Family Camps Save Sanity and Money

Activities

Adults have a variety of activities such tennis, bicycling, watercolor classes, a gym, wine tasting tours; you can keep busy all day and well into the night. But having three toddlers, we frequently decided to simply catch up on sleep. We also loved spending time at the beach or in nearby Santa Barbara on our own.

Although we had separate activities, we had plenty of time together as a family. We participated in the Talent Show night and the twilight campfire-n-s’mores sing-along, and laughed until we cried at the End-of-Camp show with the silly skits.

Dining

Most meals were served buffet-style at one of the university’s dining halls, yet there is an emphasis on freshness, and frequently dishes are prepared to your request. It wasn’t gourmet, but there were plenty of choices at every meal for everyone’s tastes and themed meals for dinner, such as Mexican or Asian cuisine.

• Welcome to North Star Camp, in Hayward, Wisconsin.
• Aaron Mohrman

The ability to walk in, choose your dishes and eat right away was a godsend for picky eaters and meant hungry (and perhaps antsy) kids didn’t have to wait. I truly savored the “I don’t have to think about cooking or cleaning up” bliss for the entire week, a sentiment shared wholeheartedly by every mother I met at camp.

When to Book 

As family camps have gained in popularity, it’s not unusual for them to be booked to capacity, with waiting lists. It’s best to reserve as far in advance as possible—the year before, or early in the beginning of the calendar year for the upcoming summer. Returning campers get priority the next year for reservations. For our first year at FVC, we lucked into a week that had space available. Other camps have similar registration processes and some, such as UCLA’s Bruin Woods, near Lake Arrowhead, Calif., which has the additional requirement that at least one member of the family be either an alumni or staff member of UCLA to apply for registration. Bruin Woods holds a lottery for new families, and the average wait time for first-year placement can be as much as three years.

• The Journey family enjoys the climbing wall at Beech Springs Baptist Camp near El Dorado, Arkansas.
• Jeff Noble

Cost Comparison

Compared with a vacation where you stay in a hotel, eat in restaurants, find your own activities, and pay for childcare, family camp can be a bargain. Rate vary depending on the camp chosen and the type of package selected. You can find bargains in the $400-$500 range/person per week, or pay  up to $1,200/person per week, or more.

Our current family configuration is three adults and three kids (ages 11 and 12). At the Family Vacation Center, it costs $859/week for ages 13+ and $789 for ages 8-12. Subtracting the $100 discount for alumni, our total would be $4,844, which includes our meals, lodging and most activities including kids’ groups. If we wanted to spend a week at Fess Parker’s Doubletree Resort, which is also on the beach in Santa Barbara, we’d have to get two connecting rooms at a cost of $420/night (per room) for the least-expensive rooms available, which total $5,880, before taxes and adding in the cost of meals or activities other than the hotel’s spa, pool, tennis court, or shuffleboard.

And our kids certainly wouldn’t learn any cheesy camp songs!