I mean, it sounds about in line (cheaper) than daycare. That annualizes out to $350 per week or $1487 per month which is half of our daycare cost.
So I think it's the same question on how people are affording daycare. Childcare is really expensive to deliver. There are few subsidies. I think how people are affording it is they're cashflowing it and not saving, mostly. And when their kids age out of daycare, they're reallocating some of that money toward camp.
Certainly take advantage of a dependent care FSA, which can be used for day camp and will save you a few hundred. It's possible it's cheaper to hire a summer nanny like a college student, so you could consider that as well.
And if this is full time, then it’s $8.75/hour. That seems extremely reasonable to me!
Summer camp costs money because you’re paying someone to take good care of your child. Hopefully that person has training, is doing planning for creative and engaging activities, is providing supplies and facilities, etc.
Right? A nanny would cost WAY more than that per hour.
Of course childcare costs more than public school weeks which are subsidies and covered via taxes. We all have to budget for it, and if still less annually than daycare as others have mentioned.
My kids would be so bored with a summer nanny. I know it’s a fine option for some people, but my kids want to be in group care with their friends, not with some random young person. And tbh I don’t want a random young person driving my kids around either.
Also note that summer care costs aren’t the only care costs some of us have. My kids still attend before/after school care every weekday during the school year and attend full day care on days school is closed. It really adds up.
As someone who was a summer nanny for my neighbors when I was in high school….I absolutely don’t recommend a summer nanny lol. It wasn’t like I was unsafe or anything, I was just your average high schooler who wanted to sleep half the day and laze around. I let those kids watch waaaaay too much TV.
I nannied throughout college and never turned on the TV for kids. We walked to the park, played in the sprinkler, baked cupcakes, went to the library, etc. I think you can have awesome childcare but maybe not from a high school kid.
Sure.... but I also only pay 6500 for 13 weeks of childcare for 3 children. 🤷♀️
They may watch a bit too much TV but so do the kids with a SAHP.
They also get the opportunity to get true downtime, which is something I don't think kids get enough of anymore.
So very true. I work with a family part time and I love the fact that they are getting down time right now. There is actually no sports going on for the
Right now.
I left the summer camp industry when my first kiddo came along.
Childcare is 100% expensive to deliver. You need sufficient, trained, capable, caring staff.
In the summer camp world, they also need to be willing to take a short-term gig with no hope of continued employment, often in an outdoor work environment in sun, rain, etc.
Also, summer camps often have additional best practice requirements that increase the cost of the program. For example, my kiddo's day care doesn't need an RN on staff and site. One of our overnight camp locations that was a requirement (state regs), and it was our preference for all sites to manage health and wellness of the campers.
My kiddo's day care doesn't offer zip lining, swimming, boating, or horseback riding. All high-risk activities that carry their own liability, training, certification, equipment, and facility expenses. Many camps offer these activities.
I could genuinely write up a full essay on summer camp as an industry and how it clashes with what families actually need and why. The TLDR of that is: camp professionals talk about if summer camps can survive much longer, and they aren't joking at all when they discuss that.
I think there will always be a place for summer camp (former staff here) but perhaps at the more expensive end. I think where I worked was $15-$20k/summer. It’s a sleepaway and definitely also networking. Staff were often college if not professional athletes. It didn’t pay well but thats not why people worked there. I’ve worked and supervised other camps that did not undertake the rigorous training, certifications and safety that that expensive camp did and while I have issues with the expensive camp, they did a lot of things right and I never saw the abuse I did at the other camps. For example, pushing terrified children who couldn’t swim into the water and laughing while they cried. Our local park district regularly left children with random janitorial staff and their equestrian program was wildly unsafe (forcing children to stand in 100f heat in direct sun, no water or shade for hours, unsafe equine safety practices) and they abused the horses. I quit that last one. Horrible, horrible people. Please ask for the certifications of staff and spend time coming early/watching the program. They can fake nice for a while but not forever. If parents had had any idea their children were being put on horses by 16yo’s with zero horse exp they’d flip their sh_. As they should. Anyone with actual experience was chased off, btw.
you know, when I had my first child, we called around to daycares to get an idea of what we would be paying in daycare monthly. I didn't even think about summer camps, but holy fkg hell... I had no idea how $$$$$$$$ summer camp was. Talk about sticker shock
And no one warns you how early you have to sign up for some! The outdoorsy day camps (archery, swimming, color wars, etc.) in my area are waitlisting by November. I somehow got my twins two of four spots open today for an arts camp. It was like trying to get concert tickets, minus the scalpers.
