Former and current camp counselor here: PLEASE DON'T TIP. Particularly if your child is only there for a week, double for a half day camp. Stop adding stress to your life, stop with the tipping insanity.

If you're child goes to the same camp all summer and perhaps has a staff member or two they just love or has gone above and beyond, a token of appreciation (homemade card from the kid, starbucks card, etc) is okay. Seriously, the things I've kept through multiple moves, the most meaningful things, are the things the kids made for me.

I've got two kids who are camp counselors. Even for those really expensive camps, the money goes to the family that owns the camp, not my kids. (I suspect a lot of it also goes to liability insurance what with all the horseback riding, climbing towers, boats, swimming, etc.) My kids make about 200 dollars a week working 24/7 at a sleepaway camp full of really rich kids. Did you know that after your kids have been sent home on the buses the counselors fight over the designer clothes that have been left behind in various lost and found bins? Often that's their tip. So yes, if you can afford it, tip them. My son spent the summer changing and washing sheets for a kid who wet the bed every night. In that situation, you should definitely tip.

Good lord. Don't tip camp counselors. This tipping stuff has gone overboard!

Counselor pay is not great - sometimes under $5.00 an hour! And this is just outside bergen county nj. They take on the jobs for the love of the outdoors, being with kids and are told that the tips will justify their salary. Please tip!!!

My son works at a camp and the pay is not good - they rely on tips! Please tip!!!

Anonymous wrote:STOP THE TIPPING INSANITY!

You do NOT tip camp counselors.

+1000

We're at a similar (or maybe the same?) camp, where there isn't a ton of interaction between parents and staff. Still, we've been there for a few weeks in total, and DD really loves her counselors, so we're giving them a little item ($5-ish) next week. It's a tchotchke shaped like the animal their group is named after, but it's just for the two main counselors, not the sports or swim or whatever else teachers. I wouldn't have done it at all -- and didn't for our other camps -- except that I saw this animal item in a store and thought it would be a fun way to say thank you.

I honestly think this is crazy. There are a lot of staff at an average camp, my kids are changing camps every week or two, and the camps are already crazy expensive. Spending an extra $100 every two or three weeks on tips strikes me as nuts. Especially since I bet a significant number of these gift cards go unused. Not everyone is into Starbucks or Chipotle or whatever. Nuts, nuts, nuts.

We are still in preschool camp, but I gave gift cards to the teachers who were there in my child's group for the majority of the summer -- it ended up being 3.

I wouldn't expect tip at a weekly camp with a rotating staff, unless someone was really a standout.

Oh, man. I saw the header and thought "shit, another thing I didn't know was a thing and now have to deal with!" Thank goodness everyone else said no.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I worked full time at daycamps for 6 summers in 2004-2010. I had about 20 campers in my group and was tipped almost all, if not all. I thought that was pretty standard. I would get cash, gift cards, thank you cards, candles, bath and body works gift sets etc. All the counselors were regularly tipped.

Let me guess...you had the same 20 kids full time over the whole summer?

What OP is discussing is batshit insane...to tip counselors for a week of two hour days...when there are multiple counselors....NONONO!!!

And cuckoo-shit is proposing sending a pile of gift cards with her 5 year old for him to distribute on his own...totally bonkers and will not end well.

At ten dollars a pop....I'd literally have to spend over $1000 tipping counselors this summer if I followed the OP's logic.

$1000?? So you think a 6 year old will have 100 favorite camp counselors?

WTH is wrong with you people?

And what is wrong with OP giving her 6 year old 4 $10 gift cards and telling him/her to give to her favorite counselors?

I think that's super nice. Not necessary, but yes super nice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think tipping a camp counselor would be very awkward. They are going to wonder why you are just giving them money.

Sorry, I should have said gift. I was planning on doing $10 gift cards to Starbucks or iTunes.

I think gift cards are nice. I lean towards Starbucks or even Chipotle. or even Amazon. Don't do iTunes.

That said - you definitely don't need to tip them but they're kids/college students with not much money and would definitely appreciate it. If you have the money, go for it.

So should I send in a bunch of $10 gift cards with 6yo DS and let him distribute to his favorite counselors?

Camp has kiss and ride style drop off and pick up.

NO. Don't tip.

I give a bunch of 5 dollar card to one camp where my DS spent the entire summer when he was four. Never tipped again when we start doing weekly camps. I think some camps have 6 to 10 counselors. And I had no interaction with them whatsoever. Why do people feel the need to tip?

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I worked full time at daycamps for 6 summers in 2004-2010. I had about 20 campers in my group and was tipped almost all, if not all. I thought that was pretty standard. I would get cash, gift cards, thank you cards, candles, bath and body works gift sets etc. All the counselors were regularly tipped.

Let me guess...you had the same 20 kids full time over the whole summer?

What OP is discussing is batshit insane...to tip counselors for a week of two hour days...when there are multiple counselors....NONONO!!!

And cuckoo-shit is proposing sending a pile of gift cards with her 5 year old for him to distribute on his own...totally bonkers and will not end well.

At ten dollars a pop....I'd literally have to spend over $1000 tipping counselors this summer if I followed the OP's logic.

Wow. I worked full time at daycamps for 6 summers in 2004-2010. I had about 20 campers in my group and was tipped almost all, if not all. I thought that was pretty standard. I would get cash, gift cards, thank you cards, candles, bath and body works gift sets etc. All the counselors were regularly tipped.