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Troop t-shirts for summer camp


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I probably should have put this in the Uniform section but figured it may get more visibility here. 

Other than Class B.com has anyone ordered multiple day t-shirts for summer camp?   Our troop is thinking of doing a different shirt each day so we can have some better visibility from afar and have some cohesiveness during flag ceremonies and meals.

I want to say I saw on Facebook last spring where units were getting shirts for about $5.00 each. 

Please show me your class B t-shirts so we can get some ideas.   Several boys wanted a tie dye shirt for at least one day.  :D

Here is our current troop t-shirt.  We quickly discovered that many other troops have the same shirt.  LOL!

Sorry its not too clear.

 

camp.jpg

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If I were feeling especially masochistic, I'd put up my hand in the next committee meeting and offer to make the T-shirts happen....sounds like fun!

What I might do is...

  • Ask the scouts if they wanted to design it themselves, then have a contest to pick the best design
  • Let the scouts vote on colors
  • Check the BSA branding guide to be sure I was using logos, wording, colors, etc. in a manner that didn't run afoul of official rules (the guide is here:  https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/310-0231.pdf
  • Compare apples to apples. Shop the job around to see if I could get a good shirt at a good price ---- be aware that "$5 shirts" might mean: a) lightweight material and flimsy construction, b) pre-canned design only, c) limited shirt and/or ink colors, d) 1-side printing (do you want printing on both sides?  on sleeves?), e) extremely large quantities, f) very long lead times
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If you are ordering 100+ shirts, you can get printing done at around $5.  But as someone said, you're going to get some seriously cheap shirts at that price.  $2 more per shirt ups the quality significantly.

But I'll add that ClassB.com isn't necessarily cheaper than your local printing company.  I know that I've priced out at least one local company around me that was cheaper than ClassB by almost $2 on the shirts we bought and that was if we only bought 15 shirts.  If we'd been ready to order 50 or more the savings went up to almost $3 per shirt.

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We are not a big troop so we would probably be ordering about 50 shirts unless we do the one for each day of camp.  

On a side note.  How come scouting events don't do t-shirts anymore?   Seems like when my brother was a scout, he got a shirt at every turn.   Since I have been a scouter,  over 6 years now, I can count on one hand how many events offered a shirt.  One of them was my wood badge course shirt.   I would so buy the t-shirts if offered at events.  Maybe its just the council I am in.  Oh well. 

 

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26 minutes ago, Jackdaws said:

On a side note.  How come scouting events don't do t-shirts anymore? 

Money.  If you skip the participant shirt and keep the cost of an event the same, you make more money.  Putting shirts, especially shirts for events that are out of date the following Monday, is a risk.

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A few months ago I saw a scout wearing the troop t-shirt my son designed in 1995. I asked him if that was still the troop t-shirt today. He said yes. He wasn't impressed when I told him my son designed it in 1995. I guess to him I was just an old man rambling on.

The only scouting venues I ever saw scout t-shirts for sale are summer camps. 

Our scouts typically bought two t-shirts to last through summer camp. We also had backwoods washing machines (five gallon bucket with a plunger) to wash clothes, so shirt for each day was unnecessary.

Our recommendation is use the heavier cotton material so the shirts last longer. My sons and I still have ours.  We also printed the long sleeve shirts for colder outings. 

Make sure to use a printer that you can keep using 25 years later.

Barry

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We do a troop t-shirt every year, and it's included as part of the boys' dues.  A committee of boys designs it using some website or another ... possibly ClassB.com.  Last year's was pretty ugly, but it's a quality shirt so I wear it every now and then.  If the boys (or their parents) want to buy a camp t-shirt for summer or winter camp (or whatever) they're welcome to. 

Our troop requests that the boys wear class B shirts while camping, but no one says anything if they wear something else during the day.  We consider any Scouting-related shirt to be an acceptable class B, including ones that are left over from Cub Scouts.  Before my son went to summer camp for the first time, I went down to our Scout Store and picked up a few extra shirts that were on clearance, so he had enough to get through the week, but later realized I didn't need to bother.  Now that he's been a Scout for nearly six years, he's got way more than he needs.

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56 minutes ago, Jackdaws said:

On a side note.  How come scouting events don't do t-shirts anymore?   Seems like when my brother was a scout, he got a shirt at every turn.   Since I have been a scouter,  over 6 years now, I can count on one hand how many events offered a shirt. 

I've got a few event T-shirts, but not a lot.  Part of the reason is because my local council is lame: very few "events" to speak of.  In fact, the only T-shirts I've gotten from my local coiuncil have been ones given to event staff. So when I volunteered to run an activity at Cub Day Camp, I got a "staff" T-shirt.  When I volunteered to run a merit badge class at Winter Camp, I got a "staff" T-shirt. In neither case did the youth get a shirt.

Some districts in our council are very active with lots of program activities that are very well run. Those districts sometimes offer other swag, like hats, mugs or tote bags.

A neighboring council is much better run than our local council. They have more training, better training, and most importantly, FAR more program activities for the youth.  I've gotten T-shirts at some of their events. 

I'm getting long-winded so I'll be quiet now:  bottom line is "it varies".

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Honestly, who really cares if you can't spot your scouts in a crowd? If they get swapped for some other scout, you might get a better cook! ;)

All of that lettering on the back of the shirt? It gets covered by a backpack anyway. I've become a real fan of troop/patrol neckerchiefs. It's a tough sell, but frankly a lot easier to manage.

Our camp produced a neckerchief with a map on it.

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5 minutes ago, qwazse said:

Honestly, who really cares if you can't spot your scouts in a crowd? If they get swapped for some other scout, you might get a better cook! ;)

All of that lettering on the back of the shirt? It gets covered by a backpack anyway. I've become a real fan of troop/patrol neckerchiefs. It's a tough sell, but frankly a lot easier to manage.

Our camp produced a neckerchief with a map on it.

Neckerchiefs are easier than t-shirts! Really?

I grabbed a t-shirt the other day to rake leaves, turned out to be the old troop t-shirt. Not that I don't have my old Troop neckerchief I wore as a youth, but I pull it out once every 20 years for a nostalgic moment. 

Neckerchiefs are OK for scouting, but t-shirts are forever. 

Barry

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On 10/30/2019 at 5:49 PM, Eagle1993 said:

Our shirts have an upside down camp map on the front.  That way, they can lift up the bottom of the front of their shirt and have a camp map ready at all times.  

Have one from a local camp like that. Ink glows in the dark too

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19 hours ago, Eagledad said:

...

Neckerchiefs are OK for scouting, but t-shirts are forever. 

Barry

Mrs. Q, in one of her attempts at reforming me, cleaned out my t-shirt collection shortly after we were married. The only survivor was a high school shirt with all of my classmate's names on it. It survived because she used it to put on the dog to keep him from shedding in the car. I saw it, and spared it further indignity!

We all really need to cowboy up and work those full-size neckers!

That said, if the scouts want to produce their own shirts, a tie dye campout is a fun activity!

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