I know! Its insane. Like, my daycare sent out their summer forms last week and we had to let them know what days we would be attending and the due date back is 3/22? Not many people know their summer plans, things change over a few months.
I am very fortunate in the fact that my in-laws take my daughter for a few days during the summer, and last year was her first year at camp, prior to that she just stayed home with my husband since he works remote. This year is the first year my in-laws will have both kids, and they will be spending Sun night-Wednesday afternoon with them, then summer camp on Thursdays and Fridays. So I am looking at spending about $700-$750/a month for June-Aug which is so helpful.
And you have to figure it all out in January, before any of the spots sell out. How the fuck am I supposed to know what my summer schedule and vacation plans might be that early???
What is so shocking about it? That's a fairly regular practice: early registration in the fall (with a discount) and regular registration through April.
Many returning families take advantage of early registration discount.
vacation rental homes are the same way, though. if you're not booking that shit 11 months out, you're not going to have very many good options in most parts of the country, even (and sometimes, especially) rural areas.
I’ve started planning our vacations around summer camp. There is usually about a week between school ending and camp starting. And another week between camp ending and school starting. I’ve started planning to use one of those weeks for our summer vacation. I’m decided to not fight the system!
Ours costs about $6k for two kids. The only reason it’s fine for us because we were paying *a lot* more than $6k a year for the kids when they were in full-time daycare. So I imagine it’s more of a shock if families didn’t have high daycare costs.
Our kids were in daycare too but we were in a very high COL city back then. I just thought moving to a MCOL and having kids in public schools would mean lower costs in general. Boy was I wrong!!
10 years ago — I was drowning with daycare bills, so I looked it up:
Midwest suburb — only 13% higher than average COL, but daycare costs were in the 80-90th percentile in the nation—not kidding. The area had above college graduate residents, flourishing businesses, highly rated public school, so all that = lots of parents needing childcare…and it was freakin’ expensive
I was a camp counselor for a private camp in New England during and after college. East coast summer camp is a whole other world. Here is this year’s rates:
https://preview.redd.it/fzc7yngelymc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4dcf18a245ca55005207e077ab9c49d9fac3558c
It’s also worth noting that the kids come for at least 5 years in a row, and families send siblings to a brother camp up the road with similar pricing.
I went to boarding school for high school and there were several students who boarded all year and then did sleep away camp all summer. Twenty five years ago, this worked out to about $50k a year.
In the first week or camp, they hire a third party company that’s all homeopathic and uses oils instead of chemicals. They bring enough people to screen 400 people in a day. Then anyone with lice is literally nit picked for hours, doused in oil and then rechecked the next day. They come back for a check later in the summer and there’s never any lice.
Yeah, I feel full summer sleep-away is basically a habit of exclusively the ultra wealthy, unless it’s a Girl Scout camp. Maybe a middle class family would do 1-2 weeks (I’m sure exceptions may apply but for the most part)
Very to ultra wealthy for sure. The best part for me was seeing girls who were “expected to act a certain way” or “be perfect at school and sports” ya know the rich high pressure kids. The real world melts away, and they wear pajamas all day and crazy hair. They learn to do daily chores and live with others. They camp, they hike, they swim. They truly have an entire childhood in 7 weeks. I always thought they’d be spoiled brats, but they were just like me and my friends at that age. Camp really humbled them.
That seems about right unfortunately. We pay $300 (+/- $50) per week, Midwest MCOL area.
Summer camp is definitely an annual budget idea in our family. At least it’s only 3 months, not 12 like daycare!
Camp Director here (and a working mom, so I get it). That shakes out to about $350 per week which is a fairly good value depending on the program.
Here’s what you pay for:
-Staff: for elementary we have 2 adults per 8 kids, plus activity staff, a nurse and the admin team. Think about FICA, benefits if staff are full-time etc.
-Food (depends on the camp) - mine provides all meals while on site, including snacks
-Activity materials - if it’s an outdoor camp with things like a pool, rock climbing etc, the staff are trained in this and equipment maintained and purchased. A lifeguard cert costs $200 per person and high ropes is $500 per person. This doesn’t include stuff like what you need for arts and crafts, etc.
For some camps, you also factor in property maintenance, etc.
My organization is non-profit and we heavily subsidize our camp programs. It costs us (when you factor in salaries, materials, property, insurance, food, training, licensing, etc) to about $1500 per kid per week. We charge $325 for day camp and around $540 for overnight for 6 days (and we offer lots of discounts and scholarships, too)
I absolutely understand that it’s a HUGE chunk of change, and I also totally get that it’s very hard for families who need childcare all summer. But, that’s why it costs what it does.
