#Parents are dropping $150K on luxury summer camps for their kids

After the New York State health department officially put the kibosh on all sleepaway summer camps this year, well-heeled tri-state area parents are in a panic about what to do with their kids.

But instead of settling for a day camp — and the potential risk of contracting COVID-19 — parents are shelling out thousands of dollars for private, tricked-out luxury summer camps across the globe with price tags fetching up to $150,000.

Frazzled parents say the big bucks are worth it for a much-needed break after months of home schooling during the pandemic.

“I can’t entertain a 4-year-old all summer in the way that he needs to be,” admits one lower Manhattan mom, who preferred to stay unnamed, and is splitting a $38,500 bill with five other parents for a specialized program called Home Camp. “I started to get a little bit stressed out, because I realized it was looking like camp wasn’t going to happen, [and] I needed to find some activities.”

Big Apple camp expert and advisor Arlene Streisand says the last two weeks have been “an avalanche” of bad news as camps closed one after the other throughout New England.

Parents “are not happy,” says Streisand, the founder and director of Camp Specialists. “They’ve been home with the kids, cooking and cleaning … and there aren’t a lot of choices for them right now.”

Julie Danziger, a managing partner at travel agency Embark Beyond, saw the trend coming months in advance — and used the foresight to help launch a brand new, luxury summer camp.

But the program is no regular bunk-bed affair. The “camp experience” includes a variety of 5-star resorts to choose from as the camp base, boasts activities like horseback riding, hot-air balloon rides and go-kart racing for kids, on-site chefs and even private jets for clients to reach their destinations.

But the biggest allure, says Danziger, is walling off the outside world.

“We really take privacy to another level,” she says, adding that most of her clients are from the tri-state area. “The destinations we chose are a combination of a place that has plenty of activity options, but also have a lot of space and acres and acres of land.”

So far, the company has lined up over 50 camp stays, with their heftiest price tag — at $150,000 — booked at Brush Creek Ranch in Saratoga, Wyoming, for 10 days.

Three families opted to rent out the resort’s opulent Magee Homestead — a 1,929-square-foot chalet equipped with a grotto soaking pool, on-site spa and three meals a day.

The nine kids attending — who range in age from 5 to 16 — will then partake in daily activities including ATV riding, kayak races, zip lining, wacky Olympics and a family “Chopped”-inspired game with professional chefs all arranged by camp expert Lynda Levy.

Levy — who normally runs her own summer camp in New Jersey — will tailor the camp itinerary to each family’s specific needs if parents pay $1,000 more for the gold package, instead of the standard.

“If a child loves ‘Harry Potter,’ let’s say, and the standard package offers relay races, on gold, it would be more like ‘Harry Potter’ trivia races, or if a kid loves Disney, it would be Disney-themed,” she says.

The expert then trains on-site staffers — who have undergone an interview and vetting process — to act as counselors for the program. The camp is recommended for kids ages 5 to 14, but “if you want six 20-year-olds to have a camp experience, sure, we’ll do it,” says Danziger.

Other locations booked so far include Mustang Monument in Wells, Nevada, the Resort at Paws Up in Greenough, Montana, and Amangiri in Canyon Point, Utah. One client booked out the latter for camp at $80,000 a week.

The ranch destinations in particular have been big sellers so far, says Danziger.

“It’s something a lot of luxury travelers have wanted to do, but have never done, because these are the same families that every year are going on their regular trips to Saint-Tropez or the Amalfi coast,” she says. “Now they’re taking the opportunity to do something out of the box. It’s nice to see the 1 percent looking at [America] with a fresh set of eyes and saying, ‘Wow, I live in a beautiful place.’”

Sending kids to camps overseas — to countries where the coronavirus is less rampant — is another route well-to-do parents are taking.

Les Elfes International, a summer camp in Switzerland that costs up to $9,000 for three weeks, not including airfare, is already seeing an uptick in interest from American parents.

“In the last two weeks, the bookings increased,” says Carlotta Ceruti, the sales and marketing assistant for the camp. “Studies have proven that Switzerland is the safest country in the world — and it seems like that news arrived in the US, because parents seem ready and willing to send their children here.”

So far, parents from New York City; Los Angeles; Potomac, Maryland; West Palm Beach, Florida; and Washington, D.C., are all sending their kids to the camp in Verbier this summer.

In addition to regular outdoor activities, the refined camp — offered for 6 to 17-year-olds — provides a bunch of “enrichment workshops” such as etiquette and table manners and Swiss watch-making.

The camp is also taking safety to the next level, and installing a robot to take kids’ and staff members’ temperatures every day. Kids must also be tested before arrival.

Some New York parents would rather keep their kids close to home while attending camp, and are opting for Home Camp, a program run by MySuperSitter that sends trained professionals to host camps in clients’ backyards in the city and on Long Island.

Sessions cost $5,500 a week for full-day camps of up to six kids, and $3,900 a week for individual families. Activities include safety lessons, swim sessions, sports, arts and crafts, and various outdoor games.

The lower Manhattan mom — who’s spending the summer in East Hampton with her family — signed her 4-year-old son up for Home Camp with a handful of friends after deciding she didn’t want to send him to Hampton Country Day Camp again this year. 

“I knew it was not going to look the same as it had, and I didn’t want this new normal to be what my son thinks of when he goes to camp,” says the mother, citing fewer kids and mask requirements as some concerns.

Expensive or not, it’s the social interaction after months in isolation that parents are craving for their children.

“We’re hoping that this can provide these kids with some normalcy,” says the mom. “And when I see him with other kids, I might cry with happiness.”