Spin Off - Summer Camp

[noodleoo]

Feb 2, 2024 21:06:59 GMT -5 sdlaura said:

pandorica $360 a week is on the cheaper end for here. Standard for the y but specialty camps are way more for us.

Same here. Camps are insanely expensive and a lot of DD1’s friends go to these fancy camps that range from $500-800 per week per kid!!! I can’t afford that. I work part time, so I only need care for 3 days a week. The only camp that allows you to pay by day is the school system summer camp. DD1 says it’s boring but I don’t care, she goes there for most for the summer. And even that is $350 for 3 days/week. Downside is it only runs through the first week of August and school doesn’t start until Sept, so we always have to cobble together care. It’s frustrating. The town rec dept runs a ton of cool camps but they are all half day. They definitely seemed geared towards teachers and SAHP families. It is so frustrating.

[konapoppy]

We are splurging for 3 weeks of specialty camps - 2 weeks of a classic day camp that is all day with transportation and 1 week of musical theater camp that we are making full day with lunch coverage.

The rest of the summer will be either their aftercare or the city camp and we will just pay whatever the full day is because we have to work and the kids need routine.

[imimahoney]

Feb 3, 2024 0:16:17 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

Feb 2, 2024 21:06:59 GMT -5 sdlaura said:

pandorica $360 a week is on the cheaper end for here. Standard for the y but specialty camps are way more for us.

Same here. Camps are insanely expensive and a lot of DD1’s friends go to these fancy camps that range from $500-800 per week per kid!!! I can’t afford that. I work part time, so I only need care for 3 days a week. The only camp that allows you to pay by day is the school system summer camp. DD1 says it’s boring but I don’t care, she goes there for most for the summer. And even that is $350 for 3 days/week. Downside is it only runs through the first week of August and school doesn’t start until Sept, so we always have to cobble together care. It’s frustrating. The town rec dept runs a ton of cool camps but they are all half day. They definitely seemed geared towards teachers and SAHP families. It is so frustrating.

My son did the field trip camp offered by your rec department last summer and he said it was a lot of fun. They went to the beach, canobie, laser tag, etc but I think the youngest is rising 6th graders.

[noodleoo]

Feb 3, 2024 7:52:44 GMT -5 imimahoney said:

Feb 3, 2024 0:16:17 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

Same here. Camps are insanely expensive and a lot of DD1’s friends go to these fancy camps that range from $500-800 per week per kid!!! I can’t afford that. I work part time, so I only need care for 3 days a week. The only camp that allows you to pay by day is the school system summer camp. DD1 says it’s boring but I don’t care, she goes there for most for the summer. And even that is $350 for 3 days/week. Downside is it only runs through the first week of August and school doesn’t start until Sept, so we always have to cobble together care. It’s frustrating. The town rec dept runs a ton of cool camps but they are all half day. They definitely seemed geared towards teachers and SAHP families. It is so frustrating.

My son did the field trip camp offered by your rec department last summer and he said it was a lot of fun. They went to the beach, canobie, laser tag, etc but I think the youngest is rising 6th graders.

That sounds cool! Our rec dept is awesome. I’ll have to look for the field trips when kids are old enough.

[Saudade]

Honestly it makes me so incredibly incensed that I have to pay so much money so I can work. Obviously I don’t have to send them to overnight camp. That is a luxury. But just the fact that I have to pay $240/week/kid for 10 weeks fucking pisses me off. And it doesn’t even cover the entire summer.

[loira]

DD's school runs a summer camp and it's very affordable, with good hours (9-4). She'll do at least 2 weeks there and maybe one week of theatre camp and a week of soccer camp.

We're splurging on sleep away camp this year, but because of her age, the camp is only 3 nights. Next year she can do the full week.

But yeah, registration is awful. Every camp has a different registration date, you have to click super fast, and you're never sure if you're going to be able to cobble all the weeks together.