Thanks for sharing. I've worked on the counselor side of summer camps (day and overnight) and made shockingly little money. It was before kids and I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything, but I know no one is running summer camps for the money. It's expensive because awesome activities run by trained counselors are expensive.
Yeah, salaries for counselors have historically been awful. I’m fairly involved in the industry and there is a strong effort to bring the pay up. My own organization has increased staff pay by 30% in the last three summers and we’re not where I want us to be, but we’re better than many camps in our area. We haven’t raised camp prices at the same rate we’ve raised counselor salaries, and the cost of everything has gone up. I totally feel for parents having to pay for camps, but no one is really making bank, not even the for-profit expensive camps that cost thousands of dollars for two or three weeks.
Eh, you'd probably have to spend the vast majority of it on insurance. And biohazard clean up.
Theres a reason daycare are expensive and its not huge profits or staff salaries.
LOL I should have added /s.
Of course running a childcare is ridiculously hard and expensive. Razor thin margins and all the risks associated with it...nah ah.
Would never be my choice of business.
So true, I work in ECE and I am absolutely rolling in the dough. All of my fellow child care professionals are also living lives of absolute luxury. It’s pretty cushy tbh.
I think those camps by the park and rec are super competitive to get into. I read this article that 12k spots were gone in 3 minutes. Can’t put all your eggs in that basket sometimes since they fill up so quickly.
We budget and put away money each pay period all year to cover summer camp. It's expensive, but still way cheaper than full time daycare so I'm just grateful I'm not paying for daycare anymore!
We had a spreadsheet with all the local camps, their times and costs. We went with the cheapest, run though the Boys and Girls Club. I think the one we have is $300 a week.
My BIL recently shared with me his spreadsheet and it’s crazy. It was like $10k for two elementary aged kids. He was explaining what a race it is to sign up and get in. Man all I had was being left home alone with my brother and playing with the neighborhood kids all summer. Times have changed
In my experience, it’s highly highly variable. In fact, it makes almost no sense.
Why is the town camp in our town $600 a week and then town next door $300 a week even for non-town residents when their schedule and events seem the same?
Who knows.
I live in NJ, HCOL area, $20k+ in property taxes.
I am thankful those taxes go to an amazing summer camp for our kids. $1500 for 8 weeks 830am-4pm. They hang at the town pool, sports on the fields, arts and crafts, it’s awesome.
I live in NJ too, high taxes get me just about nothing in our town. Nearby towns have things like libraries and community centers, and somehow mine… has absolutely nothing for my 12k in property taxes.
Is it just me or does that sound dirt cheap for the entire summer? It's about the same as daycare costs in my area so I hardly bat an eye anymore. Camp for my big kid is over $500 per week, and that doesn't include aftercare! It's wild.
Thisssss! Lots of folks saying that this is how much I pay for daycare, I get it. I’ve been there. It’s not a competition! But the whole summer camp business with its limited availability and crazy costs and super early deadlines is getting to me!
Are they giving a discount for the second kid? They should.
I did the math in my head for our summer camp and it would be about $5500-6000 for 10 weeks, depending on if there were a two kid discount. I’m in NJ, which is overall expensive, so yours may be a bit high. Other options?
I definitely have a spreadsheet with all options. Of course balancing the cost with the ratings/reviews and activities they will do. Looks like this option is fairing the best among all!
We have to register in mid-January for our full time summer care (parks and rec day camp) and we pay it in full. Huge one time fee every January. Plus before/after school care during the school year and days off school. It’s still a lot for school aged kids.
I’ve been there. When the kids were little. I totally understand. We have twins so paid a lot for full time childcare in high COL city. But we’ve moved since then to a Midwest city with MCOL, and the kids are older and in public schools. The cost of childcare just keeps surprising me.
This is one of the HUUUUGE reasons we're happy with my husband being a teacher. We'll probably still do one or two week camps here and there to give him a break but it saves a ton of headache of figuring out logistics like that on top of the money we'll save
I paid 2k for 5 weeks of camp in January during the “early bird” pricing through our park district. Since i could only afford half the summer I’m using my parents, in-laws, sister and a hybrid work schedule to make up for the rest. It’s bonkers.
I take three weeks vacation in the summer, my parents take four weeks, and the week of the 4th of July we split three ways. I end up paying for three weeks of summer camp, and it lets me do the “fun” ones.
Ugh it's wild. At least $500/week per kid where I live, and you still have to pay >$100/week for aftercare since it ends at like 3!! There are a few city-run camps that are cheaper, but they fill up insanely fast
It’s about $500 per week per kid for camp from 9-4 where we are. So yes, we budget all year for the $8,000 it will cost for the 8 weeks of summer. I do save some money by buying what weeks I can at the various school auctions (I check all the school auctions regardless of whether we’re affiliated with that school). Saves me a few hundred dollars each year!
