Camp Visiting Day Is ‘Out of Control’ for Wealthy Families — & Parents Are Spending Thousands To Keep Up

Summer camp looks completely different for the country’s wealthiest families. While most of America opts for day camps at their local YMCA or the occasional week-long camps — if they’re kids go to camp at all — there is a subset of elite kids who attend sleepaway camps for most of the summer. And it’s a whole new world there with a culture we can only imagine. Parents-in-the-know have called one part of this camping experience totally “out of control,” and they are spending thousands of dollars to keep up.

A new article published in The Cut revealed a dark trend taking over sleepaway camp: the unspoken competition about parent visiting day. Every year in mid-July, parents come to visit their kids at prestigious summer camps in Maine, where only the “elite of the elite” go, according to one anonymous parent. These families haven’t seen their kids in weeks, but they aren’t lining up outside the gates and running to the little ones purely because they missed them. They are doing it to film content for their TikTok channels with the hashtag #visitingday. The more affection, the better looking, and the more expensive gifts brought to visiting day, the better.  

“In the past couple of years, visiting day has exploded,” a mom with a son at Camp Takajo and a daughter at Camp Mataponi in Naples, Maine, told The Cut. She pays $17,000 for tuition for each kid for the summer, as well as thousands on the high-end clothing, equipment, overnight trips, and visiting day necessities that camp requires.

The East Coast camps limit the gifts parents can bring to what can fit in “one tote bag” — because other camps in upstate New York and Pennsylvania will be loads of items, from personalized pillows to bunk gifts for the other kids. Even though most of the Maine camps have limited the number of items parents can bring their kids, they are sneaking in expensive stuff. “It’s sushi and Starbucks and Alo Yoga sets,” one mom tells The Cut.

Another mom says, “I have a friend who spent $3,000 on a cookie cake and a tiered candy tower.” Baseball cards have been banned because boys were trading them and getting into fights, but some parents will still bring them as well as a picture wall of photos — from the kids’ previous weeks at camp with their friends.

Parents make it a whole weekend affair, staying in exclusive hotels, making reservations months in advance for in-demand restaurants, and taking private planes to skip the traffic. “People fly private, they bring chefs and nannies and housekeepers,” one person says. Another reveals, “I swear, they’re flying in Nobu sushi for their kids.”

And before visiting day, moms will get a blowout and wear styled designer wear (because they have to look good for their content, right?).

Similar to the influencer-ization of sorority rush on college campuses, this visiting day maximalism started with influencers. “What happened was, as things do nowadays, a bunch of Instagram-famous moms sent their kids to camp in Maine and started documenting visiting day,” one mom shares. “Now everyone does the same thing.”

“It’s all about how fast you run, how fast your kid runs to you, how good your kid looks, how good you look,” a mom with two daughters at Camp Starlight in Starlight, Pennsylvania, told the outlet. “That’s on Instagram. But then you speak to people in real life, and they’re like, ‘Visiting day was the worst day ever. My kids cried the whole day,’ or whatever.”

Last year, a TikToker named Erin Raii opened the lid on how much these expensive summer camps with “Ivy League reputations” actually cost. One camp in New York will meet with families at their homes for interviews to make sure they’re the right fit. If their kid gets in, it cost more than $16,000 for the summer. Another camp in Maine is also $16,000, plus additional charges for extras like equestrian activities.

TikTokers are weighing in on this consumerism trend, with one person named Max Cohen (@murrayhillboy) doing a skit pretending to be teens telling their parents what to bring for visiting day and assuring their kids that their housekeeper is keeping up with their Snapchat streaks.

According to the comments, this parody isn’t far off. “My kid told me that one of her friends called her parents from the camp to remind her sister to keep up her Duolingo streak ????,” one person commented. Someone else noted, “The summer my son asked me to keep up his Snapchat streaks wasn’t pretty ????????.”

“This is bone chillingly accurate,” another person wrote.

TikToker Chloe Hechter (@chloehechter) posted a skit pretending to be a camper writing a letter home on visiting day, asking for Labubus, a LoveShackFancy Stanley “in either pink or blue,” new Lululemon set, sushi rolls, and more. “Also can you bring me my iPad so I can watch The Summer I Turned Pretty?”

“Currently at camp. Safe to say all the juniors have labubus,” one person commented.

These may be satire, but they represent this real trend. Camp Manitou in Oakland, Maine, asked parents on visiting day, “What’s the first thing your kid asked you to bring?” in a TikTok. These real parents said their sons asked for “Kansas swag,” “college league gear,” “birthday gifts for the bunk,” “One Piece books,” “Golden Bear swag,” and “college league swag.” Only a few asked for practical items, like an extra swimsuit and an eyeglass repair kit.

These parents all seemed happy to oblige their kids’ random requests, which just goes to show that the satire videos are based on very real experiences.

One mom in The Cut article summed up visiting day like this: “Unfortunately, I would say the parents pretty much lose their minds.” Hey, if you can afford to send your kids away for the summer, why not indulge their extra requests too, right?

Before you go, check out these celebrity parents who love to spoil their kids with expensive gifts.