cub scout day camp program ideas

[Lisabob]

Sniffles, I have not seen the actual budget for our day camp. However, as a general overview:

 

1. staff are entirely volunteers, including the day camp director and asst. director.

2. our camp has been held on a council property so there's no fee for use.

3. we've had a day camp for a looooong time so most of the equipment is already there (bows & arrows, bb guns, targets, etc.) and we only need to pay for upgrades and replacements on a limited basis.

4. much of the material for crafts is donated, thank goodness, because we have approx 500-700 boys at our day camp each year.

5. those items that are purchased are bought in bulk to keep price down.

6. we generally run a 3 day camp, though last year due to scheduling problems, it was 2 days.

 

We've been lucky in the past because our day camp is well established and has always been highly successful in the past. That makes it easier (and cheaper) to run going forward. However, in the last couple of years our district has been increasingly itchy about having us at this particular council property, where they also run cubs resident camp. They keep wanting to expand resident camp (makes more money) and kick us out to find a new home. Personally I think that's short sighted since, anecdotally, many parents have told me they love day camp for its limited duration (in terms of parents taking time off from work to be there, especially) and low price. These same parents usually do not send their boys to cub resident camp, so anything that jeopardizes the cub day camp program is doing a dis-service to the 500-700 boys who attend day camp every year (in my view anyway).

 

If the push continues and day camp has to re-locate to a state facility they'd probably have to charge more money. I suspect attendance would also drop accordingly if the price went way up. But we'll see.

 

Lisa'bob

[Sniffles157]

Maybe the difference is in how many days we run. Last year we ran 5 days, all the staff was volunteer, we had all the crafts and stuff donated, the boys brought their lunches everyday except for the last and we had the hot dogs donated, and I know we used the archery equipment from the council office. As far as the place we held it at, it was not a council place. The gentleman who owns it donated it to us for the whole week. It usally runs about $300 a day. The only thing we were not allowed to do was advertise outside of the cub scouts. That was mainly due to the fact this place is very popular. He is a former scout and did not want to donate it just to anybody.

[John-in-KC]

Two years ago, our day camp was $45 for the week.

 

Things my day camp directors and PDs did to get the cost down:

 

1) We buy bulk craft materials and assemble craft activity kits ourselves.

 

2) We buy bulk plywood, and set up a "cutting factory" to make our wood project kits. Likewise, we buy construction size (50lb) boxes of screws and nails.

 

3) Seek donations of materials. We fill our first aid activity stocks by having Scouter docs hit up the pharaceutical reps for all kinds of stuff. We wash our food purchases for the cooking activity through a local restaurant, who provides us goods at their costs.

 

4) Our council competitively awards its annual T-shirt contract for all programs. Amazing when you start talking about 10s of thousands of T-shirts, how fast the cost comes down (even though an individual day camp run may only be 500 to 1000).

 

Hope all this helps.

[funscout]

Our daycamp was $45 last year, which was a hardship for some of our scouts. We encouraged certain families to apply for a "campership" which enabled their boys to attend. We also remind the scouts to try to sell a lot of popcorn in order to have money to use towards Day Camp.

 

Last summer was my son's favorite of the three he's attended. In previous years, the first day of camp was always BORING. Each den attended archery and BBs, but had to listen to a safety lecture for the whole session. We had some boys drop out and not attend the rest of the week. Last year, the boys got to do archery and BBs all 5 days, and the safety talks were definitely adequate. They were disappointed to get in only 1 day of fishing, but they got to swim all 5 days. My son and his friends ranked their favorite activities as:

 

1. BBs

2. Archery

3. Swimming

4. Fishing

 

We had a few sports, crafts, and nature sessions, too. As long as the boys aren't having to wait around, they'll probably have fun, no matter what you do.

 

 

[cajuncody]

I will try to help on this as I am a Day Camp Director. I attened Camp School last April and I guess that makes me certified (or certifiable). The budget should determine the cost of camp for campers. If there is a surplus it (in my council area) goes to support other camps, if there is a deficit council has to cover it. Cost of camp includes the shirts, patches, and supplies. If your council sets a price without checking the budget they run the risk of charging too much and running people off or charging too little and going into the red. The Camp Administrator is the person in charge of the budget. In my Camp that is the DE.

Kristi