My 9 year old daughter is a Junior girlscout. She has a new troop this year, brand new leader and co leader. I really like this troop, they keep the girls busy each meeting, no idle time. This is very important for my daughter who tends to act naughty when she is not kept busy LOL..

Anyways, this Friday is the Service unit Christmas party. I would say there may be a total of 100 peope(girlscouts/parents there), sometimes not that many. Each group is asked to bring something, the Juniors are suppose to bring finger sandwiches. This means each girl brings a plate of finger sandwiches. The Brownies bring cookies/brownies etc..

Last week the co-leader sends out an email saying they were "thinking" about doing sub sandwiches,(cut up) probably from subway. We were asked if we would be interested in this. I said I would be willing to chip in, but how much would it cost?

Today the co-leader sends out an email to all the parents and said the sub was ordred and it would be $14 per girl(parent). I thought this was way too much money for something like this. I would of been ok(I suppose)if it were only for our troop(8girls). BUT...considering, it only feeds up to 24-30 people I just wasnt happy with the decision.

I emailed back right away saying, I thought 14$ per person for this was a lot of money. I also stated if the price was given to me ahead of time I would of been a no. I went on to say I could make finger sandwichs of Ham and cheese for about $5-$6.
I also stated we were a one income family,and it is the holiday season and I simply did not have that kind of money to spare for this.
I guess I looked like this. I have Ham and cheese at my house as well as bread. I do not find it a big deal to make sandwiches for this party.

The leader did email me back saying she understood and that I should contribute what I can. Why do I feel cheap only giving them only $5?

By Cat on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 - 09:45 am:

I agree with you. You could buy each girl a foot long sub from Subway for $5, why on EARTH does it cost $14?!? That doesn't make sense! I'd be surprised if other parents don't complain.

By Ilovetom on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 - 10:10 am:

No! You are not being cheap. You could cook steaks for that.

By Luvn29 on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 - 10:26 am:

Wow! You are cheap! LOL! JUST KIDDING! This blows my mind because as room mother a couple years ago, I did a sub party for the kids and got a tray of 23 round subs of either roast beef, turkey, or ham, and a platter with all of the veggies so they could make their own, for like 3.00 each child.

That sounds ridiculous!

By Jackie on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 - 10:33 am:

Ok good, glad I am not the only one to thing this was way too much money. I am so curious on what the other mothers thought of this price? I think they should of found out the price first and then asked after that.
I try to give the leader and co leader the benefit of the doubt seeing they are both brand new to girlscouts. In my opnion, they are doing a really great job with the girls at the meetings, giving them plenty to do etc... BUT...they need to reevalulate money and parties and ask ahead of time, instead of just assuming $14 would be AOK with all of us.

By Ginny~moderator on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 - 11:54 am:

Yes, I think it is way too much money. And I think the troop leaders were way out of line for asking opinions and then going ahead and ordering. If it were me, I'd be interested to know how many parents agreed with the $14 per member charge and how many didn't.

Personally, I'd rather give money than go to the work of making the food, but then, I have the money now. When my kids were in those activities, I didn't, and would have made the food. And hey, look, it's a Girl Scout troop. Why aren't the scouts making the refreshments?

By Jackie on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 - 04:13 pm:

I am guessing I am probably the only parent of the troop who does not work. So for me, it would be no big deal to make sandwiches at home. I mean, I can see the easy part about it for the working mom..BUT, I think $14 is way too much money. I do not know what the other parents thought who received this email. I happened to be sitting at my computer when the email came in this morning. If nothing else, maybe I have made them think to ask ahead of time, and discuss the money issue before ordering something like that.

By Tonya on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 - 09:59 pm:

$5 for a foot long sounds way better than $14 per child. There is no reason for that much money to be spend on a giant sub. And like someone else said the girl scouts should be making these things to earn badges for different things.

Good luck and you are not cheap you are frugal there is a difference.

By Kaye on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 - 06:16 pm:

If I read this right it is 14 dollars a girl, because 8 girls are providing sandwiches for 100 people? So if a big sub only feeds 24, then you need 4. I do think you could do better if you made them yourself. But if you make sandwiches, you are using cheap bread and basic ingredients. Subway will have veggies etc.

Pay what you can afford, and I think she should have priced it before you agreed. However I do think the price makes sense.