Looking back at 2025

Sletten 2025 was a big event for all of us. To have a sensation of just how big it was, we have collected the background facts and numbers on participants and on the different aspects of the stuff we spent the money on – for you to enjoy and reflect upon.

In order to plan and carry out Sletten 2025 it was necessary for the Orga Team to visualize these numbers from a very early point. We had to make qualified guesses to make the decisions that ended up being reality. We give you this story of the Economy of Sletten 2025 in numbers, as these are as much your numbers as they are ours.

As always, we let the Vision for Sletten guide the development and our decisions for the event, as best we can.

Participants

There will be no event if there are no participants and the most reliable source of how many participants there were, are from the ticket registry.

899

Adults Full Week

111

Children Full Week

118

Adult Half Week

10

Horses 1½ week

22

Single Night

Making it a total of 1.160 different people wanting to join Sletten 2025 for the full experience. It was necessary to have more than a gut feeling on these numbers for the organizers as almost every aspect of planning hinged on this number. The prior event of Sletten 2024 boasted of 1.187 participants – which was expected to be a record according to the number of great jubilees for a certain number of groups. This year more people joined the full week, than the years before.

Tickets and other income

Income is almost always accounted for before expenses, as it is necessary to have money to pay for nice stuff. So in order to pay for the vision of Sletten 2025 we had to lock ourselves on ticket prices quite early. The prices has not increased since 2023.

Adult

€100
744 DKK

Full Week
Adult

€60
446 DKK

Half Week
Child

€35
260 DKK

Full Week
Horse

€135
1004 DKK

1½ week
All

€20
149 DKK

One Night

How these ticket prices are constructed is a story told in the section of expenses, but for now they serve as the building blocks for the main income.

Because combining the numbers of paid participants and the ticket prices will equal exactly that – the main ticket income of 763.753 dkk, which can be shown according to ticket type as such:

So by far, the main source of ticket income, or 96% (Full week tickets by 88%, Half week tickets by 7% and Horses 1½ week tickets by 1%) is derived from the Adult tickets.

Now – ticket income was not the only type of income that went into Sletten 2025. A bag of surplus money from Sletten 2024 gave us a running start. This surplus contained an impressive sum of 100.063 dkk, which served well, as some bills and investments needed to be paid before the first ticket was sold.

Furthermore a few merchandise items was sold – glazed cups and jugs – which turned into a small amount of extra income to the sum of 8.449 dkk – we thank you for the support.

Ticket Income
763.753 DKK
Extra Income
108.512 DKK
- Transfer from Sletten 2024
100.063 DKK
- Sletten Merchandise Profit
8.449 DKK
Total Income
872.265 DKK

So the total sum of all income amounted to 872.265 dkk, which is a number which we will come back to later – after a small detour to cover the expenses.

Expenses

To give a well-written account on the expenses of Sletten 2025 one would typically start by covering the types of expenses from the largest to smallest, while giving the amount the appropriate perspective, for instance by providing the amount to something fixed – like the ticket income. And that is what we are going to do now.

The largest expense – by far – is none other than the rent charged by the Scouts for each overnight staying guest. The Scouts were kind to give us a discount this year, so the charge was lowered from 75 dkk to 70 dkk per head per night. With 1.160 heads on Full Week, Half Week, Horses 1½ Week or OneNight tickets the calculation was a whopping 6.516 overnight stays. This impressive amount of overnight stays translates into a bill of 456.120 dkk which includes the facilities of the Little House On The Prairy (water, electricity and waste removal) – necessities a modern viking surely cannot live without(?). The bill on the overnight stay rent is what eats up almost 2 thirds (60%) of the Ticket Income.

The next big item on the list is surprisingly hygienic as it is our Sanitation wagons. Without this expense the area of Sletten would simply not be as idyllic as they were. This year more Sanitation stations was located around the camp, so this made for more expenses. The price for toilet wagons had also increased from last year. Toilet wagons and Washing stations account for a total of 21% of the Ticket income or 156.999 dkk.

Moving further down the list the next expense is warming our hearts – quite literally as it is the Firewood used for all camps. A good deal was made and 72 cubic meters of wood was sent to the Sletten campsite this summer for 9% of the ticket income or a total expense of 67.318 dkk.

