It’s Only February. Why Am I Freaking Out About Summer Camp?

My trigger finger hovered over the ENTER button on my laptop as I counted down the seconds to the 8 A.M. deadline. Three, two, one, summer camp registration is now open! 

I logged into my town’s recreation page, selected the camp dates—all clear!—and proceeded to the checkout page, where I eagerly clicked “PURCHASE.” Poof, the screen froze. I refreshed the page and saw an alert: Sale not completed. Valuable seconds ticked by as I repeated the steps. A new alert flashed across the screen: All camps full. You have been waitlisted. Thank you! 

I scowled at the screen. Our family’s summer plans were now torpedoed, and here it was, early February. Yet I knew I was not alone. Across the country, millions of frantic American parents were either suffering through, or about to endure, the hellish process of registering for summer camp.

The Bedrock of American Childcare During the Summer

For those readers who don’t have kids, here’s a quick primer on the importance of summer camp. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor’s 2024 statistics, in 67 percent of married-couple families with kids, both parents are fully employed. Guess what? Our jobs don’t end once public schools let out for summer. And kids between the ages of 5 and 12 can’t just roam the neighborhood like feral cats.

The country’s vast network of summer camps—day camps, youth groups, arts and crafts meetups, and sleepaway camps—represents the bedrock of childcare for millions of Americans from June through August.

But alas, summer camps increasingly require customers to sign up four or five months in advance. That means planning out your summer no later than February 1, and then participating in a registration process that is akin to getting Taylor Swift tickets.

“We know that a lot of parents are like, ‘This sucks, it’s only February and I’m not in the summer mode yet,'” David Secunda, the founder Avid 4 Adventure, a summer camp in Colorado and California, told Outside. “We also hear from a lot of working parents who like early registration because they want to know they are covered well in advance.”

I recently phoned up Secuda and other experts from the summer camp industry to understand why, exactly, registration occurs so early in the year, and why the process is devilishly nerve-wracking. As it turns out, the headaches caused by camp registration are the product of business dynamics, logistics, and regular swings in the American economy.

Enough Time to Hire, Plan, and Pay

Like all businesses, summer camps have bills to pay and mouths to feed. Even day camps must rent vehicles and pay for using facilities. And, of course, there are the salaries of those cheery twenty-somethings who actually look after your kid.

The number of counselors, vans, and room rentals a camp needs depends on how many kids sign up. By having families sign up well in advance of summer, camps can predict these costs.

“We have to hire 500 seasonal staffers, and we’re one of the biggest lessee of vans in the country,” Secunda said. “It’s a lot of moving pieces, and we want to know exactly how many kids we’re going to work with so we can plan things out well in advance.”

You might assume that camp enrollment would remain somewhat consistent from one year to the next. That’s not the case, says Henry DeHart, the CEO of the American Camp Association, a nonprofit industry group. Day camps, DeHart told Outside, are extremely vulnerable to fluctuations in the U.S. labor market.

“When unemployment goes up, that means one parent may now be at home,” DeHart said. “They no longer have the disposable income, and they don’t need summer childcare anymore.”

Asking families to register in the winter also helps camps maintain a steady line of income.

Secuda founded Avid4 Adventure in 2004, and in the early years he had parents sign up for camp in April. He told me he’d secure a line of credit to cover his costs until registration fees arrived in the spring.

The down payments for facilities and van rentals placed considerable financial strain on the business. Eventually, Avid 4 Adventure started asking parents to sign up in December, with another registration window in February. Secuda gave parents a discount for signing up early.

“That smoothed out our business curve,” he said. “Could we open registration later? Sure, but we’d have to hedge our bets a lot more.”

How to Register for Camp Without Going Insane

The timing of camp registration is unlikely to change anytime soon, my experts told me. So how can beleaguered parents like yours truly better navigate the process? Decuda and DeHart passed along some helpful tips.

When choosing a camp, I should know the major difference between private ones and those operated by local governments, like municipal or state recreation departments.

Public camps are often subsidized by government funds, making them cheaper. The lower cost means more families will try to get in. But these camps aren’t always able to add additional spots if registration spikes.

“A lot of times the person running your municipal camp also has three or four other jobs,” DeHart said. “And there are a lot of layers they have to navigate if they all of a sudden want to change.”

Thus, these camps can be hyper-competitive to get into. And the registration websites operated by municipalities aren’t always up to snuff.  I learned this lesson the hard way.

DeHart said that parents shouldn’t be turned off by the competitive registration system. But they should have a backup plan in case their camp of choice fills up in two minutes, as my local one did.

And always put your name on the waitlist.

“If you end up on the waitlist, don’t panic,” he said. “Kids change their minds, people go on vacation. A lot can happen between February and June.”

While private camps are more expensive, parents should remember that many allow you to pay in installments, rather than a lump sum. “Always take the payment plan—a lot of times you’re only putting $50 down,” Decuda said. “That buys you flexibility.”

Both Decuda and DeHart advised me to start thinking about summer camp well in advance of February—maybe even around December. And if possible, I should loop my kiddo in on the decision, even she’s too fixated on sledding and snowmen to think about campfire songs.

“Register early and always memorize when the transfer deadline and refund deadline are,” Decuda said. “Camps that allow for early registration are going to give you the most wiggle room to change.”

And as my child gets older, they said, I should hone in on a summer camp for the long-term. Many camps offer priority registration to families that come back year after year.

If this advice removes even a fraction of the anxiety of camp registration—sign me up.