Budget - Youth Workin' It

10 Free Summer Youth Group Activities

June 21, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

Today’s officially the first day of summer, so if you haven’t planned what you’ll be doing over the coming weeks yet, here are some ideas for you.

The best thing is that these summer youth group activities are all free, so perfect for your program’s budget! A few of them may have some miscellaneous costs depending on how they’re organized – for example, trips out may need to include the cost of gas or parking, although parents may be able to carpool and offer lifts.

These activity ideas are also a great way to encourage team building, especially if you can include new young people who are due to join your youth group at the start of the new school year.

10 Free Summer Youth Group Activities

Organize a giant water fight – You can keep it free by having the teenagers bring their own super soakers and water balloons. Take a look at these water games for youth for additional game ideas to get the youth wet.
Plan a scavenger hunt – There are many different types you can play, but here are a few ideas from our sister site Scavenger Hunt – at a mall, a 4th of July theme or funny items and tasks.
Go for a hike – This can be done on a nature trail, a state park or in the mountains if you have some nearby.
Go to the beach – I think this one’s self-explanatory enough.
Have a picnic – Go to a local park and have the youth bring their own lunches. Play a few games while you’re there.
Go litter-picking – Beautify your community by picking up trash. This can be a great thing to highlight to your local newspaper or TV stations, as they may want to come out and give your group some coverage. It can also be used as a youth group fundraiser.
Plan a movie night – If you have the equipment available, try to organize it for the evening and display it on a large screen outside. The evening could be just for youth or you could make it a family movie night. Bear in mind that you might need a license.
Organize a games day – There are many different games you can play, but here are a few suggestions of games that will be free if you already have the resources on hand:
Human Battleship
Bowl Hole
Spongehead
Ping Pong Ball Relay
Yes Or No Game
Newspaper War
Crab Soccer
The Welly Wang
Run life skills workshops – See if people in your church or local community can come in and help with applicable skills, resume writing, etc. You can find all kinds of life skill ideas here.
Plan a video project – Encourage your teenagers’ creativity by setting them a movie project. Get them to write a script, act and film it, edit the video, etc. You could then play it during a movie night (see point 7 above).

Question: So those are our ideas of some youth group activities you could organize this summer – what other free ideas can you suggest? Let us know in the comments below.

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Live Below The Line – Youth Group Activities

April 25, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

Live Below The Line is a global campaign that seeks to both raise awareness about extreme poverty and raise money in order to make a difference for people living in that situation.

This week’s session plan idea therefore has some ideas for youth group activities to take part in this campaign.

What’s involved?

Extreme poverty is currently defined as having to live on $1.50 a day. The Live Below The Line campaign therefore encourages people to spend five days living on $1.50 a day, so a total of $7.50 over the course of the five days.

Although this would normally include all costs like housing, clothing, transport, etc, for the purpose of the campaign participants only have to restrict their $1.50 spending to food and drink.

The US part of the campaign is being run from April 29 to May 3 2013, but if this doesn’t provide enough time to prepare the following activities, your youth group could always participate during another 5 day period.

So here are some suggested youth group activities to help your young people have a more tangible appreciation for what life is like when living on such a small amount of money.

Activity 1 – Video

Watch a video which explains a little more about Live Below The Line. We’ve embedded one below featuring Hugh Jackman, but there are many more featuring Sophia Bush, Josh Groban and others.

n.b. This video is aimed at Australians, so gives the figure as $2 which is the Australian Dollar equivalent.

Activity 2 – Meal Planning

Sit down with your youth and plan out some meals that they might be able to afford on a $1.50 a day budget

To prepare for this, go to a grocery store and price out various staple foods and ingredients. Make a note of the:

Price per package
Weight of package
Portion size

This will enable you to calculate the cost per portion in advance. Create a worksheet with all the portion size prices so that the young people can pick and choose the different ingredients they need for each meal.

Here are some suggestions for food items to include:

Pasta
Rice
Baked potatoes
Bananas
Breakfast cereal
Milk
Eggs
Cheap cuts of meat
Canned tuna
Lentils
Vegetables
Ramen noodles
Canned tomatoes
Bread
Butter

Stipulate that they have to plan for three meals a day. Each meal doesn’t have to total $0.50, but they’re not allowed to exceed $1.50 per day.

See our previous session plan about meal planning for some further ideas on how to help young people learn how to do this.

Activity 3 – Cooking

Even if your youth group can’t fully participate in the entire campaign, cook and eat a meal together. For this part, allow $0.50 per person for ingredients.

This might cause some conflicts between youth who want to eat different things or who don’t like the meal that’s been chosen. Use this as an opportunity to discuss what it must be like for families who have to live on such a strict budget for their entire lives. Encourage them to try to find a meal that everyone’s able to agree upon.

Activity 4 – Fundraiser

Plan a youth group fundraiser as an activity to raise money for people who have to live on such a low budget every day of the year. The Live Below The Line website has a list of partner organizations who the money can be donated to.