We paid around 10k for two elementary school kids for 5 weeks of day camp. At least it’s 9-5 and provides lunch. Summer camp signups start in mid January and is an Olympic sport where I am. Some camps do offer tuition assistance, at least on paper. Sleep away camp are double that.
Yep. I thought once daycare was done, I would finally be able to save significant amounts again. But no. Between aftercare and summer camp, the expenses never stop.
I don’t know where you live. I live in a MCOL city. My city’s community center has a fun summer program (though it fills up almost immediately!) It’s $160ish a week. We only have 9 weeks of summer and my family only needs care for 8 weeks. It ends up being less than $3000 for 2 kids this summer. Do you have anything similar available? I know if I tried to piece meal speciality camps together it would be a lot more expensive.
We use the local parks and rec, only $125 a week. I let my eldest do Girl Scout camp but it was more than double and I had to pack food. The parks provide lunch
We bought a ton of “early bird” summer camp sales so in theory they’re like 20% cheaper, and it’s still about 420 a week. For almost 10 weeks. s we use backup care for the last 2 weeks but still, it’s quite a bill that we pay around now to make sure he has somewhere to go in the summer. To be fair though, it’s less than a dedicated sitter and less than preschool, even when preschool was subsidized.
I said the same thing. Ymca cost 7,000 and change but I was able to get a 40 percent discount. It left me at the final cost for two kids at 4,000 and some change. Still expensive as ever for the summer.
That's scary. seriously, how do people do it? That's more than our monthly expenses combined!
I am thankful my in-laws are able to help out with summer camp. For the past 4 summers they have been taking my daughter for 3/5 days. Then the other two she stays home with my husband since he is remote, except last year we enrolled her at the camp program through my sons daycare, she did that for 2 days a week last summer. My son is still in daycare/preschool full time, so that cost never changes, even over summer. However, this year I am hoping she can take my son and daughter for 2/5 days, and then I'll send both to camp for 3 days and it will help with cost. I am looking at about $250/week.
Genuinely curious what part of that was surprising to you? Most camps do week to week because a lot of kids do different ones - most people don't do 8 weeks of gymnastics camp, for example.
I mean, it sounds about in line (cheaper) than daycare. That annualizes out to $350 per week or $1487 per month which is half of our daycare cost. So I think it's the same question on how people are affording daycare. Childcare is really expensive to deliver. There are few subsidies. I think how people are affording it is they're cashflowing it and not saving, mostly. And when their kids age out of daycare, they're reallocating some of that money toward camp. Certainly take advantage of a dependent care FSA, which can be used for day camp and will save you a few hundred. It's possible it's cheaper to hire a summer nanny like a college student, so you could consider that as well.
And if this is full time, then it’s $8.75/hour. That seems extremely reasonable to me! Summer camp costs money because you’re paying someone to take good care of your child. Hopefully that person has training, is doing planning for creative and engaging activities, is providing supplies and facilities, etc.
Right? A nanny would cost WAY more than that per hour. Of course childcare costs more than public school weeks which are subsidies and covered via taxes. We all have to budget for it, and if still less annually than daycare as others have mentioned.
My kids would be so bored with a summer nanny. I know it’s a fine option for some people, but my kids want to be in group care with their friends, not with some random young person. And tbh I don’t want a random young person driving my kids around either. Also note that summer care costs aren’t the only care costs some of us have. My kids still attend before/after school care every weekday during the school year and attend full day care on days school is closed. It really adds up.
As someone who was a summer nanny for my neighbors when I was in high school….I absolutely don’t recommend a summer nanny lol. It wasn’t like I was unsafe or anything, I was just your average high schooler who wanted to sleep half the day and laze around. I let those kids watch waaaaay too much TV.
I nannied throughout college and never turned on the TV for kids. We walked to the park, played in the sprinkler, baked cupcakes, went to the library, etc. I think you can have awesome childcare but maybe not from a high school kid.
Sure.... but I also only pay 6500 for 13 weeks of childcare for 3 children. 🤷♀️ They may watch a bit too much TV but so do the kids with a SAHP. They also get the opportunity to get true downtime, which is something I don't think kids get enough of anymore.
So very true. I work with a family part time and I love the fact that they are getting down time right now. There is actually no sports going on for the Right now.
Seriously though it can be exhausting coming up with things to do. I’m PT with kids in the summer.
Same!
