Now that we have two kids in summer day camps, we are taking a staycation at the end of August instead of traveling, since camp in DC is so expensive.

My kids camps cost about the same. It seems silly to compare the camp v vacation cost. Camp is a necessity for you to work so it is an absolute line item in the summer. For our family, nearly ever week in the summer is filled with a camp. When the kids were younger, I had a FT nanny. All of this was deducted from my earnings so there was clearly a trade off in the camp/nanny vs. keeping kids at home.

Vacations are usually no more than 1-2 weeks and involve a considerable large expense (5 people vs. 1-2 kids). It also entails time off of work, potentially no earnings for self-employed, airfare, hotel, food, entertainment, etc. and is a seriously larger pot. EG, our trip last year was 3-4x our total camp costs, and that was a 2 week vacation vs. 10 weeks of summer camp.

You cannot compare the two costs. Plus, a summer vacation is usually on top of all that you have to spend for camps. Summer is EXPENSIVE

We have two and send them to $500 per week camps. My kind of vacations cost more than 1,000 per week.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What types of camps are $600-$800/wk? Just wondering

I’m in a NY suburb. My kids day camp is 7k and bussing is another 1200. These are good but not extravagant camps. Some of the more expensive ones are like 11-13k for day camp in my area. Sleepaway runs 12-18 depending on how fancy the camp is.

What are you trying to say?

Trying to say that the camp costs quoted by OP are on the average to lower end of costs these days, and camp is a pretty common way for kids to spend summers. Therefore her husbands argument comparing camp to vacation seems like comparing apples to oranges, particularly because it doesn’t sound like they’re blowing money on particularly extravagant camps.

When it comes to vacation, I am tired for before (planning), during and after vacation. Kids love it.

There is nothing wrong with cheaper camps, but I don't really trust some camps that are high ratio, disorganized, too boring or run mostly by teenagers/volunteers. I think I would rather pay more for ease of mind knowing that my kids would enjoy it due to better review and fun activities.

My kids are little and we do cheaper camps and save $ for vacations. When older we will do more specialized camps based on their interests. Also consider when you have 2 that having them in the same camp saves a lot of driving!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they are 2 separate issues. $600-$800 seems a lot to me for day camp.
My kid is 11 now and her range for day camp has been $250-$450.
Anything above $400 I consider pricy.

Vacation is a different budget.

I agree those camps sound pricey to me. I have two teens who did camps every year when they were younger and anything over $400 was off the table.

Bolded for effect.

Things have changed. My youngest has recently done the Navy swim camp (day only) and it's almost twice your limit.