How do you plan your summer (camps)

[Anonymous]

I have 3 kids of different ages and interests (6-9) and I am wondering about planning our summer and especially summer camps now that the youngest one also has different interests and an opinion lol. For those who have been there and done that, any tips or words of wisdom? Where do you find good summer camps?

TIA

[Anonymous]

I don’t do separate locations with my three kids. Just too hard and time consuming. I work FT and have to do all drop offs and pickups.

I do rotate who gets to anchor the camp - sports, science, etc.

[Anonymous]

My kids are 6, 8, and 10.

I start a spreadsheet right around now for every camp I’m considering and put in weeks, cost, and if they have before/after care, registration opens, etc.

Then I have another spreadsheet with each week of the summer and start filling in camps. I have a first choice and second choice for each week.

I have found that my kids don’t like trying a new camp each week - so I don’t sign them up for less than 2 weeks at any camp. I also pick camps with multiple options at the same location so I don’t have to manage multiple pickups/drop offs.

Internet search and asking around is the best way to find camps - there are many, many camps in this area, so there isn’t really a single place to learn about them. And even then, it might not be a good fit for your kids - there have been three camps which were absolutely not the right for for my kids, and we just didn’t repeat those again. And one camp has been such a huge hit that my kids want to do it all summer (but I want them to branch out a bit, so I usually sign them up for at least 3 different camps).

[Anonymous]

Are these all day camps for childcare, or just camps for fun? That would make a difference.

[Anonymous]

I don't know really - we do longer camps - not these one week things. Camp is eight weeks long. Find out about them from other people - friends, coworkers, neighbors, other kids parents, etc.

[Anonymous]

We always organized summer like this:
10 weeks of summer
1-6: hired babysitter to watch all three kids, they all did summer swim team and activities around our neighborhood.
7: sleep away camp, each kid picked their own from ones that were affordable
8: family vacation
9 and 10: day camp, same location for all three.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are 6, 8, and 10.

I start a spreadsheet right around now for every camp I’m considering and put in weeks, cost, and if they have before/after care, registration opens, etc.

Then I have another spreadsheet with each week of the summer and start filling in camps. I have a first choice and second choice for each week.

I have found that my kids don’t like trying a new camp each week - so I don’t sign them up for less than 2 weeks at any camp. I also pick camps with multiple options at the same location so I don’t have to manage multiple pickups/drop offs.

Internet search and asking around is the best way to find camps - there are many, many camps in this area, so there isn’t really a single place to learn about them. And even then, it might not be a good fit for your kids - there have been three camps which were absolutely not the right for for my kids, and we just didn’t repeat those again. And one camp has been such a huge hit that my kids want to do it all summer (but I want them to branch out a bit, so I usually sign them up for at least 3 different camps).

OP here. This is helpful, thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are these all day camps for childcare, or just camps for fun? That would make a difference.

OP here. Sorry, what is the difference? My elementary school aged kids don't have school during the summer and I am looking for something fun, that's not a logistical nightmare and will not break the bank to keep them occupied.

[Anonymous]

I only have 2 kids, so I get that this 50% simpler than what you are asking about.

But I always made a spreadsheet over the winter with a column for each kid, row for each week. Blacked out any family vacation weeks or similar. Then listed the options for each kid for each week. Sat down with each kid individually to get 2-3 top picks, any absolute non-interests (with the caveat that they couldn’t veto everything in a given week, they might have to choose the least bad options), and a rough order of preference for everything in between. Then I’d take those preferences, work out the drop-off/pick-up timing, figure out the best way to keep them geographically close for as many weeks as possible, and move things around until I fit as many of their preferences as I could. They always understood they may not get all of their preferences, but we were almost always able to get the top few.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We always organized summer like this:
10 weeks of summer
1-6: hired babysitter to watch all three kids, they all did summer swim team and activities around our neighborhood.
7: sleep away camp, each kid picked their own from ones that were affordable
8: family vacation
9 and 10: day camp, same location for all three.

We just started almost this exact approach with our kids last summer and really liked it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are these all day camps for childcare, or just camps for fun? That would make a difference.

OP here. Sorry, what is the difference? My elementary school aged kids don't have school during the summer and I am looking for something fun, that's not a logistical nightmare and will not break the bank to keep them occupied.

With three kids, it’s expensive. I’m the PP above with the three kids and we budget $500 per week per kid for camp. And it’s all due by May, so if it’s 10 weeks of camp, we have paid out $15,000 for the summer. Even if you did cheaper options (like $300 per week per kid), it’s still like $9,000 for 10 weeks.

That’s a lot of money to spend if it’s not childcare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are these all day camps for childcare, or just camps for fun? That would make a difference.

OP here. Sorry, what is the difference? My elementary school aged kids don't have school during the summer and I am looking for something fun, that's not a logistical nightmare and will not break the bank to keep them occupied.

I think PP meant do you need full time, every week (childcare) vs you're a SAHM looking to enrich the summer. I was a SAHM but knew the kids would benefit from a week or 2 of camp so I picked things based on their interests and what friends were doing. Bonus points for a good lunch program so I didn't need to pack and more bonus points if it was a fit for all 3 kids. I wasn't looking for they'd enjoy for multiple weeks, could splurge on price since it wasn't many weeks and prioritized learning something (sport or whatever) over a general camp.

My only advice for OP is that your camp needs change from year to year. It's kind of hard to find the balance between fun and affordable. And your kids' temperament matter a lot. Some kids love camp. Some don't, so you really need to make sure they're going with friends and it's a good fit for them.

[Anonymous]

I did a balance of "you have to do this camp because it's easiest for me" and letting them choose.

I only have 2 though. So last summer we had 6 weeks of camp, and I choose about half the camps bc they were cheap and close by. I let them have some say in the rest. It was hectic on the weeks they were in 2 different places, not necessarily close to each other.

We'll see what we do this year! With 3, I'd let each of them choose, but they all go together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We always organized summer like this:
10 weeks of summer
1-6: hired babysitter to watch all three kids, they all did summer swim team and activities around our neighborhood.
7: sleep away camp, each kid picked their own from ones that were affordable
8: family vacation
9 and 10: day camp, same location for all three.

We just started almost this exact approach with our kids last summer and really liked it.

The hard part of this is finding a babysitter for full time work for only 6 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We always organized summer like this:
10 weeks of summer
1-6: hired babysitter to watch all three kids, they all did summer swim team and activities around our neighborhood.
7: sleep away camp, each kid picked their own from ones that were affordable
8: family vacation
9 and 10: day camp, same location for all three.

We just started almost this exact approach with our kids last summer and really liked it.

The hard part of this is finding a babysitter for full time work for only 6 weeks.

I had no trouble at ALL last summer. I posted on care.com (on the rec of someone in my neighborhood who said they've done this every summer with no issue) and seriously had like 5 responses within hours, talked to multiple candidates (almost all college or graduate students here for the summer). I was surprised. Since college students often go back in August, the time frame of covering swim season works pretty well for them. And while they want to make money, it seemed like having some weeks off was a plus for them (beginning of June). So, I wouldn't count this out based on that. There is also a georgetown babysitter facebook page that had constant posts about college students looking for summer nanny gigs.