Cost Of Summer Camp? Priceless

I can’t believe how early you have to sign up for summer camp.  Who are these people who know by March what they want to do all summer?  Not me.  And why does it cost so dang much?  I could buy a used car for the price of some camps.

This year, as I was exploring camps that the boys would enjoy and we could afford, they threw me a curveball.  They decided that it would be much better to be camp directors than camp enrollees.  They begged and begged, and convinced me that they would do a good job with it.  So we put up a website and opened registration to our friends.  You can check it out here.

I’m pretty sure that they really do want to make up crafts and plan lessons and be big boys who are capable of taking care of little kids.  For example, they’ve already spent a lot of time choosing animals to study during the week and coming up with books and videos to show the kids. And as they sent out the invitation list, they were nearly giddy thinking about the kids who might come. But running a great camp is only part of their goal for the week; they also have delusions of getting rich off of the enrollment fees.

“How much do you think you should charge?” I asked.

“I don’t know.  How about $50?” Zach answered.

“Fifty dollars?  That sounds like a lot of money,” I cautioned.

“Well, how much do you think it should be?” he wanted to know.

“I don’t know.  How much do you think you’ll have to spend to buy snacks and craft supplies?”

“Oh.  I was thinking we could just use all of our craft supplies at the house and then we wouldn’t have to spend our own money.”

“I’m sure you were, but that’s not how it works, bud.”

I don’t know how much money they’ll make in the end.  But I’m starting to think that the value of “Fun For Kids Camp” could turn out to be priceless.  Stay tuned…