Anyone want to commiserate about summer camp costs?

[karmasabiotch]

My DS goes to daycamp for the entire summer. Luckily at his age we can still use it as a write off for child care because it's so damn expensive.

He goes to an amazing camp though so I'm lucky in that respect.

If anyone here is in MI and in the far end of Oakland County I would be happy to share the name of the camp with you.

[thinkofthesoldiers]

May 28, 2015 12:56:57 GMT -5 terpsfan said:

My DD was at daycare camp until this summer (yay for one pickup/dropoff!). She was super bored and I felt like they didn't do enough with them for how much I was paying (which was a lot). This year she's going to nature camp close by that was a little more $ but different themes each week and structure. My anxiety is about packing waste free lunches. Like zero trash, there are no trash cans kind of thing.

ETA- Dd is 7, rising 2nd grade. I have a DS in full time daycare preschool he's 4

Anxiety about packing a lunch? WTF? Just slap it all in reusable containers. Walla. Waste free.

[silva]

Babysitters during the summer.

Overnight church camp when I started 6th grade.

[silva]

I'll add that I'm more pissed about having to pack a lunch every single day.

[Deleted]

We pay about $4K for summer camps. And that's with 3 weeks off for vacation. It sucks. The cheap ones don't have before & after-care. I asked grandma to take them but she said no, LOL.

[terpsfan]

May 28, 2015 13:01:10 GMT -5 thinkofthesoldiers said:

May 28, 2015 12:56:57 GMT -5 terpsfan said:

My DD was at daycare camp until this summer (yay for one pickup/dropoff!). She was super bored and I felt like they didn't do enough with them for how much I was paying (which was a lot). This year she's going to nature camp close by that was a little more $ but different themes each week and structure. My anxiety is about packing waste free lunches. Like zero trash, there are no trash cans kind of thing.

ETA- Dd is 7, rising 2nd grade. I have a DS in full time daycare preschool he's 4

Anxiety about packing a lunch? WTF? Just slap it all in reusable containers. Walla. Waste free.

Like yogurts and all that stuff. And having to deal with all those containers and washing them and them getting gross and sticky.

[Alyssa]

May 28, 2015 12:52:43 GMT -5 scorpio72 said:

May 28, 2015 12:03:08 GMT -5 Alyssa said:

Ridiculously expensive.

I hope this is sleep away camp! I'm used to expensive, but that's crazy.

Yes that's sleep-away, still way too high though for only 1-2 weeks.

[Deleted]

May 28, 2015 12:05:14 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

I wonder if my kid will be missing out since he will always be a full time daycare kid. I thought camps were large for kids of SAH moms/dads, no?

I thought this too but then I was researching After school care for next year (1st grade) and realized that the after school program at our local church (which I want him to attend) has a summer camp. It is only $155 per week and it is from 7:15 a.m. to 6:15 p.m.. I pulled him from his Montessori from the summer and he is going to day camp! We are going to be saving almost $500 per month over the summer. I am soo excited and the camp looks really fun. I guess people come from all over South OC to take their kids there because the hours are good, price is right and they have a great program. Each week has a theme and the kids go to Legoland, Discovery Science Cube, etc..

[hopecounts]

May 28, 2015 13:06:58 GMT -5 terpsfan said:

May 28, 2015 13:01:10 GMT -5 thinkofthesoldiers said:

Anxiety about packing a lunch? WTF? Just slap it all in reusable containers. Walla. Waste free.

Like yogurts and all that stuff. And having to deal with all those containers and washing them and them getting gross and sticky.

we use these for DD's lunches.
We have two one clean and one dirty (typically the dishwasher is full every other day so it works out)
They are easy to clean, just don't do yogurt if you don't want the mess.

[thinkofthesoldiers]

May 28, 2015 13:06:58 GMT -5 terpsfan said:

May 28, 2015 13:01:10 GMT -5 thinkofthesoldiers said:

Anxiety about packing a lunch? WTF? Just slap it all in reusable containers. Walla. Waste free.

