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This upcoming year will be our first year of tournaments out of state, so I am making a list of expenses to create a budget. Especially interested in how others handle food, eating somewhat healthy. 

Concerning rooms, do you book rooms with kitchenettes or do you find yourself eating out most of the time? I know this depends on the team, but in your experience, do teams try and eat together often on these trips? 

Would love advice on how you plan for out of state tourneys and what you learned along the way. Thanks!

 

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ELIJAH, I'm sure everyone is different, but here's our experience.  1) The team usually books rooms at a very affordable hotel.  Most of the players/parents stay at that hotel and some upgrade or downgrade depending on their personal financial circumstances and if they want to be in a certain area to enjoy the town, etc.  2) These hotels often have a microwave -- some have the kitchenettes, but personally I'd never cook there. 3) We eat out most of the time, but also often stop at a local grocery store for healthy snacks and I always pack a small cooler with extra food for my son -- some ballparks don't allow coolers, so check in advance.  4) We will usually have one team/parent/coach dinner on a trip and then other nights when we're not playing will either go by ourselves if we need a break away from others or partner up with families we enjoy.  It gets really hard to plan dinners for 35-50 people every night unless you have a very enthusiastic team mom or manager. 

All of that being said, we've been on a few different travel teams over the years and the dynamic is very different depending on the parent set and how the coach likes to run things.  I'd advise talking with a few other parents at the parent meeting they usually have before the season starts to get a feel for what people like to do and then adapt.  If you're coming on to an already assembled team, then just ask one of the parents what they typically do to get the inside scoop.

Hope this is helpful.

A few random thoughts.

  • As midwest mom says, planning a whole team dinner is daunting, and it also can be a logistical nightmare, but one thing we found is that a lot of hotels will let you use a conference room for free where you can order in pizza or whatever.  Or just do it by the pool. Can be the whole team, or just a group.

  • Avoid hotels that don't include breakfast and figure out which chains have the breakfast you like best. This saves a lot of money and a ton of time.

  • If you're not flying you can save money on lunches by packing in your own sandwiches, cold chicken, etc. However you travel you can save  $$ by buying lunch supplies at a grocery store rather than deli or restaurant.

  • The Panda is your friend. They use too much sugar and it's not "authentic", I know, but seriously, I would be 10lbs heavier or maybe dead if I had eaten a In n Out burger and fries for every plate of Panda Express kung pao and veggies I have had over the years. Plus: Family Feast.  For about $30 you get enough for 6-8 meals.

  • Kind of obvious, I know, but if your kids are used to drinking water, not soda, you will save a ton of money on the road.

It always ends up costing a lot more than I plan or budget for

Hotel Rooms with a fridge/stove are pricey but well worth it.  Definitely packing food/water in a large cooler will save $$$

Budget for the unexpected:  Gas costing more than you planned out of state, unexpected parking fees, extra meals at restaurants because of scheduling delays, the "gotta have" T-Shirt or Hat, even an extra day of motel fees due to rainouts etc

As midwest mom alludes to, different teams have different personalities and travel differently.

When my kid played on a team made up of kids primarily from that area (most of these kids would go on to make the core of the HS team), we were a fairly tight knit group of friends.  In that case we would all stay at the same hotel.  Normally a Courtyard or Residence Inn.  Residence Inn was preferred as you could easily get a two room suite with a kitchen.  Most did not cook in the room, but it did offer convenience when it came to storing snacks and drinks.  As well as offered space for the parents to get together in the evening without sitting in the hotel lobby  Occasionally someone may stay away from the team but it was normally related to having family in the area or mixing business in with the baseball trip.

We would usually head out to Lunch and Dinner as a team.  Lunch was normally B-Dubs, or a sandwich shop (why I now avoid B-Dubs) and for dinner we would try to find some type of local pub/sports-bar/bbq etc.  On longer trips we might try to find a nicer upscale "healthier" restaurant once or twice.  Again, occasionally a family would head out on their own, but again they normally had other family in the area or wanted to goto a specific area restaurant that others were not interested in going to.

When my kid transitioned to a showcase team.  The over night travel actually went way down and was not coordinated.  A few parents may get together and decide to stay in the same place, but there was never one trip where everyone stayed in the same place.  In fact there were a couple of trips where we purposely stayed in a hotel another team was staying in as we had a few friends on that team.  Again, when it came to food everyone pretty much did their own thing.  Normally there was another family or two we hung with and would run out with them.  As far as costs things were all over the place with this team.  Some folks had money and stayed at higher end hotels (JW, Ritz) and others were on a budget and stayed at Motel 6.  In some cases where the drive was less then 2 hours everyday some families decided to make the drive every day.  I know of one family that would often camp if they could.