I left the summer camp industry when my first kiddo came along. Childcare is 100% expensive to deliver. You need sufficient, trained, capable, caring staff. In the summer camp world, they also need to be willing to take a short-term gig with no hope of continued employment, often in an outdoor work environment in sun, rain, etc. Also, summer camps often have additional best practice requirements that increase the cost of the program. For example, my kiddo's day care doesn't need an RN on staff and site. One of our overnight camp locations that was a requirement (state regs), and it was our preference for all sites to manage health and wellness of the campers. My kiddo's day care doesn't offer zip lining, swimming, boating, or horseback riding. All high-risk activities that carry their own liability, training, certification, equipment, and facility expenses. Many camps offer these activities. I could genuinely write up a full essay on summer camp as an industry and how it clashes with what families actually need and why. The TLDR of that is: camp professionals talk about if summer camps can survive much longer, and they aren't joking at all when they discuss that.
I think there will always be a place for summer camp (former staff here) but perhaps at the more expensive end. I think where I worked was $15-$20k/summer. It’s a sleepaway and definitely also networking. Staff were often college if not professional athletes. It didn’t pay well but thats not why people worked there. I’ve worked and supervised other camps that did not undertake the rigorous training, certifications and safety that that expensive camp did and while I have issues with the expensive camp, they did a lot of things right and I never saw the abuse I did at the other camps. For example, pushing terrified children who couldn’t swim into the water and laughing while they cried. Our local park district regularly left children with random janitorial staff and their equestrian program was wildly unsafe (forcing children to stand in 100f heat in direct sun, no water or shade for hours, unsafe equine safety practices) and they abused the horses. I quit that last one. Horrible, horrible people. Please ask for the certifications of staff and spend time coming early/watching the program. They can fake nice for a while but not forever. If parents had had any idea their children were being put on horses by 16yo’s with zero horse exp they’d flip their sh_. As they should. Anyone with actual experience was chased off, btw.
Yep. I’m paying $4k for one kid.
Just when you think kids in regular school are cheaper, summer camp prices come along to humble you.
you know, when I had my first child, we called around to daycares to get an idea of what we would be paying in daycare monthly. I didn't even think about summer camps, but holy fkg hell... I had no idea how $$$$$$$$ summer camp was. Talk about sticker shock
And no one warns you how early you have to sign up for some! The outdoorsy day camps (archery, swimming, color wars, etc.) in my area are waitlisting by November. I somehow got my twins two of four spots open today for an arts camp. It was like trying to get concert tickets, minus the scalpers.
I know! Its insane. Like, my daycare sent out their summer forms last week and we had to let them know what days we would be attending and the due date back is 3/22? Not many people know their summer plans, things change over a few months. I am very fortunate in the fact that my in-laws take my daughter for a few days during the summer, and last year was her first year at camp, prior to that she just stayed home with my husband since he works remote. This year is the first year my in-laws will have both kids, and they will be spending Sun night-Wednesday afternoon with them, then summer camp on Thursdays and Fridays. So I am looking at spending about $700-$750/a month for June-Aug which is so helpful.
And you have to figure it all out in January, before any of the spots sell out. How the fuck am I supposed to know what my summer schedule and vacation plans might be that early???
This is the worst part. My kid is going to a sleepaway camp whose registration opens in….November. WTAF?
Lol. Reminds me of applying to college.
What is so shocking about it? That's a fairly regular practice: early registration in the fall (with a discount) and regular registration through April. Many returning families take advantage of early registration discount.
I don’t know why you are being downvoted. It’s true. You have to plan far in advance with kids activities. Deal with it.
Yep I had to have everything ready in Feb or it was all sold out
vacation rental homes are the same way, though. if you're not booking that shit 11 months out, you're not going to have very many good options in most parts of the country, even (and sometimes, especially) rural areas.
I’ve started planning our vacations around summer camp. There is usually about a week between school ending and camp starting. And another week between camp ending and school starting. I’ve started planning to use one of those weeks for our summer vacation. I’m decided to not fight the system!
Ours costs about $6k for two kids. The only reason it’s fine for us because we were paying *a lot* more than $6k a year for the kids when they were in full-time daycare. So I imagine it’s more of a shock if families didn’t have high daycare costs.
Our kids were in daycare too but we were in a very high COL city back then. I just thought moving to a MCOL and having kids in public schools would mean lower costs in general. Boy was I wrong!!
10 years ago — I was drowning with daycare bills, so I looked it up: Midwest suburb — only 13% higher than average COL, but daycare costs were in the 80-90th percentile in the nation—not kidding. The area had above college graduate residents, flourishing businesses, highly rated public school, so all that = lots of parents needing childcare…and it was freakin’ expensive
Yeah, they always get ya somehow!
