Summer Camp Organizing Tips

July was our big “send the kids to camp month.” All of us were first-timers for overnight camps, so the whole experience was new for us. But it went great—both kids had a blast and loved going away to camp!

Sending your child to an overnight camp for the first time is a really interesting experience. Kailea went to a traditional summer camp complete with a lake for fishing and swimming, and a cabin full of bunk-beds and other girls, most of whom she had never met before. Collin’s camp was a basketball camp, so he was inside the whole time (no worries about being too hot) and he stayed in an air conditioned dorm room with one friend he knows from school. I’m not sure which was harder…leaving Collin in a dorm room with just one other friend (and no adult) but a cell phone to keep in touch, or leaving Kailea in a cabin in the woods with no means of communicating with us for six whole days!

Regardless of when and where your kids go to camp for the first time, you’ll sleep better at night if you feel like they have everything they need to get through the week comfortably. So while it’s fresh on my mind, I wanted to share a few tips and lessons I learned this year as a first-time camp parent. If you have kids heading off to camp later this summer, or if it’s on the horizon for next year, tuck these ideas into your back pocket.

Use the camp checklist to pack and then, pack the checklist in your child’s bag. The camp checklist provided by our camp included a space to note how many of each type of item was sent to camp. It was simple for Kailea to do a quick count while she repacked her bags to come home and make sure no belongings were left behind.

Involve your child in the packing process. That way she will know what she’s bringing and where it is in her bag. It was fun packing with Kailea. She had clear ideas about where she wanted various items stored in her bag and how she wanted things grouped together.

Know the camp’s dress code. Our camp had a no short-shorts rule…which we knew about. What we didn’t know was the criterion for how short is too short. Some of the shorts we sent along didn’t make the cut. (And just so you know…they were anything but short-shorts!) So make sure you have specifics about any camp dress code. It will help ensure your child has enough clean clothes for their entire stay at camp.

Send along a couple of small backpacks or drawstring bags. Our packing checklist included one small backpack for the child to use each day for outings away from the cabin. Kailea used this first backpack for her water bottle, sunscreen, camera, etc. We sent along a second drawstring bag to serve as her “in the bunk” bag for nighttime and siesta time in the afternoon. (This was simply quiet time in the bunk where you could read, write letters to home, take a nap, or send notes to fellow cabin mates.) We packed her “in the bunk” bag with a book to read, a clipboard to make it easier to write, her tin full of letter writing (and reading) supplies, a flashlight, and other nighttime essentials. Kailea reports this worked great.

Plan something fun for the week after camp. If your child loves camp the way my kids did…the week after camp can be a big letdown. (So expect to pick up a tired and potentially grumpy or sad kiddo.) We found it really helped to have something fun to look forward to for the next week. For Kailea this was a trip to Michigan, and for Collin it was an over-night stay with Grandma and Grandpa.

Keep in touch. We really missed our kids while they were away—much more than they missed us, I think! But that could be because they heard from us a lot. While we couldn’t talk to Kailea I sent along cards and notes with her and I mailed cards and letters a week ahead. In addition, her camp made it possible for parents to send emails, so Kailea could get daily updates on what was going on at home. I made sure to talk a lot about all the fun we were going to have in Michigan, so she’d have something to look forward to after camp. For Collin we were able to keep in touch via text messages, which was great. It was nice to know each night that he had made it back to his dorm room and was in bed for the night!

When sending your kids to camp, find out how you can keep in touch with them such as via letters, email or phone / text messages. Also check to see if your child’s camp will be posting photos of the kids at camp. I can’t begin to tell you how much it helped us to see photos of Kailea and her friends at camp, smiling and clearly looking like they were having a great time.

Send along a camera and tell your child hand it over to her friends! We sent Kailea with a small digital camera…and she took some pretty amazing photos! The one thing I wish we had done was encourage her to let her friends or camp counselors use her camera to take more photos of Kailea. None the less, she did hand over the camera a time or two (and she even snapped a self-portrait in a mirror). She has some fantastic photos of friends, counselors and the camp.

Encourage your child to send letters home. Our letters from Kailea didn’t arrive until after camp ended…but they are simply precious. They’re keep-forever keepsakes that will remind her of her special first week at camp for years and years to come.

All in all, camp was a great experience for all of us. And with these lessons-learned, next year we’ll be even more prepared—and organized!  

Did your child go to camp this summer? Do you have any lessons-learned or tips you’d like to share? I’d love to hear from you! Thanks for sharing.