[devonpow]

Camp here is nuts. DS1 is now 17 and did full summer overnight camp for years. DS2 is turning 12 and trying overnight camp for the first time, but only 2 weeks. We are filling in the rest of the summer with a hodge podge of camps, trips, and weeks “off”. Most camps are around $400-$550 a week, which is crazy. Also, for most we already had to sign up months ago. November/December is when registration opens and you have to be on the computer ready to go the instant registration opens. It’s tough trying to plan out the details of the summer around thanksgiving!

[pinkpeony08]

I agree it's so wild, expensive and stressful. My work has now decided they are going to be even less flexible. I ended up making a spreadsheet to include our plans and sent it to a bunch of neighborhood families in hopes of better carpool coordination!

[sdlaura]

pinkpeony I do a Google sheet spreadsheet every year so it’s easy to share and coordinate with other families!

[livinitup]

Feb 2, 2024 13:02:17 GMT -5 hermione said:

Anyone else want to rant about the cost and times? WHY do they schedule 10am-3pm. That works for absolutely no working parent.

So far we are at $1410 and have 5/11 weeks covered - hopefully. I am worried about dates overlapping for a couple. Hoping to stay under $3k.

I had the SAME question 5+ years ago when our camp was child care, too. I may be wrong, but I think it is because they have camp activities scheduled from 9 am - 3 pm (ours started at 9 am). So “start time” was 9 am, ended at 3 pm. For an additional fee (grrr!), they had drop off as early as 7 am and pick up as late as 6 pm. Those times were very unstructured and staffed differently.

And in case anyone would benefit from hearing this, camp fees “count” for FSA child care accounts as reimbursable.

[InBetweenDays]

Do you have a local Boys & Girls Club near you? Our kids did that for years and it was great. I think it's now about $350/week and it is full day (we're in a HCOL area). They would have one club day per week (where they stayed at the club) but the rest of the week they'd do field trips. We'd usually let the kids choose two specialty type camps (usually sports or cooking) but then the rest of the weeks they did B&GC.

[pugz]

hermione our library has a lot of teen programming especially in the summer. Both new libraries have special video gaming rooms, one has a recording studio, D&D club. It's hoppin.

[scm1011]

We're lucky that our city runs a heavily subsidized all-day rec camp for ~$170 per week, which includes fantastic weekly field trips. Sooo my kids do that for most of the summer. I also signed them up for more "affordable" specialty camps to switch it up a little and cover shoulder weeks (girl scout camp for DD, STEM camp for DS, and gymnastics camp for both). Those run around $400 per week.

[pandorica]

Feb 2, 2024 21:06:59 GMT -5 sdlaura said:

pandorica $360 a week is on the cheaper end for here. Standard for the y but specialty camps are way more for us.

Just about every other camp does seem to be more than that, just based on Y daycare rates I expected it to be cheaper!

[hermione]

Feb 6, 2024 10:22:51 GMT -5 pugz said:

hermione our library has a lot of teen programming especially in the summer. Both new libraries have special video gaming rooms, one has a recording studio, D&D club. It's hoppin.

We're hoppin too! We just expect a parent to be with them if they are under 11.

[ssmjlm]

I’m lucky that I have family who can fill in because our offerings are horrible. There’s 1 full time option through the schools contracted program, but it’s not great and pricey for what you get.

She’ll do 2 weeks of horseback riding, one week of art, one week of volleyball, at least one week of gymnastics.

We’re going to universal the week after she gets out and we have our week at the beach.

Plus she has the pool so I’m hoping some friends can come over and swim and I’ll post up at the dining room table where I can see them.

[niq]

I am back in this thread to vent about half day camps for elementary schoolers again. ARGH!

[waverly]

Feb 8, 2024 17:56:30 GMT -5 niq said:

I am back in this thread to vent about half day camps for elementary schoolers again. ARGH!

Totally agree!