Like yogurts and all that stuff. And having to deal with all those containers and washing them and them getting gross and sticky.

I cannot WTF you more. Do you use baggies all the time or what? Skip the yogurt. I bet there will be a compost pile for fruit pieces (like apple cores). This isn't hard. "all those containers" means that you aren't putting a bunch of plastic in landfills.

[8675309]

May 28, 2015 13:08:22 GMT -5 tarzanswife said:

May 28, 2015 12:05:14 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

I wonder if my kid will be missing out since he will always be a full time daycare kid. I thought camps were large for kids of SAH moms/dads, no?

I thought this too but then I was researching After school care for next year (1st grade) and realized that the after school program at our local church (which I want him to attend) has a summer camp. It is only $155 per week and it is from 7:15 a.m. to 6:15 p.m.. I pulled him from his Montessori from the summer and he is going to day camp! We are going to be saving almost $500 per month over the summer. I am soo excited and the camp looks really fun. I guess people come from all over South OC to take their kids there because the hours are good, price is right and they have a great program. Each week has a theme and the kids go to Legoland, Discovery Science Cube, etc..

I wonder if its the same church we go to? We got the info on it a few weeks ago and I was SHOCKED with how inexpensive it was. We are in North OC and I plan to put my kids there when they are old enough to go. I think you have to be a certain age for ours. 

[terpsfan]

May 28, 2015 13:16:20 GMT -5 thinkofthesoldiers said:

May 28, 2015 13:06:58 GMT -5 terpsfan said:

Like yogurts and all that stuff. And having to deal with all those containers and washing them and them getting gross and sticky.

I cannot WTF you more. Do you use baggies all the time or what? Skip the yogurt. I bet there will be a compost pile for fruit pieces (like apple cores). This isn't hard. "all those containers" means that you aren't putting a bunch of plastic in landfills.

Um thanks? I'm just venting. Thanks for the other poster input on the yogurt containers. What I actually didn't say was that I am excited about becoming MORE waste free this summer that maybe I can adopt into the regular school year with ease.

[Deleted]

daughter is also doing a theater camp totally reasonable two weeks 9-12 for 225
DS is doing a football camp its 400 half days for two weeks.
UGH

[Redpoppy]

I hate that all the cool specialty ones are 9-12 or something completely unhelpful. The school district is doing on that is Monday to Thursday. I just can't deal with finding help for the other times. We are paying a little less this summer because DS can take the provided bus instead of paying extra for before and after care. Even then it was more than daycare. I do feel guilty that he will be on be bus 40 minutes each way so will probably pick him up in the afternoon at least.

[CloudBee]

May 28, 2015 12:43:12 GMT -5 cjoy said:

May 28, 2015 12:17:49 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

I never went to ANY camps growing up. I can't be the only one.

I went to one. And I had to write a "help me, I'm poor" letter to a charity to pay for it.

Otherwise, it was Camp Grandma. And Camp Don't Answer The Door For Anyone.

I went once, for a week, but had to pay for it myself. (Babysitting money.)

[spwspw]

May 28, 2015 12:43:12 GMT -5 cjoy said:

May 28, 2015 12:17:49 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

I never went to ANY camps growing up. I can't be the only one.

And Camp Don't Answer The Door For Anyone.

I went to this camp as well!

[Deleted]

Yeah ours is 350/ wk per kid. And it doesn't even go all day! Gets over at 2:30

[nannersp]

May 28, 2015 12:17:49 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

I never went to ANY camps growing up. I can't be the only one.

I never did either. 

And to address your other comment, we only started using summer camps when my eldest started elementary and we needed care for the summer.  Otherwise she was in daycare/preschool all yearlong. 

[jinkies]

I never went to camp. I lived on a farm, so I worked in the summer from a young age. When they ran out of kid-friendly work, I was able to hang out at home knowing that my parents were somewhere on the property.

The only reason I'm sending my son is because I work and he's now too old for daycare.

