Posh moms spend thousands on fancy sleepawy camps…
For Rachael Braunschweiger Potash, stripping her youngsters of their digital devices for seven weeks each summer time is no low-cost feat.
In fact, it’s a $40,000-plus investment.
But to give you the option to present her kids a summer time crammed with out of doors actions and lifelong friendships the astronomical value is price it.
Another priceless benefit — the influential networks of mother and father and alumni that can open doorways for their youngsters for internships and job alternatives down the street.
After months of planning, packing and spending practically the equal of a yr of non-public faculty charges, the 46-year-old Potash and her daughters, 13 and 15, will bid farewell to the comforts of their lovely abode in Boca Raton, Florida, for the Big Apple this week.
Potash will then escort her brood to Westchester, where they’ll be part of associates aboard a non-public airplane headed to Camp Vega, a girls-only summer time oasis on Echo Lake in Fayette, Maine.
Rachael Braunschweiger Potash (Center), a lifestyle content creator, is sending her women off to camp in model, bringing them to NYC to catch a non-public flight to Maine. Courtesy Rachael Braunschweiger Potash
It’s a first-class deal with — that provides another few thousand {dollars} to the associated fee — that Potash, along with a small group of camp mother and father, determined to present their women this yr.
And while the extravagant tour isn’t constructed into the roughly $20,000 per youngster camp tuition payment, it’s one of the many posh perks afforded to the fortunate little ones whose people can afford to ship them to swanky sleepaways — including some with annual dues exceeding $150,000.
Potash tells The Post it was always her late husband’s dream that their daughters observe in his footsteps and attend sleepaway camp. Courtesy Rachael Braunschweiger Potash
“My kids absolutely love going to camp every year. They get to enjoy all these new experiences outdoors, there are no phones, screens or ways to access social media,” Potash, a lifestyle influencer, completely told The Post. “There’s no worrying about what to post, their hair, makeup or new TikTok dances, and that’s the No. 1 best thing.”
“Money comes and goes,” said the mother, “but if you’re going to spend your money, summer camp is one of the things you spend it on.”
Potash isn’t alone.
The mother and father of a whopping 24.6 million tots, tweens and teenagers across the US need their youngsters to expertise a screen-free, structured summer time through enrichment packages and in a single day camps per a May 2026 research.
Millions of mother and father want to ship their kids to summer time camp, but cite high prices as a deterrent. Budimir Jevtic – stock.adobe.com
Unfortunately, 38% of those households cite high prices as a major deterrent, according to the report. You can’t blame them, as some camps value as a lot as $4,500 a week, just like the AI-powered summer time day camp in the Hamptons that teaches “life building skills” and has wild choices such as omakase courses and a Trojan-horse workshop.
Because of these absurdly high prices, only 13% of low- and middle-income kids are literally in a position to attend camp, in contrast to 45% of those in high–income houses, according to the research.
But for a first-rate, rustic journey miles away from home, mother and father like Potash don’t thoughts spending big.
Potash said the hefty bills of the camp are definitely worth the investment, Courtesy Rachael Braunschweiger Potash
“I didn’t grow up going to camp but their father, my late husband, did. He always wanted his girls to go,” Potash explained.
“The kids are actually spending their summer doing things that kids should be doing — waterskiing, kayaking, swimming, gymnastics, dance, art, making s’mores,” she raved. “Plus, they’re learning how to be empowered, independent young women before going off to college.”
Although Camp Vega enforces a firm uniform coverage — that means attendees are anticipated to put on camp-stamped clothes during their stays — Potash’s women had been adamant about loading their tenting trunks with chichi toiletries by Method physique wash, and cutesy pajamas from Brandy Melville, Eberjey and Roller Rabbit.
Potash’s daughters’ baggage shortly before entrusting it to a specialised delivery service that lugs the masses from their home in Florida to the elite campgrounds in Maine. Courtesy Rachael Braunschweiger Potash
Even though Potash’s women attend a uniform camp, the kids load up on luxe loot to have at their disposal during their seven-week journey. Courtesy Rachael Braunschweiger Potash
Potash, like many other moms with sleepaway campers, has patronized Denny’s x Lester’s for their clothes, bunk and tools wants. Courtesy Rachael Braunschweiger Potash
After buying the most well liked manufacturers, and reworking her formal eating room into “camp headquarters,” where they label and pack all their camp gear, Potash pays handsomely for a concierge delivery service to transport the trunks and duffels to the ladies’ camp bunks up north.
