Cub Scout Pack 1680 - Cub scout campout, march 2002

• This years event was well-received by the cub scout families. However, we did overspend the initial budget by $84. Part of this overspend can be attributed to setting too low a fee ($5/person) and buying too many condiments and other "extras". (See other points below)
• I recommend a more "back to the basics" type of approach as far as the barbecue goes. We did a good job of estimating the number of hamburgers and hot dogs to buy. However, we had an excessive number of leftovers which were given away Sunday morning. This included potato salad, pickles, taco chips, milk, juice, picante sauce, cookies, pretzels, mayonnaise and donuts.
• For the dinner barbecue, I recommend a more basic approach.....hamburgers, hot dogs, some condiments, drinks (lemonade and ice tea work well), potato salad, chips and either pork & beans or chili but not both. People were generally too full for dessert. I would recommend dropping it especially if 'Smores are planned for the campfire later.
• The condiments were a problem this year. Sams Warehouse is good for large quantities such as mustard, relish, ketchup, potato salad, etc. but you can also get carried away if you buy more than one of each item. One large container of each of these items was more than enough for this number of people. We also had too many milk and juice containers.
• 'Smores are a popular item for the campfire at night but also a pretty costly one. We did not have an organized approach to handing the chocolate bars out. That may be helpful in future campouts as some kids got carried away just eating the chocolate bars.
• For the breakfast, we tried something different this year......taquitos from Whataburger in Rosenberg. They were a big hit with the cub scout families! We ordered enough one taquito per person and bought a few extra. We also had some donuts for people to eat along with juice, milk or coffee. I would recommend trying this again but just make sure that you have budgeted enough money to cover the costs.
• Basic suggestion is there are a lot of ways to reduce the cost of this event, mostly by eliminating some items and reducing quantities with other items. That would help you meet a $5/person fee. Otherwise, if you want to keep these items, you should consider raising rates to $6-7/person.