(the New York City version)
Everything about sending your child away to summer camp for the first time is overwhelming. This blog will help you figure out how to shop for sleep-away camp.
how to shop for sleep-away camp
The “Camp Appointment”
First of all, did you know that there are stores where you can make a “camp appointment”?! Its true! I had no idea until one day when Nina and I had a bit of time to spare between school and her after-school ceramics class and we decided to stop into Lester’s. (Not the best idea I ever had!) It was April 12, and there was already an enticing camp section set up. It featured sparkles and rainbows and unicorns and emojis…oh my! A little girl’s heaven! (They also have a section for boys, but since Alex is holding off on sleep-away for now, I only gave it a quick glance).
The “Camp Lady”
We were just planning to browse, but as we were getting ready to leave, another (super organized) mom who caught my eye told me that I had better get moving on making my camp appointment…others had started long ago! Panicking, I rushed to the cashier and inquired. Well, it turned out that the “camp lady”, Elizabeth, had time to work with us….How lucky could we get?!
I was (of course) unprepared and did not have the camp packing list. Elizabeth attempted to google, but, I guess since our camp is fairly new, she was unable to locate the list. Never fear! Elizabeth knew what we needed…thank goodness, because I, obviously, had no clue (things sure have changed since I went to camp!). Elizabeth was AWESOME! She was a no-nonsence professional who was competent and efficient. I had not only found the camp lady, I found the camp expert!
What we NEED!
First we needed two gigantic (seriously, you could fit my kid in there!) black duffle bags (no more old skool trunks!). I learned that these would be embroidered with my girl’s name in any color floss her heart desired. After choosing bedding and towels, we moved on to laundry bags, a sock laundry bag, a water spritzer, a headlight, a fan, a flashlight, a mat to step on when you get out of bed, a toiletry organizer, an organizer to hang on the side of the bed…I could go on and on (and I did!).
For the cost of about a semester at college, we got all of this and more, complete with personalized labels that were stitched onto all of our items and hand delivered to our home about six weeks later.
Poor and exhausted, we headed to ceramics. Of course, we were late.
For more posts about camp, please check out
Camp in my neck of the woods was quite a different experience
I know it is a little (HA!) extreme…Please take this post with a bit of humor