“But even after the trunks get picked up and they’re gone, we’re still ordering stuff,” she laughed to The Post. “I still have a list of stuff to buy because there’s just never enough time.”
Under major time crunches, newcomers to the upscale sleepaway swing rush to haute tenting items retailer, Denny’s & Lester’s, which sees mother and father, from New York to Florida, scrambling to secure a one-on-one appointment with in-store consultants adept in sleepaway swag.
“Parents start reserving their summer time camp appointments in January, and we see people dashing to get last-minute wants proper up until their kids depart,“ Spencer Klein, a chain proprietor, told The Post.
“We try to buddy each kid up with best person that would fit the camper’s criteria,” said Klein. “We offer everything from bedding, pillows and bunk needs to clothing and gear, accessories. We label every item and embroider their trunks with their names.”
“It’s our busiest time of the year.”
And probably one of the most profitable occasions, too.
Dani Cohen, a married mother of three sons en route to co-ed sleepaway Camp Walt Whitman in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, yearly spends between $1,500 to $3,000 at the store, making certain her boys — ages 11, 9 and 7 — are good to go once they’re gone for the season.
The expensive buying spree is merely the cherry on top of the more than $15,000, per youngster, camp tuition that the 40-something and husband Jason pay for her kiddos to frolic in the greenery for seven weeks.
“I start booking my camp appointments at Denny’s in November,” Cohen, a particular training advocate from New Canaan, Connecticut, explained. “They take care of everything and all I have to do is pay for it.”
“It’s minimal sweat until I look at that bill,” she chuckled. “It’s like sticker shock. They put everything into that box, then ring it up and you’re like, ‘How did this happen?’”
And the spending doesn’t end once her boys hop on the bus to camp.
Almost immediately after their departure, Cohen books flights and resorts, or rents an RV, for her and Jason’s mid-season keep during Visiting Day, a extremely anticipated time when households reunite with their campers, showering them with luxe baubles and treats.
“We definitely bring food, goodies and trinkets with us. One kid usually asks for pickles, my niece gets sushi,” said Cohen. “They get everything from pickles to hacky sacks to the latest new games.”
Weprin (Left) and her husband spared no expense making certain their daughters loved enriching summer time camp experiences at upstate’s Raquette Lake. Elizabeth Weprin
But Elizabeth Weprin, 55, whose now-adult daughters, Marlie, 26 and Allie, 23, spent eight years changing into summertime fixtures at Raquette Lake Camp in the Adirondacks — where tuition begins at $17,450 per pup — told The Post that the hefty investment is definitely worth the invaluable payoff.
“The crown jewel of these sleepaway camps is the alumni parent network that you can tap into,” Weprin, a Boca Raton-based content creator married to an attorney, explained of the selection connections her household’s made over practically a decade.
Relationships with elite captains of industry via Raquette Lake have served as a wealthy useful resource to Weprin’s women as they’ve transitioned from little campers to faculty graduates to breadwinners in the workforce.
“I’ve always told my kids, ‘Your Rolodex is everything,’” she said, referring to the business contact keeper of yore. “Internships, job opportunities, experiences — it’s all about who you know.”
Weprin tells The Post that the community of business bigwigs and associates her household has gained from camp over the years has made the high value of sleepaways price every penny. Elizabeth Weprin
But past the burdens of shelling out a small fortune for enrollment, and the boons of hobnobbing with the higher crust, Weprin said the best benefit of camp has been the lifelong friendships her daughters have established.
“These girls have such a strong love for each other. They may not have gone to the same schools or grown up in the same neighborhoods, but they are there for one another no matter what — birthdays, graduations, the loss of a parent, whatever,” said Weprin.
“And that’s the biggest benefit. That love,” the homemaker continued, shrugging off whatever loopy sums of money she’s ponied up over the years. “They still can’t get enough of each other.”
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