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For identification, we use bright blue AT&T-donated lanyards for boys & adults. One of our camp inspectors was a bit disgruntled when he arrived late and tried to catch his group without checking in at the trading post. One of my staff members stopped him & wouldn't let him pass as he didn't have a blue lanyard on. :-) We found t-shirts too expensive due to the various unknown sizes. They're an optional purchase for the Boy Scouts at camp and quite popular. The last thing our Cubs want to buy is clothing when he could buy a knife or light saber. Hats are tremendously unsuccessful for all age groups out here. I'm not sure why. Last summer at the Boy Scout camps, I sold black & red knit "beanies" like the skateboarders wear and they were HUGELY successful despite the 80-degree weather. Ironically, they didn't sell too well a week ago when several of the week-long Scout camps received between 4-8" of snow. Go figure! Most of the money we make at the camps ends up directly in the council budget rather than back in the camp. I'm a bit of a maverick and set a goal that pleases the council & then spend any funds raised over that amount back into the camp. Has anyone ever tried marketing a camp by slides at the local movie theaters prior to shows? We've considered it and I will definitely due it next year. Pepsi-Cola has offered some sort of sponsorship with tag-on advertisements at the end of their commercials several weeks prior to camp. I've heard direct mail to parents, roundtable fliers, and such. Has anyone ever mailed camp themed postcards directly to the boys &, if so, how did you fund it?

Thanks for all the ideas! We have a really large Cub group in Salt Lake City. My camp alone will have 4,000 come through the camp in 44 days. We pair our camps together so that they go to my camp one day and another camp the next. For $33 per boy, the boys get a craft and a 9-2:30 program. We start & close with a ceremony in an amphitheater with round-robin stations in between. We have volunteers pushing for a circus theme but we can't see how that would be much fun. We're afraid it would turn into Stupid Pet Tricks Camp or clown college. Without elephants & trapeze stunts meeting BSA standards and finding it difficult to tie in bb guns or archery, we ditched the idea. Pirates have been banned by the council because they do not portray the Cub Scout ideals. We have toyed instead with a Lost Boys theme where Captain Hook would come in for a final dual in the closing ceremony just as Darth Vader & Darth Maul arrive for this year's dual with Jedi. Our permanent camps have some structures to build around. Two have forts and one has an old Buccaneer-style ship, which would be perfect for the "Lost Boys". We don't know if kids today are fans of Peter Pan and worry the idea would flop if the movie this Thanksgiving doesn't succeed in theaters. The upside is that it should be on video during the big spring camp sign-up time. How do you think a Super Heroes Training camp would do? We could work on the Crime Prevention patch, personal safety, personal fitness (obstacle course), teach that the brain is their best "weapon", and build off the various super hero movies in theaters over the next year. What are some opinions?

How did you market your 20,000 Leagues program to leaders? Do you have problems attracting campers? Marketing is a concern for us so we try to tie into movies or other things that are currently of interest to the boys. What about you?

My council has 6 summer camps for Cubs/Webelos and will be changing themes for all of them next year as they do every 3 years. What are some of the more unusual day camp themes? I'm familiar with the Old West, Knights of the Roundtable, Robin Hood, and similar traditional themes. We currently have a Jedi camp, Harry's Magical Fort (inspired by a popular book series), American Heroes, Australian Outback, Maui, & Waikiki. One of the better ideas introduced at this year's Jedi camp is a light saber training station. We got a beep ball (used by blind folks to play a version of softball), blind folded the boys, and they had to use the "Force" to connect their "saber" (foam noodle-covered dowel) to the "orbiting training droid". We attach the foam beeping ball to a string/stick, spin the Scout, and then the boy has to listen carefully to find the ball. It's actually a hoot to watch, too! What are some other creative camp themes?