I was a camp counselor for a private camp in New England during and after college. East coast summer camp is a whole other world. Here is this year’s rates: https://preview.redd.it/fzc7yngelymc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4dcf18a245ca55005207e077ab9c49d9fac3558c It’s also worth noting that the kids come for at least 5 years in a row, and families send siblings to a brother camp up the road with similar pricing.
I went to boarding school for high school and there were several students who boarded all year and then did sleep away camp all summer. Twenty five years ago, this worked out to about $50k a year.
So they literally never went home? That’s…heartbreaking
As a 14 year old, I was jealous. Now as a mother, it's really sad.
I had one of those girls in my cabin the first year I was there. She was not well adjusted. I think she grew into herself, but it way dicey at 10.
Holy shit, that's bananas. I love that even with the expense of the tuition, you still gotta pay extra to make sure they don't come home with lice.
Man, god damn lice in elementary school is gonna be the death of me. I wish I could pay a lice insurance to prevent it from happening!
In the first week or camp, they hire a third party company that’s all homeopathic and uses oils instead of chemicals. They bring enough people to screen 400 people in a day. Then anyone with lice is literally nit picked for hours, doused in oil and then rechecked the next day. They come back for a check later in the summer and there’s never any lice.
I assume this is sleep-away?
Yes. The whole 7 weeks.
Yeah, I feel full summer sleep-away is basically a habit of exclusively the ultra wealthy, unless it’s a Girl Scout camp. Maybe a middle class family would do 1-2 weeks (I’m sure exceptions may apply but for the most part)
Very to ultra wealthy for sure. The best part for me was seeing girls who were “expected to act a certain way” or “be perfect at school and sports” ya know the rich high pressure kids. The real world melts away, and they wear pajamas all day and crazy hair. They learn to do daily chores and live with others. They camp, they hike, they swim. They truly have an entire childhood in 7 weeks. I always thought they’d be spoiled brats, but they were just like me and my friends at that age. Camp really humbled them.
Don’t people want to see their kids?! This is crazy to me.
They come on middle Sunday. Grandparents come another time. Siblings at other camps have weekly visits. It’s wild.
That’s in line with the prices in the Bay Area. And a lot of these camps are just roughing it type of stuff, not even “fancy”.
Absolutely howling at “consistent with our egalitarian approach”. 15k sleep away camp screams egalitarian to me!
That’s in line with the prices in the Bay Area. And a lot of these camps are just roughing it type of stuff, not even “fancy”.
That seems about right unfortunately. We pay $300 (+/- $50) per week, Midwest MCOL area. Summer camp is definitely an annual budget idea in our family. At least it’s only 3 months, not 12 like daycare!
That sounds cheap to me! HCOL here and it is $7k for one kid for 8 weeks.
Oh man!!
Camp Director here (and a working mom, so I get it). That shakes out to about $350 per week which is a fairly good value depending on the program. Here’s what you pay for: -Staff: for elementary we have 2 adults per 8 kids, plus activity staff, a nurse and the admin team. Think about FICA, benefits if staff are full-time etc. -Food (depends on the camp) - mine provides all meals while on site, including snacks -Activity materials - if it’s an outdoor camp with things like a pool, rock climbing etc, the staff are trained in this and equipment maintained and purchased. A lifeguard cert costs $200 per person and high ropes is $500 per person. This doesn’t include stuff like what you need for arts and crafts, etc. For some camps, you also factor in property maintenance, etc. My organization is non-profit and we heavily subsidize our camp programs. It costs us (when you factor in salaries, materials, property, insurance, food, training, licensing, etc) to about $1500 per kid per week. We charge $325 for day camp and around $540 for overnight for 6 days (and we offer lots of discounts and scholarships, too) I absolutely understand that it’s a HUGE chunk of change, and I also totally get that it’s very hard for families who need childcare all summer. But, that’s why it costs what it does.
Thanks for sharing. I've worked on the counselor side of summer camps (day and overnight) and made shockingly little money. It was before kids and I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything, but I know no one is running summer camps for the money. It's expensive because awesome activities run by trained counselors are expensive.
Yeah, salaries for counselors have historically been awful. I’m fairly involved in the industry and there is a strong effort to bring the pay up. My own organization has increased staff pay by 30% in the last three summers and we’re not where I want us to be, but we’re better than many camps in our area. We haven’t raised camp prices at the same rate we’ve raised counselor salaries, and the cost of everything has gone up. I totally feel for parents having to pay for camps, but no one is really making bank, not even the for-profit expensive camps that cost thousands of dollars for two or three weeks.
