Washington, D.C. school trip food budget

[buffalogirl]

OP again, thanks again for the helpful advice and details!
My daughter is enjoying her trip. She was at the Capitol this morning. She was able to bring a very small backpack (less than 14" tall) and empty refillable water bottle through security.

She had lunch at McDonald's at the National Air and Space Museum- Chicken Wrap was 5.19 and medium fry was 2.49, sales tax .77 (10%), so prices not much higher than a local food court. Total probably would have been a little over $10 had she purchased a drink.

 

[SplashMo]

Eating at the Museum can easily run $13 before drink. Indian museum is easily $4 more. Art museums can be higher but I can not imagine taking kids to the most expensive places...

 

[zoemurr]

My oldest son went last year. The whole $1200, 4 day trip included "meals". What really happened was that breakfast at the hotel was free, dinner was paid for at places like Golden Corral, and the kids were handed a $10 bill as they walked off the tour bus for lunch.

We were told that the kids *might* want some additional spending money in case they want more food or snacks. Ummm....14 year old, 8th grade football players are going to eat WAY more than a $10 hot dog, chips, and soda lunch!

The tour gave each child a "free" drawstring bag and they were able to carry a water bottle and snacks every day.

Lucky me...I get to pay for this again in 3 years, and again 2 years after that....yay.

Sorry to hijack but where were they coming from? Our 4 day trip from Rochester is $500 each.. charter bus and 4 to a room. Did they fly?

OP: I think our school recommended $75 for 3 meals, snacks and a souvenir. DD came home with about half of it.

My DS is going in a few weeks and he keeps insisting that he is not allowed to have a water bottle anywhere, and if he brings it some places they will throw it out. I'm sure DD brought one (maybe she didn't bring it everywhere, but she had it). I'm not sure where he is getting this info.

 

[SEA333]

Sorry to hijack but where were they coming from? Our 4 day trip from Rochester is $500 each.. charter bus and 4 to a room. Did they fly?

OP: I think our school recommended $75 for 3 meals, snacks and a souvenir. DD came home with about half of it.

My DS is going in a few weeks and he keeps insisting that he is not allowed to have a water bottle anywhere, and if he brings it some places they will throw it out. I'm sure DD brought one (maybe she didn't bring it everywhere, but she had it). I'm not sure where he is getting this info.

We are from the western suburbs of Chicago. My 8th grader went with his school for 4 days/3 nights. Yes, they flew, but the kids' flights were around $250 roundtrip each (Southwest). They hired a tour bus to bring them to Midway Airport (20 minutes away) and back, plus one to take them around DC. They went to the capitol, the Mall (Air and Space Museum), Arlington, a Ford Theater tour, Mt. Vernon, and Gettysburg. 90% of their activities in DC were free. So was breakfast. 4 to a room at the Dulles Doubletree.

DS's entire tour group (50 kids, 5 adults) brought water bottles everywhere. They never had a problem. Their biggest "rule" was NO GUM.

My sister and I went to DC in October to participate in a medical study for MS at the NIH for 4 1/2 days (2 days at the NIH, the rest of the time we were tourists), and I can tell you that we spent nowhere NEAR $1200 as tourists!!! Due to the study, my flight was free but my sister paid for hers, and she spent about a total of $350-$400 and maybe even less, for the trip, flights included. The study paid for the hotel so we didn't have to worry about that, but it would have been $109/night for double occupancy. Still nowhere NEAR $1200.

My whole family of 5 could drive to DC from Chicago for a week and spend about $1200.

 

[buffalogirl]

My daughter arrived home from D.C. yesterday. Her most expensive meal was at the Museum of Natural History. She purchased a Chicken Caesar Salad for $10.50 and fruit cup for $4.00, with tax it was just under $16.