Curious How You'd All Handle...

[Gwaihir]

Cub Scout camping trip, limited space available... 

Do you make sure all registered Cub Scouts have priority to fill those limited spots

or

Cub Scouts and their siblings get priority if they signup first?

[scoutldr]

Cub camping is supposed to be "family camping", so I would take "families" in order of them having signed and PAID.  First come, first served.  But that's just me.

[SSScout]

Limited space?   Make sure all have sufficient prior notice and opportunity.   First come, first paid, first filled.  Cubs alone?  No.  Gotta have parental escorts in any event, yes?   Encourage the Family Camping, as noted by scoutldr.

That said, if there is enough demand and interest, organize another trip!  

[Gwaihir]

13 minutes ago, SSScout said:

Limited space?   Make sure all have sufficient prior notice and opportunity.   First come, first paid, first filled.  Cubs alone?  No.  Gotta have parental escorts in any event, yes?   Encourage the Family Camping, as noted by scoutldr.

That said, if there is enough demand and interest, organize another trip!  

No, never Cubs alone.  I agree, sufficient prior notice and opportunity is quintessential.  

[qwazse]

Families who paid in advance lock in their space for the numbers they pay for.

Maintain a waiting list in case of cancellations.

To make your treasurer's life easier: no refunds.  Wait-list families can pay the families who cancelled directly. Or better yer, insist that it is incumbent on the family who reserved the space to transfer the other family collecting $ on their own. Not every community (or treasure) feels comfortable laying down such strict rules. So, you have to decide if it will work for you. (Needless to say, cost of the event is a factor.)

[Stosh]

.... and from outside the box, why was a too-small site selected in the first place?

[sierracharliescouter]

2 hours ago, Stosh said:

.... and from outside the box, why was a too-small site selected in the first place?

If it is a medium-large pack, it can be difficult to find suitable group-site campgrounds or get reservations at adjoining smaller camp sites. This is a problem for our pack of ~50 boys, where often nearly half the pack would want to go - resulting in 100+ folks who want to go to a campground that may only allow 70. We do it first-come first-served, and maintain a waiting list in case of cancellations. Finding campgrounds near us with sufficient parking for large groups is also a problem. I think they plan some of these site assuming there are a few 15 passengers vans being used for transport.

[Back Pack]

19 hours ago, Gwaihir said:

Cub Scout camping trip, limited space available... 

Do you make sure all registered Cub Scouts have priority to fill those limited spots

or

Cub Scouts and their siblings get priority if they signup first?

My pack always let the scouts sign up first. Then brothers could sign up. 

[Gwaihir]

3 hours ago, Stosh said:

.... and from outside the box, why was a too-small site selected in the first place?

Cabin camping, limited available camping, limited bunk space on a busy weekend. 

[blw2]

yeah, we always did the first signed up, first paid thing....

although i don't think we ever really had much of a problem with this.  Even on the trips where we had to reserve a specific head count such as sleeping on the aircraft carrier, we were always able to add, or had a drop or two that could be filled.

And I agree no way to give priority to cubs, since the cubs wouldn't come alone.

 

That last point I find interesting though, since as my younger daughters are coming up through daisies and brownies, parents are very much discouraged form attending their "camps".  It's scouts and leaders only at a very young age.  Mind you it's cabin "camping" only at the GS reservation so a very controlled environment and they are not going it on their own. 

[Tampa Turtle]

As I recall our pack had 150 boys so the annual campouts could get pretty huge. The reality was many folks showed up and never camped. Probably 60-80 tents in a very small council camp. Sometimes we had other units there that weekend and is was basically 'tent ghettos'.

We divided our area into cub ranks and then dens and might tape them off based on who signed up. A few folks came early to claim a good spot, first come first served. Tigers, Wolves always ended up close to the rest rooms and the Webelos furtherest away. The Cubmaster working with the Webelos 2 showed arriving families where to go and helped them set up tents if needed. We had to work to keep activity areas and travel lanes clear of tents and tent lines.

[numbersnerd]

3 minutes ago, Tampa Turtle said:

As I recall our pack had 150 boys so the annual campouts could get pretty huge. The reality was many folks showed up and never camped. Probably 60-80 tents in a very small council camp. Sometimes we had other units there that weekend and is was basically 'tent ghettos'.

We divided our area into cub ranks and then dens and might tape them off based on who signed up. A few folks came early to claim a good spot, first come first served. Tigers, Wolves always ended up close to the rest rooms and the Webelos furtherest away. The Cubmaster working with the Webelos 2 showed arriving families where to go and helped them set up tents if needed. We had to work to keep activity areas and travel lanes clear of tents and tent lines.

In short, Cub Scout camping is exhausting on many levels.

[WisconsinMomma]

I would probably communicate to the Pack families that space is limited and that the first priority goes to 1 Scout  + 1 Parent/Guardian so that as many scouts can come on the trip as possible.  If you have little space it does not make sense to bring siblings.  Then, first come, first serve, but of course make sure your den leaders get space!   Pay to hold your spot and keep a wait list.

Have a fantastic time. 

[Stosh]

Why not just schedule two trips and have as many that want to go have an opportunity.  Too much work?  Then pick activities that have the space so those that want to go can.

It would appear that the imposed restrictions promote threads like this, but maybe the little box being discussed should be replaced with one that's a bit bigger.