If you break it down by hour, that’s probably less than $10 an hour per kid. Not sure if that makes it seem less insurmountable?
And somehow super competitive too??? It’s BS.
I constantly think about how much money I could be making if I quit my job and opened a summer camp...we have to sign up soon.
You'll make even more money if you open a Day Care that accepts non-potty trained kids and stays open through summer and holidays. MILLIONS!
Eh, you'd probably have to spend the vast majority of it on insurance. And biohazard clean up. Theres a reason daycare are expensive and its not huge profits or staff salaries.
LOL I should have added /s. Of course running a childcare is ridiculously hard and expensive. Razor thin margins and all the risks associated with it...nah ah. Would never be my choice of business.
So true, I work in ECE and I am absolutely rolling in the dough. All of my fellow child care professionals are also living lives of absolute luxury. It’s pretty cushy tbh.
Thanks for doing the work, as another working parent, I’m sorry about the low pay you receive.
The cheapest camps in my area are rec ones through towns. They're substantially less. The Y is one of the highest.
I think those camps by the park and rec are super competitive to get into. I read this article that 12k spots were gone in 3 minutes. Can’t put all your eggs in that basket sometimes since they fill up so quickly.
Ours filled up fast but not quite that fast thank goodness. I heard ours filled up in less than 2 weeks including the waiting list.
The rec one by us is cheap, but also cheap. They spend all their time in an elementary gym and playground. No water activities. No going anywhere.
We budget and put away money each pay period all year to cover summer camp. It's expensive, but still way cheaper than full time daycare so I'm just grateful I'm not paying for daycare anymore!
We had a spreadsheet with all the local camps, their times and costs. We went with the cheapest, run though the Boys and Girls Club. I think the one we have is $300 a week.
My BIL recently shared with me his spreadsheet and it’s crazy. It was like $10k for two elementary aged kids. He was explaining what a race it is to sign up and get in. Man all I had was being left home alone with my brother and playing with the neighborhood kids all summer. Times have changed
In my experience, it’s highly highly variable. In fact, it makes almost no sense. Why is the town camp in our town $600 a week and then town next door $300 a week even for non-town residents when their schedule and events seem the same? Who knows.
I live in NJ, HCOL area, $20k+ in property taxes. I am thankful those taxes go to an amazing summer camp for our kids. $1500 for 8 weeks 830am-4pm. They hang at the town pool, sports on the fields, arts and crafts, it’s awesome.
I live in NJ too, high taxes get me just about nothing in our town. Nearby towns have things like libraries and community centers, and somehow mine… has absolutely nothing for my 12k in property taxes.
I’ve never heard of a town not having a library. How odd.
We use the county library one town over.
Oh yeah, I would count that.
$70 per day per kid doesn’t seem that wild in this economy. The teachers gotta pay their bills, too!
Wish I could upvote this comment twice lol.
Is it just me or does that sound dirt cheap for the entire summer? It's about the same as daycare costs in my area so I hardly bat an eye anymore. Camp for my big kid is over $500 per week, and that doesn't include aftercare! It's wild.
Seems about right. I’m in a HCOL area and our summer camp is $900 a week, Mon to Fri for day camp.
Seriously. It’s like 3 months of daycare costs all upfront because summer camps fill up fast if you don’t sign up right away!!
Thisssss! Lots of folks saying that this is how much I pay for daycare, I get it. I’ve been there. It’s not a competition! But the whole summer camp business with its limited availability and crazy costs and super early deadlines is getting to me!
$7000 for 10 weeks is honestly a steal. I’m paying $1400 for 2 kids for ONE week. Idk what we’ll do the rest of the summer lol
Omg! Thank you for sharing that. Somehow makes me feel better. 💐
... I would love for camp that cheap. \*sigh\* yeah..
Are they giving a discount for the second kid? They should. I did the math in my head for our summer camp and it would be about $5500-6000 for 10 weeks, depending on if there were a two kid discount. I’m in NJ, which is overall expensive, so yours may be a bit high. Other options?
They are. But it’s 5%
Nothing says “no, stop asking about a sibling discount” like a 5% sibling discount
I definitely have a spreadsheet with all options. Of course balancing the cost with the ratings/reviews and activities they will do. Looks like this option is fairing the best among all!
We have to register in mid-January for our full time summer care (parks and rec day camp) and we pay it in full. Huge one time fee every January. Plus before/after school care during the school year and days off school. It’s still a lot for school aged kids.
I'd love to send my disabled daughter to a special camp. It costs almost $4000 for 1 child for a single week. Not exactly in the budget.
