campfire

Thanks for the posts! I will share with the committee.

ScoutNut, I appreciate you mentioning that possibility.

Is everyone doing the Cub Scout 2010 program which has the Webelos bridging to Scouting in December? It is the first year for this national program and will move the presentations up to the end of this fall. This year our AOL ceremony is November and Bridging is December. Previously the AOL was January and Bridging was Feb at B&G. We found for our unit having the two combined was too much and the remainder of the pack did not feel included. We made some changes to include the cubs in the AOL presentation as well as OA for the main presentation. It has been a wonderful program and we are grateful for the OA. The boys really do love it when they come. Many are former members of our pack, so it is an honor to welcome them home! We usually have 3 OA members attend. By splitting the two ceremonies for two pack meetings, it also enabled the troops to be able to get to other pack meetings the same night as ours as we are in a heavily populated area with lots of packs that they visit. We don't all join the same troop. We often have 4 different troops attending our bridging. The new timeline will be interesting to experience this year. We are going to miss our W2's this spring. They have been invited to join us for our annual pinewood derby (we will supply the kit) and also come to B&G and do the uniform inspection/table judging (We have a fun table decoration competition between the dens). Getting through this transition year will be interesting with the new Cub Scout 2010 program. It changes some of our 35 year old traditions which can be an opportunity for some new ideas. Hope it helps... we just had our meetings to finalize the details of the events.

Like your idea. Much simpler than what we did last year. Here is a little more... We created the spreadsheet out of desparation as we had 70 people camping from ages 1 to 65. We also had several different rates to contend with - the facility was a council property. It had a camping fee vs day use fee. Those fees also varied by age and if the person was registered with the Council. It also had activity fees that had mininum $ and also varied if the person had camped or was a day use. It was a nightmare to figure out. So we created a spreadsheet to try and manage the people coming, their status (child free under certain age, registered cub scout vs youth, registered adult vs adult) We also had difficulty accessing the information on the spreadsheet while at camp since it was on the computer. We have an event coming up this fall and it will have camping vs day use fees, but no difference based on age or registration status. That will help. Also no activity fees. (whew!) I will be submitting my tour permit based on the rsvps received by due date. We don't accept any after that. I am curious how you handle folks that rsvp they are attending and they either cancel or change the number attending at the last moment after you have started purchasing the food items. Do you issue refund and are they full or partial refunds? Does it matter what caused the change in attendance? (ie death in family, work conflict came up, etc) Does it matter when you get notified of the cancellation? Looking to see how others have handled this issue. Thanks!!!

Looking for ideas on how you manage your data for camp outs We have a family camp coming up and our existing spreadsheet (excel) doesn't quite meet our needs. Any ideas or suggestions on how other units track all the information? Hoping to learn from others and not recreate the wheel..... Thanks!