(WXYZ) — The summer camp scramble is on for parents across metro Detroit. This year, price is a big factor, on top of trying to find an open spot as demand is up.
It’s all fun and games until you realize the summer camp you were going to sign your kid up for is full. That's one of many issues parents could be running into as they try to find the perfect fit this year.
“I just put on my calendar to go in on the date the registration opens," Nakira Jordan, who lives in Detroit, said.
Enrolling her 8-year-old daughter, Nova, in a summer camp is now a priority for Jordan.
"They fill up fast. She’s very big on learning new things and I want to make sure I’m investing that into her now," Jordan said.
It's also a big investment. Jordan said in 2022, she paid more than $1,500 for summer camp.
"In 2023 I paid $420. Last year I paid $500. This year I don’t have the total numbers but I’m guessing it will be closer to $650," Jordan said.
Finding a spot that's both affordable and available is almost like a full-time job.
“It’s not a lot of work when it's important to me," Jordan said. “Things change, the camps could change, they can lose funding, people could lose locations, so it's very important to kinda be in the know of what’s going on”
Jordan settled onHealthy Kidz, incfor her daughter.
It's a process Anahita Miller from Plymouth said she learned quickly after her experience last year.
“It was difficult because we had no idea that camps fill up so quickly in the year," Miller said.
This time she started in January, hoping her four year old’s camp from last year, Camp Mirage’sprices stayed the same.
“That was an issue for us, kids aren’t cheap and we knew that, but we also know that prices are going up, so when we saw that prices remained the same that was definitely a selling point for us," Miller said.
She’s also pleased with their before and after camp care.
“Certainly now is the time. All across metro Detroit, spots are filling up fast, so if families are waiting to make a decision, they're going to be left out and left scrambling," Jim Adams, the club director at the Boys & Girls Club of Troy said.
Adams said last year, they sold out in a month and have about 350 spots to the summer program.
"This year, we may only sell out in about two weeks," Adams said.
The increase in demand is nationwide. Interim director of the American Camp Association Henry DeHart said they're tracking the numbers.
"The interest we're seeing nationally in camp and camp-like experiences, whether it's day camp or overnight or out-of-school time programs is really at an all-time high," DeHart said. "It surged after COVID and it's really stayed high after that."
As parents are already having to map out their summers and come up with the money, DeHart's camps are also trying to balance quality experience with rising costs.
“This is a reality that camps are dealing with and parents, more importantly, are dealing with and it's something that the industry is really thinking about," he said. "Things have gotten more expensive and if you're a camp that feeds children, food has gotten much more expensive. Many camps have facilities and the cost of building things have gotten much more expensive. The cost of insurance has gotten much more expensive."
However, he's encouraging parents not to give up because there are a lot of options.
Here are a couple tools he suggests:
Find a Camp tool: https://find.acacamps.org/ [find.acacamps.org]
Parent/Family resources: https://www.acacamps.org/parents-families/news-resources [acacamps.org]