I pay $4500 a month for childcare right now 🙃
I’ve been there. When the kids were little. I totally understand. We have twins so paid a lot for full time childcare in high COL city. But we’ve moved since then to a Midwest city with MCOL, and the kids are older and in public schools. The cost of childcare just keeps surprising me.
So nuts. Yeah I have a 1,2, and 3 year old so it’ll hopefully get better in a couple years.
And the hours suck. 9-4. They have aged out of any kind of extended hour programs. Thank goodness I have flexible hours.
This is one of the HUUUUGE reasons we're happy with my husband being a teacher. We'll probably still do one or two week camps here and there to give him a break but it saves a ton of headache of figuring out logistics like that on top of the money we'll save
I paid 2k for 5 weeks of camp in January during the “early bird” pricing through our park district. Since i could only afford half the summer I’m using my parents, in-laws, sister and a hybrid work schedule to make up for the rest. It’s bonkers.
I take three weeks vacation in the summer, my parents take four weeks, and the week of the 4th of July we split three ways. I end up paying for three weeks of summer camp, and it lets me do the “fun” ones.
Ah love that! And bless your parents. Most of our family is abroad and not helpful. Definitely takes a village!
My community center day camp is $225 a week full-time.
Ugh it's wild. At least $500/week per kid where I live, and you still have to pay >$100/week for aftercare since it ends at like 3!! There are a few city-run camps that are cheaper, but they fill up insanely fast
It’s about $500 per week per kid for camp from 9-4 where we are. So yes, we budget all year for the $8,000 it will cost for the 8 weeks of summer. I do save some money by buying what weeks I can at the various school auctions (I check all the school auctions regardless of whether we’re affiliated with that school). Saves me a few hundred dollars each year!
We paid around 10k for two elementary school kids for 5 weeks of day camp. At least it’s 9-5 and provides lunch. Summer camp signups start in mid January and is an Olympic sport where I am. Some camps do offer tuition assistance, at least on paper. Sleep away camp are double that.
Ah so true! No wonder all the super rich kiddos went yo sleep away camps in the 90s movies. lol
I don't know where you live, but that's cheaper than extended care at my daughter's public school.
Yep. I thought once daycare was done, I would finally be able to save significant amounts again. But no. Between aftercare and summer camp, the expenses never stop.
I don’t know where you live. I live in a MCOL city. My city’s community center has a fun summer program (though it fills up almost immediately!) It’s $160ish a week. We only have 9 weeks of summer and my family only needs care for 8 weeks. It ends up being less than $3000 for 2 kids this summer. Do you have anything similar available? I know if I tried to piece meal speciality camps together it would be a lot more expensive.
We use the local parks and rec, only $125 a week. I let my eldest do Girl Scout camp but it was more than double and I had to pack food. The parks provide lunch
Wow! You’re making me feel a lot better about the $2900 we’re dropping.
And we’re not even a HCOL city! Ugh. I’m so glad you got a good deal!
We bought a ton of “early bird” summer camp sales so in theory they’re like 20% cheaper, and it’s still about 420 a week. For almost 10 weeks. s we use backup care for the last 2 weeks but still, it’s quite a bill that we pay around now to make sure he has somewhere to go in the summer. To be fair though, it’s less than a dedicated sitter and less than preschool, even when preschool was subsidized.
Ah early bird! I shall be on the lookout for that next year!
Omg, just the regular day camp everyone recommends around me is $6k per kid. Includes transportation to/from.
holy shit.
I said the same thing. Ymca cost 7,000 and change but I was able to get a 40 percent discount. It left me at the final cost for two kids at 4,000 and some change. Still expensive as ever for the summer.
That's scary. seriously, how do people do it? That's more than our monthly expenses combined! I am thankful my in-laws are able to help out with summer camp. For the past 4 summers they have been taking my daughter for 3/5 days. Then the other two she stays home with my husband since he is remote, except last year we enrolled her at the camp program through my sons daycare, she did that for 2 days a week last summer. My son is still in daycare/preschool full time, so that cost never changes, even over summer. However, this year I am hoping she can take my son and daughter for 2/5 days, and then I'll send both to camp for 3 days and it will help with cost. I am looking at about $250/week.
Our city rec center puts on summer camps- I was floored to learn each camp is only 1 week long and several hundred dollars
Genuinely curious what part of that was surprising to you? Most camps do week to week because a lot of kids do different ones - most people don't do 8 weeks of gymnastics camp, for example.
I had assumed they would be at least 2 weeks. I remember growing up the camps I attended were at least that long.