I don't know who is more excited, me or daughter number one! Her name has finally arrived at the top of the list, so she starts Brownies tonight. I didn't go to Brownies as a child - I wasn't into clubs at all, but she loves clubs so is really looking forward to this. The downside, the uniform, although much more funky than it used to be, still, mums gotta find another thirty odd quid to pay for it all.
;D
Awww, happy news!
But eeek :o !! Just looked on ebay at the prices for Brownie uniforms. Scary! But at least you'll be able to recoup quite a lot of the cash when daughter number 1 grows out of it all...
hasn't anyone on here got any stuff, hope she enjoys it, my daughter did, :)
Emma, there's often brownie uniform for sale, but I have a feeling they have not long changed the uniform so some of it is still the old style, worth asking around though. Or buy it big so you only need buy it once. I hope she has a lovely time, my eldest is a brownie leader and loves it, gets very frustrated at being away at Uni and not able to go all the time.
Both mine were Brownies, one old style uniform :-[ and one new ;D, Much better. Do they have a second hand uniform shop in her Brownies? as they only get worn once a week for a couple of hours it would be daft not to pass them on. Hope she enjoys herself. All those badges to collect.......... ;)
Ah yes Brownie badges...
My eldest started Brownies last year. After her enrolment I was given a bunch of badges to sew onto her uniform. Sewing is not exactly my favourite pastime, but I dutifully stayed up late, sewing all those badges in what I considered was an artitistic composition. I was quite chuffed with myself, feeling I deserved a 'supermum' badge for myself. But no, daughter was furious! Apparently I'd sewn them all in the wrong places. So I carefully removed all the badges and sewed them in the 'correct' positions, only to read a notice at the next Brownie meeting saying that it didn't matter how the badges are displayed ::) ::) ::) ::) ::)
I was a Brownie myself (or rather a 'Gnome' because that's what they are called in Belgium), but we didn't do all this badge malarkey. It was all seventies hippies in those days :)! Mind you , Brownies have thought my daughter to make tea, and after one year there's still enough of a novelty element to that for my daughter to get excited when I ask her to make me a cuppa ;D!
They wouldn't let me in the brownies. :( :( ??? :'( :'( :'( ;D
Oh I liked the Brownies and was an Elf. 'This is what we do as Elves, think of others not ourserlves!'. But i was expelled from the Brownies for bad behaviour - 1950s. However, they let me and my mates back in again, eventually and behaved to go onto being a Girl Guide!. Happy Days ;D ;D
Ah....this brings back memories! I was a Sprite, loads of fun...CLx (also Girl Guide Kingfisher - adored the colours)
Well she is there, and SO excited! Her best friend also starts tonight, and 95% of the troop are from her school, so she is surrounded by chums. Step daughter was a brownie, but that was a few years back and I suspect the uniform has changed since then. Honestly, Karate kit + pads, piano lessons + music and now Brownies. Having 2 sproglets you would think money would be short.....unfortunately (and I do mean unfortunately), son number one has no plans to start Beavers. He does do piano, and when his best mate is 6 they are going to join karate together. Looks like I am going to have to put in some overtime!
Arghh the cost of children !!! My youngest daughter current sets us back one horseriding lesson pw (£20), plus one ice skating lesson (£14?) plus two dance classes (£10). The two lads are able to fund their own social activities now, but we are still pushing them through University ... fortunately we have very low expenditure otherwise - good job really ! Perhaps this should have been in the 'are we better off now thread' :-\
Derek :)
Just so I don't convey the wrong impression, I wouldn't want it any different, but it aint easy !!!
Quote from: CotswoldLass on January 17, 2007, 17:28:00
I was a Sprite
Me too! We had the old style brown dress thing, with some sort of belt i think. Where did you go to Brownies CL, I lived in Scotland for a few years when I was a child and I thought we only had sprites in Scotland! x
It's fun isn't it. No 1 son went through Beavers, Cubs and then Sea Scouts, where the woolly pully cost over £30 :o Now transferred to Air Cadets, who provide all the uniform except the boots, sharp intake of breath (£70) :o :o
No2 son is at Cubs tonight, their annual subs is due which has gone up to £75 :o :o :o
Good grief SMP, what do they get for £75? Does that include camp etc.?
