Summer Camp Is EXPENSIVE, Yo

[h_loves_c]

I know this is about as First World a problem as it gets, but I'm in the process of finalizing the plans for where I'm going to stash my kid once the school year ends, and Y'ALL: $2300. That's BEFORE factoring in the cost of a baby-sitter for the days when she's at a half-day camp.

Goodness.

Comments

[joeychen]

yikes! are there any community center type options? I think they can be cheaper, but it would be a day camp kind of thing probably, and who knows what hours.

[h_loves_c]

There are, but nothing that's really feasible for us to get to. :/

[seriousleopold]

Oh god, I remember freaking out about where Ashley was going to go and how I was going to pay for it. Check into your Park District and YMCA if you have one.

[h_loves_c]

That includes the Y. June is going to be a series of half-day camps, and then she'll be at the Y from July through August.

This has really made me appreciate how easy daycare summers were, even though they were even more astronomically expensive.

[astronautical]

holy cow, right? we are sending jack to 2 weeks of sleep away camp and luke to one week, plus we are looking at local rec options for day camp for luke for a few weeks. and then luke needs regular babysitting and we STILL have to figure how to handle a 9-5 camp day drop off and pick-up when mike's away from the house from 6:15-7:45 and I am out from 6:30-6PM. oy!

[astronautical]

Also - day camp is deductible from taxes in some way, or eligible for day care/dependent care reimbursement? You know, if you've got it. Sleep away camp is NOT.

[h_loves_c]

I KNOW RIGHT?!

We leave the house at 7 and get home between 6 and 6:30. We have a teeeeeeeeny little bit of flexibility in what time we can leave in the summer, because once the schools are out (especially UT) traffic eases up a lot and so it's not so imperative that we be on the freeway at a certain time. But that doesn't add up to a ton of extra time so everything still has to be planned down to the minute.

In June she's going to do a series of day camps (well, half-day camps) and so we'll have to have a babysitter on those days, both to take her to camp (none of which start earlier than 9) and pick her up at noon or 1. It's like the system is specifically set up to inconvenience working parents as much as humanly possible!

[miocaro]

My email to you was sheer coincidence! I saw this after I sent it!

[h_loves_c]

Great minds think alike. :)

Sadly, she won't be 7 until November, so no sewing camp for her this year. I did find a cooking camp, though.