 

  • Do not, repeat...DO NOT...participate in team dinners!!! The restaurants can't handle that size crowd, and as a result, your order will take 2 years to be served.
  • First thing we would buy: a case of water, if not two.
  • Agree with JCG: stay at hotels with breakfasts.
  • Stick with one hotel chain and build the points. Those points will pay off.
  • We always tried to stay away from the team hotel: those maniacal kids can't help themselves from pools, hallways, etc.
  • As he got older, we would ship him off on his own to room with other players in the team hotel. Miracle of miracles, they figured things out on their own.

As long as you are still talking about within driving distances...

Ice chest with cut fruit in tupperware, cold waters, peanut butter & celery, other healthy stuff made at home that keeps fairly easily.  We would often fire up a batch of BBQ chicken on the grill and then put it in zip lock bags in the cooler, tuna or chicken salad pre-made and put in tupperware, etc.

Snack bags that include nut mixes, dried fruit, clif bars, bananas, apples.

Home made granola, bring milk of choice and paper bowls/plastic spoons.

(You said you were especially interested in eating somewhat healthy, so I won't tell you about the other stuff we always packed  

Pick hotels with good free breakfast offerings or pick a good airbnb.

Bring cheap entertainment... wiffle ball, frisbee, cards, bikes, badminton, board games, ..

All this said, I agree with Root...  budget the number of trips and keep things in check.  But, then, enjoy it.  Go to that occasional restaurant, fishing/swimming lake, zoo, museum, water park, pro game, movie, county fair, ride quads, see sites, etc., whatever the interest, and don't feel guilty.  Make it special 'cuz it is. 

The only thing I don't agree with JoeMktg on is not staying in the team hotel.  The fun at the pool and in the hallways is what they remember most.

I was watching a LLWS game the other night and they interviewed Mo'ne Davis.  They asked her what she remembered most from her time at the series.  With all of her on-field ground-breaking accomplishments, she remembered "the hill".  And, she wasn't talking about the mound.

Last edited by cabbagedad

Wow. Thanks for the knowledge! Lots of copying a pasting going on. I was under the impression that most of these tournaments dictated where the teams stayed and that you had little choice as a team or that you could choose a hotel as a team. (I am thinking about Lakepoint and my conversations with other dads during the WWBA.) What is the norm once you hit 15u? Do you have a choice as to where you stay?

Elijah posted:

Wow. Thanks for the knowledge! Lots of copying a pasting going on. I was under the impression that most of these tournaments dictated where the teams stayed and that you had little choice as a team or that you could choose a hotel as a team. (I am thinking about Lakepoint and my conversations with other dads during the WWBA.) What is the norm once you hit 15u? Do you have a choice as to where you stay?

Not really, in our experience, to a large degree.  Although a lot of tournaments will have a range of "approved/affiliated" hotels, so there is some degree of price range you will find.  

Agree with the others above on hotels with breakfast & leisure time activities...Lots of Toll Roads now, too! (esp Fla) 

I usually found the nearest grocery & laundromat. I'd prepare some meals ahead & freeze, pack them separately on dry ice. 

Tide, large economy size! Stain X for grass, sweat, Oklahoma Red Dirt! OR FELS NAPTHA bar soap for stains.  First aid kit, witch hazel & rags for a 2 gal cooler (avoid eye contact), potassium tablets, NuSkin, extra laces, athletic cups (someone always forgets), travel sewing kit, safety pins, travel manicure kit, duct tape. 

Last edited by baseballmom

One that I figured out a long time ago. When going to places like the beach or the mountains (or anywhere for that matter), you can often find houses with four or five bedrooms to rent. Get three families together and split it and you come out way ahead of hotels. Even for tourneys that require you book hotels through them, they often only require so many rooms and the rest of the team covers that number easy. When we'd do Vegas tourneys, I always rented a house with five bedrooms, with a pool and hot tub. It usually ran about $150 per family for a week. We'd even hold a team party there one night and cook out.

baseballmom posted:

 

Tide, large economy size! Stain X for grass, sweat, Oklahoma Red Dirt! OR FELS NAPTHA bar soap for stains.  First aid kit, witch hazel & rags for a 2 gal cooler (avoid eye contact), potassium tablets, NuSkin, extra laces, athletic cups (someone always forgets), travel sewing kit, safety pins, travel manicure kit, duct tape. 