And now we move on to the last items on the expense sheets and it becomes smaller and smaller purchases. Overall a 32.429 dkk was spent on various big and small practical Campsite items like discussion closers, cleaning utilities, signage and many other things. All items necessary for making the gears of the Sletten week working well. This year, the participation coin to each and every member of the viking society on Sletten took up half this bill – it is expensive to bring atmosphere to the scene, however we hope you appreciate this small token.

Behind-the-scenes expenses are some of those that we – from the Orga team – would like to reduce as much as possible, but Administration expenses are hard to eliminate totally. These expenses include travel expenses (yes, Orga needs to drive around), storage space, bank fees, website bills, transaction fees on tickets and more for 3% of Ticket income or a total of 25.359 dkk.

Lastly, we did want to express gratitude towards the volunteers behind the Sletten 2025. Gifting red-glazed cups as well as some special-made participation coins was the smallest of expense items for a total of 6.848 dkk. We want to be transparent on these numbers as well, as we feel it necessary to appreciate the tonnes and tonnes of working hours the volunteers put into the event.

Total Expenses
745.072 DKK
- Overnight Stay Rent (Paid to Scouts)
456.120 DKK
- Sanitation
156.999 DKK
- Firewood
67.318 DKK
- Campsite
32.429 DKK
- Administration
25.359 DKK
- Volunteering
6.848 DKK

Expenses as % of Ticket Income

As one can see if all the above expenses are put together Sletten 2025 had a total operating expense of 745.072 dkk or what calculates to 98%(!) of the Ticket Income. Now before we focus on the investments we made, the final result, surplus and transfers, the next chapter will try to explain some of the additional planning we do, especially about financial risks.

Planning for Risk Mitigation

When planning a big event with 1100+ participants and a handful of horses it is important to be mindful of both the foreseen and unforeseen risks.

For instance did we not know until a few weeks before the event, whether or not there would be a fire ban or a massive rainfall. We did not know before negotiations with the scouts whether or not we could get a discount. We could also not see what the rising inflation would mean for the event. And a few more financial risks could be counted.

From early on did we plan with a Buffer for unforeseen events with a target of 5% of Ticket Income – this year the buffer resulted in 38.188 dkk. One could call it insurance on organizing the event, which would kick in if anything major did happen.

From the standpoint of the Orga team, the idea is that if the insurance is not used, it can be used for investment for the following year’s event. This year the Buffer was almost eaten up by the inflation on sanitary wagons. This is something we are taking seriously for the future years to come and negotiations and looking at different suppliers are always a top priority for the Orga team.

Investments for the future

The sharp mind would remember, that the coffers of Sletten is not only laden with this years ticket income – we had a total of 108.512 dkk in extra income, which could be used for investments into the future of the event.

The Orga team thought hard on how best to spend the money – and could not possibly use it all in one go.

26.335 dkk was spent this year on investments on 10 more lamps for the main roads, the great Gate of Sletten made of solid oak, small improvements to the Orga Camp tent for better storage of onsite equipment and the like.

The unspent investment money will transfer to next years investments and financial buffers.

Result 2025 & Looking Forward

Now, when taking the difference between the total income and the total expenditures, one would get the Surplus of Sletten 2025. This amounts to 170.858 dkk, where the main surplus comes from the unused investment / extra income of 82.177 dkk.

This leaves 18.681 dkk – the unspent part of the Buffer –  to be explained by various “healthy” financial decisions, where the Orga team did not spend unnecessary money. Of course one could argue that the money could have been spent on necessary or nice items as well.

As this is the third year of the individual organization, Sletten Vikings, we take these numbers seriously and would like to be much better on enriching the scene and the event for the years to come.

Investment Surplus
82.177 DKK
Unused Buffers
18.681 DKK
Total Surplus
100.858 DKK

We would like to be smart about using this money, as the event and the organization is still new and traditions of the event is still evolving naturally. We would like to facilitate – not dictate – this evolution.

In 2024 we transferred 70.000 dkk to an account for “seriously hard times” – a stormy weather fund, one could call it – so as to be prepared for a real bad year. These money we keep there for now.

As such the surplus 100.858 dkk is planned for real investments into gear and improvements on the Campsite of Sletten.