Yahoo Lifestyle Wealthy Parents Are Hiring Pros to Get Their Kids Ready for Summer Camp So They Don’t Have to
Sending your kids off to summer camp isn’t what it used to be.
As it turns out, deep-pocketed parents are now relying on experts to help their kids prepare for the trés arduous experience of camping, with tutoring for everything from packing and shopping to unloading their dirty laundry upon their return, The Wall Street Journal reported. After all, why spend time helping your children prepare for an annual summer rite when you can pay someone to do it for you?
Converts to this paid professional camp prep say it preserves their most precious resource. “A lot of our clients believe the best thing you can spend your money on is your time,” Diana Cooper, co-owner of the Florida-based personal assistant company The Concierge Crew, told The Journal.
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On that note, a Manhattan-based mother, Dara Grandis, admitted to hiring personal organizer Meryl Bash to help her three kids prepare before they ship off at the end of June. Bash’s responsibilities include packing everything up in storage cubes that have been meticulously labeled, which can take anywhere from three to six hours depending on the number of kids and costs $125 per hour, plus an additional $100 per hour per additional packer.
“This is the first week I haven’t traveled for work in a few months and I’d rather spend time with my kids versus stressing out over what is going into the trunk,” Grandis told the publication. “Right now my living room is a dumping zone. It looks like an organized tornado.”
To Grandis’s point, there’s also the added pressure of ensuring your camper has the right gear. But don’t worry, you can outsource that, too. Elite sleep-away camps have sprung up across the country, some of which can cost up to $15,000 for the season and come with suggested packing lists that include upwards of 100 items. However, if you head to Denny’s—a children’s boutique, not the diner—sales associates act as personal shoppers. Parents will have to set up a “new camper appointment” first at any of the store’s New York, New Jersey, or South Florida locations and you can expect the haul to cost anywhere from $1,500 to $2,000.
“I wanted her to have everything everyone has,” Beth Leffel, an interior designer in South Florida, told the Journal recalling her daughter’s camp experience. “I didn’t want her to be without, especially since I’m not there. I didn’t want her to feel different because other kids have this or that. That first summer I went above and beyond.”
Of course, then there’s the dreaded piles of laundry upon your camper’s return. The solution? Dropping mountains of stinky, damp clothes off at a cleaning service. “If you have disposable income and you don’t want to touch it, you’re sending it out,” added First Class Laundry owner Natalie Matus. “A lot of my clients won’t even let their housekeepers touch them.”
Matus launched her West Palm Beach-based business last year for this very reason, to help parents out post-camp. Hayley Mooney, a local resident, coughed up $450 (for two trunks) to have First Class Laundry pick up her son’s laundry and drop it back off at her front door with everything inside washed and neatly folded.
Remember, it’s all about buying time.
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