’re still grand (obviously not sure if size 4 would fit your DD or swamp her, 10yos vary lots in size; in any case the children’s department might have something suitable). I know Primark gets a lot of flack over fast fashion but I’ve plenty of clothes from there I’ve had for years that’ve lasted fine. (Clothing budget on disability benefits not exactly huge!)

I personally don’t care what colour clothes my Guides wear to camp, I care that they’re appropriate for the weather and the activities (I do ban strapless and crop tops because of sunburn and potential issues with harnesses for certain activities but also i don’t think they’re camp appropriate). Jeans are very strongly advised against because once wet they will not dry. I tell them to bring clothes that can get muddy. I once had one girl wear an all cream outfit she was so worried about getting dirty that she missed out on some fun activities. I don’t ban colours though, I’ve had other girls in pale coloured tops that are clearly almost outgrown and have been sent because they don’t matter if they’re ruined.

However, some large scale Guide events so put in old fashioned rules like girls should wear blue at all times when not in uniform. I wouldn’t expect people to buy stuff specially though.

When I took Guides to camp, it was generally a site owned by the Scouts as it had better facilities than the local Guide ones (climbing wall, rifle range and so on).

I always insisted that the girls wore shades of blue and black and explained that it was because the (girl) Scouts wore any colour, and usually not matching all over.. If I heard a girl screaming for help at the other end of the field, I could tell at a glance if it was one of mine and so would run to them straight away.. If it wasn't one of mine, I'd hold back to see if their own adult came to them.

DONT buy new — I don’t doubt there’s a pool of Second Hand decent clothing washing around somewhere. Ask one of the leaders if they know if anyone has anything to lend.

Our group don’t even need to buy uniforms, they have a huge box in all sizes, 50p donation per item,

Thanks for all your replies, I can see that there must be some reasoning behind it and will aim for charity shops rather than moaning! While you‘re here, thank you all for giving your time for our girls

What no camp dress! As liverpool wrote it is about immediately recognising 'your own'.

Find the old guiders... we've all got kit as old as the hills we'd probably be glad to pass on or at least lend. My roll mat and inflatable pillow were handed down, and are still good to hand down again 😁

Car boot sales are fruitful for loads of cutlery or kit too.

Hope that your daughter has a great time on camp - & thank you for being so appreciative of Girlguiding volunteers. I’m very lucky that (almost all) my Brownies’ parents are engaged, appreciative, supportive, & understanding of the fact my Assistant Leader & I are volunteers. That’s far from being the case everywhere & often - unsurprisingly - spills over into the attitude of the girls. (Positive parental attitude does the same - always thankyous at the end of trips, often at end of meetings; & general good behaviour.)

If your DD were able to write a wee card for her Leaders thanking them for camp they would treasure it. I have a card from a District trip to the Zoo that must be 3 years ago this summer & I plan to keep it forever because it is so lovely - it was drawn by a very shy Brownie, telling me how much she’d loved the trip. And that I am “the best giraffe ever”. Which at my height is quite impressive Messages from parents about the positive difference I’ve made in their daughters’ lives are incredibly precious too.

If you have questions about Guide stuff you’ll find there will almost certainly be a volunteer (or seven) on here able to answer fairly speedily. I mean, I’m sure your DD’s Unit Leader would happily answer you, obviously, but as you’ve seen...

(Oh & Zwischenwasser I’m v jealous of your Unit’s plentiful uniform supply - we do sell second-hand Brownie uniform as a way of raising money for the Unit, but charge £5/item. [Where needful we kit girls out from it at no charge, of course.] That said, when it comes to taking the Brownies away, our District has Brownie Holiday uniforms we can rent for a tiny fee. Is really helpful, especially as we don’t have to wash them before returning. Or possibly we are meant to & it’s just Lovely DC does it for me because I am Spoilt Owl )

It means they'll be able to identify intruders (or escapees) at a single glance, too, so helps to protect the kids who are supposed to be there.

Part of the reason my old unit used to provide a comprehensive kit list was due to our first weekend away, numerous parents were lovely but didn't realise they needed clean pants for ever day instead of just one pair for 3 nights and some sent no changes of clothes 🙈

I have a couple in my current unit who would take such a list as it's written.

DD can’t wait, she‘s new to Guides and spends hours planning with her badge book. (I find the whole thing very confusing - as a Guide in the late 70‘s/early 80‘s it was far more straightforward!)

If she has the new Guide badge book it does go on about unit meeting activities and skills builders, but these are done in meetings. All she needs to think about doing at home are the interest badges, and she can do any of them the catch her fancy! Ideally over their time in Guides girls will do at least one from each theme but if she wants to do all from one theme she absolutely can! The new badges are intended for the girls to do themselves with minimal parental input (although some will need more like whittling and back woods cooking, especially for the younger girls). They need to do all three parts of their chosen interest badge and be able to demonstrate to the leader what they’ve done in a format of their choice.

She’s currently marked out one from each section as she is aiming for the Gold Award; I‘m hoping she broadens it out a bit more and does some ˋjust´ for interest‘s sake!

I love the enthusiasm! I hope she enjoys them! Maybe when she’s done one from each section she’ll pick some to do just for fun?