Kids Camp
The Idea: One day, I was at the park with my friend Peter and we were bored. We were trying to think of some ways to make some money (we were always thinking of ways to make money). Peter, just having worked at a cub scout camp the previous summer, thought that we should do a camp of our own. At first, this seemed intimidating. I was unsure whether I could take care of a group of 6-10-year-olds. This would be a new challenge.
Making it happen: I decided to meet with Peter to plan it out. We came up with a couple of ideas but we realized we would need another person, mainly because Peter would be at scout camp during part of that time, so we asked our friends. Most of them were out of town except our friend Kate. She said she was down, so we went to work. We started to work on a solid schedule and advertising. We sent out emails to some of the parents in our church with kids in the age range for our camp. Only one parent responded, though they had two kids in the age range and wanted them both to go. That is all we had for about a week. We tried not to get discouraged, though eventually I asked my two neighbors who both had kids in the age range, and one of them said yes. We didn’t hear from the other for a few days, but eventually, they responded and said not only do they want their son to be in the camp but they also want their friend to be in the camp. I was excited, not only had we gotten enough of the kids we had wanted we got extra. Finally, we had one more kid who was on the edge about coming, they decided they wanted to go although could not make the first day. So we ended up with six kids and they happened to be all boys which wasn’t on purpose but worked out well. Finally, it was the Saturday before the camp, which started on Monday and ended on Thursday and was from 9-12 AM. We made a list and went shopping for everything we needed. We started on and everything went great, although we were a bit flexible on the schedule blocking if people wanted to do stuff for longer or shorter. Overall I think it was a success and a lot of the parents said that their kids really enjoyed it.
What I learned: I learned a couple of things, first how to entertain young kids, you cannot do the same thing for a long time and this skill would lead into so more opportunities. Second how to come up with an idea, plan it out and make it happen. Doing this required thinking ahead and really not all the elements were under our control, but it worked out really well.
How much I made: In total, we spent about $50 on materials for the activities. In profit, we made $200, so I gave $20 to Peter because he couldn’t be there all week and I split the rest between me and Kate so we both got $90
Will I do it again?: Yes, I am planning on doing it again over winter break although I am unsure if I can get the same attention because lots of people travel. I think it went really well and I hope the kids enjoyed it.