We have camps here that are 9-10:30 through the high school. Like what’s the point? And then we have sports camps that are 9-12. The 12 pick up is such a PITA that I swore off of them.

Safety camp and bike camp were also 1.5 hours per day.

[ssmjlm]

Feb 8, 2024 17:56:30 GMT -5 niq said:

I am back in this thread to vent about half day camps for elementary schoolers again. ARGH!

10-2 is totally workable!


Said no working parent EVER!

[sdlaura]

Yeah, I live in a beach town and there’s a super popular beach kids/junior lifeguards camp that seems like a rite of passage for all the kids here. And it does teach ocean safety, which is great. But it’s only 9-12 for two weeks, and the pickup/drop off situation is a giant pain too. So we’ve never done it.

[SusanBAnthony]

Nothing makes me happier than having 0 camps to schedule this year since they are 14 and 16 years old!

When we were in the thick of it it was AWFUL. They hated the school aftercare camps. They got invited to a special camp through school and we had to say no because the hours were like 9-3 and it was a 20 minute drive. Even week long sleep away camp ended at freaking 11 am on a Fri so I had to take a half day of vacation on top of spending 💰💰💰 on camp so I could work. We ended up depending on my parents who were still working but had a teenager neighbor who would watch the kids at their house.

It was so stressful every year. Absolutely the worst.

There has to be a better way. If someone in my area came up with an actual full day camp solution for 8-13 year olds they would never have trouble filling up the spots.

[polarbearfans]

My daughter wants to start doing other camps than the one I typically do, but the hours are so horrible and super expensive. The camp she is going to do has hours of 7am-6pm with the extended care option that is extremely affordable. The price is very comparable to the camps with shorter hours like 9-12. I am allowing 2 weeks at alternative camps. One a sleep away and the other a day camp but I will use a week of vacation time for the day camp to have some me time and we will do some fun things in our local area.

[gretchenindisguise]

Feb 11, 2024 10:17:00 GMT -5 sdlaura said:

Yeah, I live in a beach town and there’s a super popular beach kids/junior lifeguards camp that seems like a rite of passage for all the kids here. And it does teach ocean safety, which is great. But it’s only 9-12 for two weeks, and the pickup/drop off situation is a giant pain too. So we’ve never done it.

We haven’t either. 🤷‍♀️

[sdlaura]

gretchenindisguise every year I'm like "hey kids, if you really want to do it, I'll find a babysitter to pick you up after and hang at the beach or we'll do it when grandparents can help" or whatever, and they're just like "eh, no need." So while I would like them to have the ocean safety stuff, I'm not going to go through the really annoying logistics of it if my kids don't care. Glad to hear my kids aren't the only ones in our town not doing it

[hbomdiggity]

I have held off* booking camps this year because there are so many balls in the air. Not good. I’ve already had to beg a camp for extra space (shockingly they did hold back a few spots for return campers).

Can we also talk pricing? We’ve done a specific camp for the past 2 years. It is well run and they transport them to different spots, so it is typically the most spendy we do. But it’s now $699/week! That’s for 9-3, After care until 5pm is another $120. Yowsa.

DS turns 9 but says he isn’t ready for sleep away camp yet. But with these camp hours, hoping we can add in overnight to give us a reprieve on racing to pickup.

[waverly]

So far I have booked:

Camp Grandma requiring 2 days off work for driving to Grandma's, price is $0 though.  We could maybe drive Sunday and Friday if there is no soccer game on Sunday and let's be honest there will be.  

Soccer Camp 9-3, reasonably ish priced

Girl Scout Camp (DD 11), 9-3 $125 and they provide food, all volunteers

I still need to book:

2 sleepaway camps (one reasonable, one $$)

Summer vacation rental house

[pinkdutchtulips]

When R was in elementary school the Y offered a summer camp that went from 7a-6p daily. It was costly, $1k/month, but as a working parent it was a godsend. 

The downside was that you had to register w/in the first 3 days of signups (in February) or you were waitlisted.