I'm a little worried my kid will hate it. He's not really the camp type, but he's going to have to stick it out until he's old enough to be home alone or we hit the lottery.

[themysteriouswife]

Camp here is a different name for summer daycare. It's drop off and pick up daily. There is no way we could afford over night camps.

[1confused1]

This single income mom will not be sending her kids to camp anytime soon. Their after school care is run through our rec department, so they will stay there, no increase in price and they do fun things.

[1confused1]

May 28, 2015 13:05:11 GMT -5 rvan0905 said:

I was complaing to my mom about the cost of camp all coming out at once for the whole summer, and I decided to check out the prices for the overnight camps and trip to Israel I took growing up.

I NEED A FUCKING PAPER BAG! WTF, JEWS? WHY IS EVERYTHING SO EXPENSIVE? MY GOY HUSBAND IS GOING TO SHIT A BRICK!

$5k a summer from 2-8th grade, and $10k until graduation. DD is turning 4 this summer and I am already hyperventilating.

www.birthrightisrael.com/Pages/Default.aspx

[Jalapeñomel]

I went to camp for most of my elementary/middle school years. I loved it. I had my first kiss at camp!

[RoxMonster]

The only camp I went to was a band camp once for one week in high school. Otherwise it was Camp Grandma for me too but I loved spending my summers at my grandparents'. We'd have all sorts of fun adventures.

[Deleted]

May 28, 2015 14:00:37 GMT -5 Lucy Honeychurch said:

I never went to camp. I had friends who did. I was ... not the camp type. lol. When I was little, I probably couldn't have imagined anything worse.

Maybe you would've liked my nerd camp!

[eddy]

May 28, 2015 12:32:04 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

May 28, 2015 12:27:54 GMT -5 @lazerus24 said:

Daycares stop taking them at a certain age I think. DS would be bored out of his mind at a daycare. 

We found plenty with 7am-6pm hours. They just suck the life right out of your bank account. 

I forgot about older school aged kids.  We are so not there yet (I have about 3 more years).  I figured we'd just put him in YMCA.

This is basically what we do. I love it. Swimming and free play outside everyday. A theme and field trip each week. And it is really reasonably priced. 

My goals for Jack are to have fun and spend as much time outside as possible. We don't do specialized camps. 

[irishbride2]

The Y is camp

It's still like 200 a week here. Ugh.

[shamrockshake]

My mom was a sahm so no camp for me. Thankfully right now dd1/2 can go back to the little girls daycare for the Sumer because even the cheapest here- the Y is $300/ week. I let dd1 do one week for fun because she loves it, but it's twice the cost of daycare so not happening all summer

[WOT?*]

2 kids we haven't planned on. Thank God I don't work. But I'm a counselor at one of the Girl Scout ones so that gives me half off an inexpensive volunteer based one, and the girls' former caseworker (when they were placed with us) hooked me up with one sponsored by Big Brothers/Big Sisters in conjunction with Salvation Army that GD1 loves to go to each year and I'm hoping GD2 will be able to swing with her medical issues which will cost me all of $25 per kid so I'm saving by going those routes. The rest of the summer is $400-700 events, camps and crap. I anticipate a lot of "filler" activities to make up for the cheerleading and camping and gymnastics stuff they want to do.

[WOT?*]

May 28, 2015 12:31:12 GMT -5 @lazerus24 said:

May 28, 2015 12:17:49 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

I never went to ANY camps growing up. I can't be the only one.

I am sorry for you! That cabin on the right? I slept there 4 weeks out of every summer growing up

Kayaking! Archery! Swimming! Horseback riding! So fun. I can't wait to ship DS off when he gets older. 


ETA: I don't actually feel sorry for you. You certainly turned out great.

Laz, where is that?  That looks so FUN!  It's similar to the GS and Camp Fire camps we have around here, and the state camps around Yosemite where I grew up but all the fun events!  GD1 does one week at GS (overnight) horse camp, one at Bible Camp and one at Girl Scout day camp.  She would love that place.  Shoot, *I* would love that place.  Glamp time!