Sleepaway Camp Tipping

[Anonymous]

Got the email tonight. Camp allows tipping and it is voluntary. Tips are pooled and split amongst all staff including those behind the scenes. Recommended amount is $20-40 per counselor per week. 5 counselors per bunk. My kid is there for 7 weeks. I have no issue tipping. But does $700-$1400 seem high to you?

[Anonymous]

Go to a better camp. Ours specifically says no tipping.

[Anonymous]

I was thinking like 20 bucks total. If I remember. 700 bucks sounds insane.

[Anonymous]

Ours does not allow tipping, either.

5 counselors per bunk sounds like a lot! That's crazy.

[Anonymous]

You can argued to ship your kid off for seven weeks but don’t want to tip the counselors?? Man you are cheap.

[Anonymous]

You’ll be there 7 weeks, so yes I can understand tipping $100 a week. Assuming the camper to staff ratio is about 7:1, each staff member gets $140 a week in tips, which doesn’t seem outrageous.

[Anonymous]

Tipping!!?? That is bonkers.

[Anonymous]

Yikes! That's a lot of money - no way I would tip that much.

[Anonymous]

A good quality camp does not rely on tipping to pay its counselors decently.

[Anonymous]

Huh? This is a thing?

[Anonymous]

I picked my kid up last weekend and there was no talk of tipping. Mentioned it to DH and he acted like I was crazy. Sure enough, when we did the hand off two counselors (main ones) were lovely and personable and hung around in a way that wasn't wrong at all but made me feel like maybe just maybe they were holding out for a tip. This camp was $4,600 for two weeks, so...yeah. We didn't tip. It was awkward.

[Anonymous]

I worked at a very traditional girls’ camp in Maine and tipping was mentioned only briefly to remind us that it was absolutely not ok and not allowed and not a thing. All of us counselors would have been embarrassed if a parent had tried it. It’s the kind of thing you do for a babysitter or a paid hourly instructor, like a ski or surf instructor. Yuck.

But maybe our campers were just especially wonderful? And I would have felt differently if I had spent a summer with awful children?

Anyway, I think this might be something that varies by camp and you might want to investigate it before pickup by talking to other parents. ACA policy prohibits tipping. Plenty of sleep away and sports camps are not ACA camps so their rules could vary.

[Anonymous]

I’d get $50 gift cards in thank you notes for the counselors directly working with your kid. $10 gift cards and notes for everyone else like cooks, directors, etc.

[Anonymous]

Camps pay their staff peanuts. You basically got a babysitter 24/7 for 7 weeks. I’d give each of the 5 $500 -$700 each- it seems cheap for a tip given that you didn’t have to do any patenting at all during that time. They’re also probably college students that could use some extra cash. Next time don’t send your kids to camp if you can’t afford to tip.

[Anonymous]

^^ this.

My child will work at a camp for 8 weeks (1 week of training plus 7 weeks in a bunk supervising children) and is being paid $1300 for the entire time. I am outraged by this, but apparently labor laws and minimum wage don't apply to summer camps/counselors. And, my child is happy there, working their tail off for peanuts, so who am I to complain.

Don't be cheap, tip the counselors