group camping what's the best way to charge?

[beacher]

....what's the best way to charge for the cost of the campsites/including food......

Being recently re-introducted to Scouting with my DS about to become a Bear Cub Scout next weekend, I am very familiar with distributed camping costs.

Many of the suggestions given assume that everyone has their own kitchen amenities and is bringing their own food supply.  While this is usually true among RV campers, this is NOT the case with tent campers, hikers, backpackers, mountaineers, climbers, or two sisters inviting a total of 25 people.  Based on the way you worded your question, it doesn't sound like you are talking about bringing along folks who have their own food supplies, much less their own kitchens.

If that's the case, simply divide the costs per person, assuming everyone is sharing all the campsites.  Yes, larger families will end up paying more, but it doesn't burden the single person to pay the same rate as a family of four.

If a single camper expects their own campsite, then they can pay for their own site, and only share with the food expense.


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[PattieAM]

On our family reunion camping trips, each 'family' was responsible for obtaining their own site at their own expense.  We rotated meals (breakfast/dinner), so no one family would be stuck feeding all of us.  There were folks who flew in to join us, and they'd add $5.00 or so to everyone's meal that served them.  They also helped out with a few dollars to the hosting family towards the campground fees.  There was one 'lead' family and the rest of us followed suit as far as campsites - they'd pick the one they liked best and told us of the neighboring sites that were also good.

[maddawg04]

beacher's got it right on the money. most of the people going w/us don't have rv's or camping supplies,sure their going to bring their own tents,but for the most part my sis and i have all the gear(stoves,cookware,big ice chests)we have 3 campsites that we're sharing it allows us up to 25 people. we're planning on having breakfast and dinner together. basically i wanted to get an idea of how other people do it. my sis and i couldn't agree on how we should break it down.  we're going to put a menu together so that we can get an idea of how much the food is going to cost so that we can add it to the campsite total.

(next year i'm going alone;}

[CajunCamper]

Many of the suggestions given assume that everyone has their own kitchen amenities and is bringing their own food supply.  While this is usually true among RV campers, this is NOT the case with tent campers, hikers, backpackers, mountaineers, climbers, or two sisters inviting a total of 25 people.  Based on the way you worded your question, it doesn't sound like you are talking about bringing along folks who have their own food supplies, much less their own kitchens.
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I don't know what kind of tent campers, hikers, backpackers, mountaineers or climbers you hang out with but the before mentioned groups are the people that are most likely to have the necessary gear to survive in the outdoors. I can't imagine owning a tent and going on a camping trip and expecting someone else to feed me.

[ScouterMom]

I plan a canoe trip once or twice a summer for my friends - and invite anyone along who can take using a bush as a latrine, can paddle a canoe downstream(EASY paddling), and can carry their own canoe to the river (on their car).

I provide the canoes - or most of them - we borrow them from our scout troop.

 We get together before the campout to plan food, equipment and the actual trip - I have the detailed river maps that we pour over and decide what to see.

In the past, We have had everyone bring their own food and equipment - but usually, this means the canoes are WAY overloaded and we have too much food.

It works better if we plan breakfast and dinner together - lunches are usually on the river and we kinda snack and munch all day - so everyone brings their own for that.

We have had small sub groups plan their meals together, or the whole group - for example - one family might be perfectly fine with just cold cereal - where the rest of us want a more substantial breakfast.  So those who want to join the group, do;  and those who have particular tastes, opt out for that meal.

Dinner is usually planned for the whole group, or as a potluck.  Usually each person provides their own drinks for all meals (pop, milk, bottled water, beer - lot of cost variation there!)

For Potluck, each 'family' is asked to bring a dish suitable to their size - for example, a single person might bring marshmallows and graham crackers, or an inexpensive salad - whereas a 'family' of 4 (me, my BF, my teen son and his friend) might be asked to bring a more substantial main dish - the equivalent of a whole meal for 4 people, but to share.

But I actually prefer to do 'dinner' the Boy Scout Way - plan the meal, and cook it all together for the whole group or in smaller 'patrols'.  Our groups have not usually been more than 15-20 people, so this isn't too bad.  

you can either plan the meals, make a shopping list, and divide the cost per person, per meal, OR, you can make the list and assign each person to bring certain ingredients.  The best method is to combine the two.  For example, if you need just a bit of some spice, or ONE stick of butter, have someone bring it from home.  But for the main ingredients, the ones you will use the WHOLE purchase up on, buy those and divide their cost.

This also goes for equipment - on our first 'group' canoe trip we had 4 people bring folding shovels, two or three brought hatchets or saws, and we had LOADS of duplicates in pots, pans, grills, lanterns, etc.  This is a big issue since we had to carry everything in canoes - weight and space is a problem - these probably wouldn't be such an issue with your group car camping.

But now we make a list of all the equipment everyone has ( & thinks they might need), and decide who is going to bring what, so we aren't so loaded down with duplicate stuff.  

You really never need everything you THINK you need, anyway, and you find there's alot of things you can live without for a night or two and never really miss!

Laura