I’m the PP who went to Santa Barbara. There were definitely many multicultural families and I met at least one family with two moms, one single mom traveling alone, and one family with two dads. There may have been more but that’s who I met.

Would love to try this out with our young kids. Is the family camp open to same-sex families and multicultural families or would such families feel uncomfortable?

Anonymous wrote:Are the beds horrible? I spent a night at Camp Letts once and it was one of the worst sleeping experiences I’ve ever had — I probably wouldn’t have been bothered as a kid but it was painful as an adult. Do you bring your own mattresses?

It's a summer camp, not the Ritz. No, we suck it up on the flimsy camp mattresses for a long weekend and enjoy it

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I did get a massage at family camp and the masseuse told me that the return clients tend to sign up for fewer and fewer activities each year, and I do see how just opting out while kids are busy would make it more relaxing.

Ick. It's a massage therapist.

Pp here. Sorry about that, you’re right. Ironically it was a man and I almost wrote “the man who gave me my massage” (blanking on the term massage therapist at the time) but thought somehow that would bother people too.

^ great perspective

Long time Deer Valley family here. We loved the place but did experience one downside of the people coming back year after year and big extended families. Our first year was week 10 -- since it's close to the start of the school year it tends to have more turnover as kids get older. Loved it, met other people who were also pretty new, and thought we'd like it to be our every-year place so decided to try an earlier week (anticipating that we too would have the school conflicts in a few years). That earlier week was not good for us. DS, then 7, very friendly kid who never had trouble making friends found that most of the kids in his age group were in big groups of cousins and not at all welcoming of a new kid. DH and I didn't really connect with the adults either since they were very focused on their family groups (which I understand). Things did get a bit better later in the week as the counselor was able to nurture a connection for DS. But, we decided we'd better stich back to week 10 that was less dominated by big extended families. We were able to do that for a few years and then switched to Labor Day weekend and continued that until the kids were about 14-15.

So, definitely take a weekend to try it out and if you want a full week I'd recommend early or late in the summer where there tends to be more turnover (those are also the weeks you are most likely to get a spot too).

If you're interested in something not fancy but in great locations look at the Appalachian Mountain Club.
https://www.outdoors.org/destinations/

I can personally recommend the Echo Lake camp in Maine
https://amcecholakecamp.org/index.htm

Anonymous wrote:

I did get a massage at family camp and the masseuse told me that the return clients tend to sign up for fewer and fewer activities each year, and I do see how just opting out while kids are busy would make it more relaxing.

Ick. It's a massage therapist.

Np here. I’m in CA now but used to live in DC and first got the idea of a family camp 2-3 years ago when I told a friend that I needed a vacation where I wasn’t the planner, entertainment, meal organizer etc. We’re both from New England originally and she said friends loved their family camp in Maine. I don’t know which that was, but googling it looks like there were a few. Asking around I heard from a few friends that go to Tyler Place and completely love it / return again.

For us in CA I found Montecito Family Lodge (in a National Park) and Santa Barbara Family Vacation Center. The lodge only had one room cabins left and at the time the area had recently had a forest fire so I picked the vacation center.

While you probably won’t travel that far, I can share some of my experience that I think might be applicable to other camps (and things that might not be):

We went two summers ago. We actually had to leave midway through due to Covid (which I think we’d picked up before hand) and they were great about refunding. We stayed in dorms - each family gets a suite (ours was two rooms) and for the adults they push the beds together and pit a mattress topper across to make it a king. So it wasn’t glamorous but it also wasn’t sleeping in a tent. The kids (5 and 9 then; so 7 and 11 now) have been begging to go back so we’re returning this summer. We’re not alums, though many people are.

We were surprised how many people have gone for 10 or more years, coordinate to be there at the same time as other friends, and the counselors often grew up going there as well. Everyone was welcoming to us a newcomers though.

Because the kids’ programming starts at 9 am, breakfast was at 8 am. The cafeteria we all ate in was right there but we still had to get up, do sunscreen / get kids ready and get them to breakfast so there was no sleeping in (or at least not for both of us). There were lots of optional adult activities - this worked well for my husband and me as I’m quite extroverted and he’s quite introverted. I could go off with a group to kayak or hike or we could go together (we did a food tour together).

When on campus, everything / everyone was situated around one quad. This had pros and cons. My children - especially my 9 year old - could come and go from activities on her own. (Forth grade and up doesn’t require a parent pickup) kids of all ages would gather outside planned activities and play horseshoes or volleyball etc. They had a bounce house set up almost the whole time which my 5 yr old loved. But it was outside the dorms and next to the pool so there wasn’t really a quiet place right on campus.

The balance of time with family and time on our own as a couple and time on our own as individuals was nice. I found things surprisingly exhausting even as an extrovert, but probably because I signed up for everything and maybe was getting sick! (Hubby and kids tested positive for Covid day 4 of our trip so we left, I tested positive 4 days later.)

I know people who hired camp counselors on their breaks (many were willing to babysit) to help during meals so they didn’t have to carry all the trays, pop up and down etc. My 9 year old could get her own food but my 7 year old needed more help and meals could feel a little rushed. So it wasn’t the total relaxation I imagined but I did have fun. My younger daughter in particular made a “best friend” almost immediately and the kids liked having a consistent friend group for the week. That said, I feel like family trips are getting easier and on our last (at my request) my husband planned more meals and the kids played well with random kids they met in the pool. It’s not the same as one consistent group for the week - which may be the big advantage of this style - and didn’t give us a break from our kids to be alone, but that’s less of a priority as they get a little older.

I did get a massage at family camp and the masseuse told me that the return clients tend to sign up for fewer and fewer activities each year, and I do see how just opting out while kids are busy would make it more relaxing.

OP here. Thanks to everyone for all the feedback, recommendations, and particularly to that one poster for the substack post. I agree that a weekend might be a great option to try it out (convenient since that all we’ll be able to get into anyway). I like the idea of going to a place people return to year after year, especially in this transient area.

I'm sending my 15 year old to Space Camp this summer. I went when I was 14. The family camps looked fun but my younger kid would not be into it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Uh, I think this is actually a rich white person thing. I mean, I took my kids my family Space Camp, but New England WASPy summer camp? That's...going to be a hard sell to someone who's already hesitant.

I'm not letting you get away that easily 😁

How was Space Camp as a family? I went by myself when I was 12 and it was one of the best weeks of my life but I wonder of it still holds up today or if it works as a family event.

We actually went to Aviation Challenge. I'm a former military pilot, so it was a little elementary for me, but the kids LOVED it. I talked to some of the parents who were at family Space Camp at the same time, and they said they were having a great time. I'd highly recommend either one!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We go to an all-inclusive dude ranch out West every year. We call it camp because it totally is a family camp even if it's technically called a ranch. Camp activities, bonfires, arts and crafts. They have a kids club and everything.

Would you mind sharing the details on this? We are interested in a family camp out West.

DP here, but we went to Drowsy Water Ranch in Colorado which was amazing. One family there had been going for 20 years! That was a one time thing for us though our daughter begged for years to go back and still says she is going to work there on summers during college. It is a tween girl's paradise to be with horses all day! Very expensive and don't forget the tip at the end of the week.

Thank you for coming back to this thread and sharing

Anonymous wrote:We’ve been to Tyler Place in VT. A lot of people really love it. We didn’t love it ourselves but YMMV.

We have friends who go everywhere and love it. It sounds like my idea of hell, but if you are a super-socializer, you would probably enjoy it.

Here's one in New England. https://camps.ymcaboston.org/sandy-island/sandy-island-dates-rates/