Dang....I knew I was always forgetting something (or everything!) lol 

DesertDuck posted:
baseballmom posted:

 

Tide, large economy size! Stain X for grass, sweat, Oklahoma Red Dirt! OR FELS NAPTHA bar soap for stains.  First aid kit, witch hazel & rags for a 2 gal cooler (avoid eye contact), potassium tablets, NuSkin, extra laces, athletic cups (someone always forgets), travel sewing kit, safety pins, travel manicure kit, duct tape. 

Dang....I knew I was always forgetting something (or everything!) lol 

Desert Duck hahaha! These are just some of the joys of being a "professional team queen!    

Last edited by baseballmom
baseballmom posted:
DesertDuck posted:
baseballmom posted:

 

Tide, large economy size! Stain X for grass, sweat, Oklahoma Red Dirt! OR FELS NAPTHA bar soap for stains.  First aid kit, witch hazel & rags for a 2 gal cooler (avoid eye contact), potassium tablets, NuSkin, extra laces, athletic cups (someone always forgets), travel sewing kit, safety pins, travel manicure kit, duct tape. 

Dang....I knew I was always forgetting something (or everything!) lol 

Desert Duck hahaha! These are just some of the joys of being a "professional team queen! 

Yeah, I was thinking OK that's the team MOM version.  The DAD version is much shorter.  Duct tape.  

 Blister?... duct tape.  Torn pants? .. duct tape.  Broken shoe laces? ..  duct tape.  No cup?... duct tape (LOTS of duct tape).   You get the idea.

Last edited by cabbagedad

Some hotels will let you grill in a corner out by the pool. Or do cold cut dinners. A table for twelve can be a difficult acquisition at a restaurant. Imagine trying to seat twenty to thirty.

We did one trip where we booked up an entire small, inexpensive Italian restaurant for dinner in a small town. The menu was simple ... salad, spaghetti and Italian bread or starve. The entire team and coaches ate there. Parents were welcome. Some came.

Last edited by RJM
Elijah posted:

Wow. Thanks for the knowledge! Lots of copying a pasting going on. I was under the impression that most of these tournaments dictated where the teams stayed and that you had little choice as a team or that you could choose a hotel as a team. (I am thinking about Lakepoint and my conversations with other dads during the WWBA.) What is the norm once you hit 15u? Do you have a choice as to where you stay?

FWIW: register for the designated hotel, and register for the hotel that you really want. Cancel the reservation for the designated hotel before the cancellation date.  The tournaments track who has registered, but they do not track who has cancelled.

Don't tell PGStaff.

Elijah posted:

Wow. Thanks for the knowledge! Lots of copying a pasting going on. I was under the impression that most of these tournaments dictated where the teams stayed and that you had little choice as a team or that you could choose a hotel as a team. (I am thinking about Lakepoint and my conversations with other dads during the WWBA.) What is the norm once you hit 15u? Do you have a choice as to where you stay?

There are some tourneys that require specific hotels, but if you don't book one of their hotels you can still pay, just need to pay a fine for not staying in a sanctioned hotel.   The majority of the tourneys we played were not of this type.

Elijah posted:

This upcoming year will be our first year of tournaments out of state, so I am making a list of expenses to create a budget. Especially interested in how others handle food, eating somewhat healthy. 

Concerning rooms, do you book rooms with kitchenettes or do you find yourself eating out most of the time? I know this depends on the team, but in your experience, do teams try and eat together often on these trips? 

Would love advice on how you plan for out of state tourneys and what you learned along the way. Thanks!

 

My son and I stayed in hotels like https://www.woodspring.com/ for about $60 a night.  They are different hotel model.  There is no lobby.  A lot of construction workers stayed in them, they also rent by the week.  There is no room service, they don't clean the rooms, if you want clean towels, you take them your dirty ones.  Same with linens.  Each room had a fridge and a two burner stove.  They worked just fine.  Drove at night a lot to avoid a hotel room, if game wasn't early, would drive early morning to the games if within 4/5 hours.  Used the Hotel.com app to find them.

For healthier food, we tried this, it was part way successful.  I would pre-make and vacuum seal the meat part of a meal, then make pasta or rice to put it over.  Steak and gravy, chicken with alfredo sauce, etc.  We would eat a lot of Subway sandwiches.  Tried to stay away from the fast food places.  Again, partially successful.  I would also have an ice chest and waters, gatorade and milk (to mix up protein shakes).  Couple snacks, protein bars etc.  A lot of what you spend is stopping at gas stations, grabbing sodas/chips etc.  Tried to avoid that also.

If you have someone near who can split the ride and hotel rooms, that can help.  Or if there are parent's that can't go, offer to take another kid or two for some help with gas/hotels.

Sorry if I repeated anyone else's advice.  I didn't read the whole thread.

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