A good option could be a spaghetti dinner fundraiser, restricting the portion size spending to $1.50 per person. You can then highlight to the attendees that the meal they just ate would be all that 1.4 billion people worldwide would be able to afford for that day’s food.

Try to charge as much as possible for the meal so that you can maximize the amount raised. If 50 people paid $10 per head, this would raise $425 after the food costs have been taken out. Arrange a collection for the attendees to donate further to the cause.

Activity 5 – Youth Retreat

If you’re planning a youth retreat, consider using a hunger theme, limiting the food spending to $1.50 per person per day. This will give the youth a much better idea of what it’s really like to live on such a low food budget and how bland and lacking in nutrition meals will tend to be.

This will also help reduce the cost of the youth retreat as you’ll need less money for the food budget. Charge the same amount for the retreat as you normally would though, using the additional money to either subsidize the cost for less well-off youth, or donate the rest to a charity that works with people living in extreme poverty.

Questions: Are you taking part in the Live Below The Line campaign? What kind of youth group activities are you planning? Let us know in the comments below.

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Budgeting For Teenagers – Saving For High Price Items

February 7, 2013 By Shae Pepper Leave a Comment

We’ve previously talked about how to equip youth for the real world – included in that are financial awareness skills like preparing a budget.

This makes a great session for youth who are about to graduate high school or ‘age out’ of the foster care system. The resources we shared were from the UK and so today we’ll be sharing a resource for the US.

Budgeting For Teenagers – Youth Events or High Price Items

Budgets don’t just have to be for teenagers who are moving out of home. They can be used to help youth plan for fun events throughout the year like spring break, prom or summer vacations or camps.

In the book Teaching Social Skills to Youth, there are the following steps for helping teens budget and manage money:

Figure out how much money you have consistently, either weekly or monthly
List all of the bills and/or expenses you have to pay during that time
Keep a record and track or estimate the approximate cost of your fun and entertainment activities
Save 10% in savings for emergencies
Stay within the budget you create
Try not to spend impulsively or write checks (or use credit!)

Budgeting Session Activity

Have the youth in your group work individually or in pairs to follow the steps by identifying their budget for something that is coming up that they will need money for. This could be for things such as a car, prom or a new piece of technology that they have their eye on.

Let’s use prom for an example:

Find out how much you make from your allowance and/or part-time job
List all of the expenses associated with prom – tickets, dress, tux, shoes, accessories, hair, makeup, car, flowers, meal out, etc.
Look back at other events you’ve been to or ask another youth what their approximate expenses were for prom and if there were any other unforeseen costs
Save 10% for a buffer towards the night
Stay within the budget – if you budget $75 for a dress, don’t look at $100 dresses!
Review after prom how everyone’s budgets went and reward those that followed their budgets well

By using something fun like prom or another event they’re looking forward to, it can make the budgeting process a lot more enjoyable for teenagers and relevant for their lives. The important part is teaching the skills, not what the actual budget is for.

Other Budgeting Activities

To add even more fun, try adding these ideas into the sessions as well:

Video – Create a video diary of the process: tracking purchases, savings and the night out
Collage – Make a budget collage using images from magazines and the internet. Create a dream budget and a realistic budget showing how the youth are going to save on costs
Party – Hold a safe after-prom party. Have the teenagers organize this and get them to create and follow a budget during the planning and execution of it

You can get more great financial literacy skills and worksheets from Hands On Banking’s Budgeting Guide – Teen Version.

Question: What ideas do you have for making budgeting for teenagers more fun? Let us know in the comments below.

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How To Calculate A Youth Retreat Budget

May 29, 2012 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

Q. I don’t know how to calculate a youth retreat budget – can you help?

A. Sure! There are a number of different expenses you’ll need to take into account when planning a youth retreat. Below is a list of some areas you’ll need to price out – they may not all apply to your retreat, so leave off any of these factors where you won’t incur any expense.

Youth Retreat Expenses

1. Youth retreat center – This is probably going to be the highest cost you’ll incur, so it’s important to price this correctly. When researching retreat centers, ascertain if the price quoted is based on a minimum number of youth attending, a ‘per youth’ basis or a mixture of the two. Also check to see what the cost includes; for example, are meals, activities, etc included?

2. Food – If the center isn’t providing meals, you’ll need to calculate the cost of food as part of the youth retreat budget. Even if the center does provide three meals a day, are snacks and beverages throughout the day included or will you need to bring those?

3. Speaker – Are you getting a guest speaker? If so, you’ll need to cover the cost of their place at the retreat and may well need to offer payment for their services.

4. Worship leader – For Christian youth retreats, you’ll probably be having a time of worship at some point. If you’re bringing along a worship leader, the cost for them will need to be covered, as well as payment if they’re a worship leader from outside the church.