No that is for insurances, training & equipment upgrades etc. Camps are extra........... I don't know if it is different because they are Sea Scouts??
What do other people pay for annual subs?
I don't know what the current prices are now in our area but I know the scout section's subs were always a lot more than the guiding section when my lot were there. I think their capitation fees are a lot higher to start off with.
Kitten I was a Brownie in Cheshire.....maybe Brown Owl has Scots blood? CLx
We had leprauchauns, kelpies and sprites in cheshire too!
Brownies is £15 per term, 4 terms in a year - £60. Cor, and I never did get an o'level maths! That is cheaper than a lot of clubs, a hell of a lot cheaper than piano which is £60 for 10, 10 minute lessons - and that is per child. At least Brownies is an hour and a half and she LOVED it. Her only complaint, not enough glue to go around ;D ;D ;D
Quote from: EJ - Emma Jane on January 17, 2007, 17:42:52
.... Honestly, Karate kit + pads, piano lessons + music and now Brownies. ... and when his best mate is 6 they are going to join karate together. Looks like I am going to have to put in some overtime!
Mine does karate EJ - you'll need a second mortgage, believe me. But it's done him the world of good, he's so much more confident now and I do think it's good for kids to meet a wide cross-section of people, not just the ones they go to school with.
I agree Jen. Last year she did Yoga for a year, and I found that her balance improved considerably. Now the karate has improved it even more, and thanks to the yoga, she finds a lot of the balancing and kicking and controlled leg movements quite easy.
I want them to try everything - at least then they can say they have done it, even if they hated it! ;D
Re balance, I have found ice skating to be the most demanding ...
Derek :)
walking in a straight line out of the pub's something I have difficulty with ;D
and wearing stilletos these days........
Thoroughly agree, EJ. Grab every opportunity you can for them. Mine both went to piano but gave up in the end, but if we go anywhere where there is a piano now and they have great fun playing together (albeit badly) ;D
The list of things they tried is as long as my arm.
Mt eldest goes to Rainbows and loves it - mind you at £27 a TERM I'm not sure I do. (Why is everything is Surrey so bl**dy expensive?!). I'm being Stingy Mum about the uniform - I got her the T-Shirt only, and in the winter she wears a long-sleeve top underneath it!
Youngest daughter's been on the waiting list for Rainbows for 18 months and now have to be awkward and get her moved to another day as she's started Irish Dancing lessons. My MIL is chuffed to bits at that one.
Eldest has just started horse riding too... the plot better produce some veg this summer, else we'll be on bread & water!
Having said that, I wouldn't have it any other way - I love seeing their faces when they've had a really great time doing something they love.
Tabby
I was nagged into being on the committee that looks after scouts/cubs/beavers in our village. The budget is approaching £5000 a year for around 70 children. There's a big drop-out rate between cubs and the first couple of years of scouts, so it's mostly younger children. Guess sitting on benches drinking cider & alcopops becomes a more attractive way to spend the evening than scouts when you get to a certain age.
We're quite fortunate because we get a few hundred pounds per year from the parish council, another few hundred from a charity set up by an rich american couple who lived in the village, a few hundred from some generous companies (thank you lloyds tsb!) and we've managed to get almost everyone to gift aid their subs, so best part of £1000 in tax rebate, too. So the amount charged to parents is quite a lot less than what it actually costs to run. A lot of the spending is behind-the-scenes stuff - hire of the school hall, insurance, rent of a lockup to store the camping gear etc.
We also put on some fundraising events. I find it quite amusing to sit in a meeting for an hour or so, discussing whether we should charge 10p or 20p for a drink of squash at the childrens quiz when at work I see million dollar contracts being decided in less than a minute :)
This year is the centenary of scouts- will be quite a lot of events to celebrate it, I think.