5. Activities – Are you planning any activities either on or off-site that have some kind of cost involved? If so, include these costs. When booking group activities, you may be able to negotiate discounts for group bookings.

6. Travel & transport – How are youth getting to the retreat center? If parents will be taking them there and picking them up, there may be no cost for this area. If you need to hire a bus or minivan though include the cost of this, along with insurance, gas, parking, etc.

7. Resources – Are you creating your own curriculum for the retreat or planning on buying one? If buying resources, the cost could be included in the youth retreat budget. To save some money, check out our free youth retreat themes for ideas.

8. Subsidy – Some youth may not be able to afford to attend the retreat, so consider building in an extra amount to the youth retreat budget so that you can subsidize one or more places for students.

9. Prizes – If you’re organizing activities, games, etc, will you be offering prizes? Don’t forget to include these within the overall cost of the retreat.

10. Miscellaneous – There will no doubt be other miscellaneous expenses that aren’t listed above that are specific to your youth retreat. Take some time to think through everything that you’re planning so that nothing’s left off the budget.

Youth Retreat Budget Calculation

Now that you’ve identified all the different expenses, total these up.

Next, divide the total cost by the number of people on the youth retreat. Something to consider here is whether your volunteers will be paying for their own place on the retreat. If not, divide the total cost by the number of youth. If volunteers will be paying their own way, include them when dividing.

Youth Retreat Cost

Once you’ve performed this calculation, you’ll have the Total Cost Per Person. As suggested by the name, this is how much you’ll need to charge per person in order to keep within the youth retreat budget. You may also want to consider adding on an extra amount to the Total Cost Per Person to cover any unforeseen expenses or other expenses you forgot to include within the budget originally.

Youth Retreat Budget Calculator

If you buy a copy of How To Plan A Youth Retreat, as an added bonus you get exclusive access to a youth retreat budget calculator based on the list of expenses above. The calculator is a spreadsheet where you simply enter all the different amounts and the number of people attending your retreat – it will then automatically calculate the Total Cost Per Person for you.

In addition to the budget calculator, you also get access to more than a dozen other youth retreat templates and forms to help your planning – these are all fully customizable and downloadable. Get your copy now!

Question: What other expenses are worth considering when calculating a youth retreat budget? Let us know in the comments below.

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Youth Group Retreats – When To Hold Them

March 5, 2012 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

OK, so you’ve decided that you want to plan a youth group retreat – the next question is when to plan it for.

Where possible, we think you should start planning 9-12 months before youth group retreats. You can find out the reasons why in our book – How To Plan A Youth Retreat.

However, we know this isn’t always realistic. Here are five factors that will influence what date to set when planning a youth retreat:

1) Time Of Year

Will the time of year affect your youth retreat planning? If you want to run a retreat at the beach, the summer is the obvious time to do this. If planning a youth retreat in the mountains, the winter might make more sense (providing you want it to be snowy).

If you have a lot of seniors in your youth group, retreats just before their exams might not be a great idea as they’ll probably need to spend the time cramming for them. Then again, youth group retreats can provide an opportunity to clear their heads and help with stress management.

2) Youth Retreat Budget

In the cases mentioned above, planning a youth retreat at the beach in the summer, or the mountains in winter, will greatly increase the cost. This is because you’ll be booking at peak season for the youth retreat centers.

If you have money in the youth retreat budget for that, it’s not an issue. If you’re trying to keep the cost of the retreat down though, consider booking off-peak. The weather in the Outer Banks in May obviously wouldn’t be as nice as in August, but a retreat there pre-summer would be less expensive. Likewise, mountains can look just as beautiful without snow as with it.

3) Youth Retreat Themes

What you pick as your youth retreat theme(s) can also have an effect on what time of year to plan a youth retreat for. A theme about Easter or Christmas will, needless to say, work best at youth group retreats around those times. A theme about school may work best at the end of the summer break, so that what the youth learn will be fresh in their minds when back at school.

4) Parents

Be sensitive to the needs of your young people’s parents, especially regarding finances. A spring youth retreat might not be a bad idea, but requiring payment in January could mean parents find it hard to afford so soon after Christmas.

5) Volunteers

Also be aware of the needs of anyone helping at the youth retreat. If your retreat is going to be held over a weekend, it would probably prove to be less of an issue for the volunteers of your youth group. Retreats over the course of a week (or longer) would probably mean they’d have to take time off work though. Therefore, discuss with your volunteers what times of year they’d be available to help on a retreat for your youth group.

Retreats require a lot of extra planning, so take into account these different factors when deciding on what time of year to hold a youth retreat. This will help with your youth retreat budget, make the youth retreat themes and content more applicable to youth and also improve relationships with parents and volunteers.

We hope you’ve found this post useful. If so, we have many more posts giving youth retreat ideas as well as our book – How To Plan A Youth Retreat.

Question: What time of year do you prefer to hold youth group retreats? Let us know in the comments below.

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