Do you tip at day camp?

amother

Lawngreen

Tue, Aug 18 2020, 8:04 am

I voted that I give the recommended amount... But I only have 2 kids in day camp. Next yr iyh when I have three I think although I will tip, it will be below the suggested amount....I'd love to give more but it's just to much for me... This yr it came out to $125 & $160 per child.

Lovemy5

Tue, Aug 18 2020, 8:29 am

Even though I think the whole tipping thing is ridiculous, I always tip the recommended amount. I have teenagers who have been stiffed and wouldn’t do that to another child. Just factor it into the cost of camp.

fleetwood

Tue, Aug 18 2020, 8:40 am

amother [ Silver ] wrote:

Please tip especially this year. Most counselors are making LESS then $100 week. There is no youth core.

My daughter in a Flatbush ny day camp literally makes 50$ a week. She is relying on tips.

amother

Tue, Aug 18 2020, 8:47 am

I had to borrow money to pay for camp. I have five kids in camp. The recommended amount is crazy. (My nursery son alone adds up to $140, not counting the driver and bus moniter.)

I feel bad. But I can't borrow several hundred dollars more for this.

amother

Babypink

Tue, Aug 18 2020, 8:53 am

amother [ Silver ] wrote:

Please tip especially this year. Most counselors are making LESS then $100 week. There is no youth core.

I'm paying $1600 for day camp for each child, plus lunch and transportation. Why is it my responsibility to pay the counselors? Please tell that to the camp directors, not parents who are already paying so much.

Quote:

My daughter in a Flatbush ny day camp literally makes 50$ a week. She is relying on tips.

Again, why is it on me when I already paid for camp?

keym

Tue, Aug 18 2020, 8:54 am

I don't always tip the recommended amount. But at least a small amount, or a gift card somewhere or something.
In Lakewood, the counselors average maybe $100 a week and the JC's average $50 a week in the big camps. Yes, they're with friends and have fun, but they work really, really, really hard.
Especially this year. No trips means trying even harder to find creative and fresh fun activities that aren't boring or nerdy.

My daughter is specialty staff in a camp, and I feel really bad. She works really really hard, gets paid very little, and isn't seen much because it's mostly behind the scenes. So she doesn't get tipped.

Simple1

Tue, Aug 18 2020, 9:09 am

keym wrote:

Regarding your first line, am I missing something? I hear about recommended amounts in Brooklyn. I've gotten them in sleepaway camps. But never in Lakewood.

And re your last paragraph, that's the unfair part about tipping. Same with someone who subs the whole year in a daycare.

amother

Tue, Aug 18 2020, 9:13 am

I started this post because it really really hurts me that I'm hurting these kids by not paying (dh just said I sound "anguished") but I just don't see where I can get an extra several hundred dollars after killing myself to pay for camp.
Can I give junior counselors $5? And the main morah $10? Is that better than nothing or is that insulting?
(This is for my nursery son. Three JC's one main. According to the tip sheet, the morah gets $60, each jc $40, totalling $180. Plus the driver and the bus moniter. )

amother

Tan

Tue, Aug 18 2020, 9:20 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

My son worked at two camps in Lakewood this summer as a JC. One paid a little over $200 and the other $100 for the entire four weeks. The second camp encouraged tipping but even with that he only came out with about $80 in tips. The camp he worked at first half was one big group with a lot of counselors and it would have been hard to tip them all. So one mother bought all the counselors cinnamon buns and my son was thrilled. It was so thoughtful. It’s about $4. He says that was his best tip 😀

keym

Tue, Aug 18 2020, 9:36 am

Simple1 wrote:

They don't have recommended amounts. So many parents don't tip. But those who do are very appreciated.

keym

Tue, Aug 18 2020, 9:40 am

In general, OP. I feel like if you go to a camp where tipping is encouraged to the point of tipping sheets with recommended amounts, it becomes part of camp expenses to be budgeted for upfront.
The same way you don't go out to a nice restaurant and refuse to pay the gratuity part of the bill.
Tipping is part of American culture. You don't use the redcap at the airport and just don't tip.

amother

Tue, Aug 18 2020, 9:44 am

[quote="fleetwood"]

amother [ Babypink ] wrote:

Again, why is it on me when I already paid for camp?[/quo

Bec it's the proper thing to do.

"Proper"?

To borrow money to pay? To put one's self and family through crazy stress for a few extra hundred dollars, ok top of the $7000+ already paid for camp? (That was borrowed and begged?) If parents stop tipping, the camps will have to step up.

Help me figure out what to do. Is $5 insulting? $10? Do I have to give adults (nursery morah, 6th and 7th grade rebbe) more? What's the minimum to express gratitude without being an insult? (BH, all well behaved children, no special needs or extra attn needed)

watergirl

Tue, Aug 18 2020, 9:57 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I say this as a past "married morah" at a day camp, as a day camp parent, and as the mother of a teen who worked in day camps. Send what you can and feel is right. Make sure to send a note, not just $2 in an envelope. $2 with a note is meaningful. The note is important. The only thing that is insulting is to send nothing at all if the camp culture is to tip.

And fwiw, I agree its not cool to do this tipping culture. The owners of the camp need to pay the hard working kids their due and not put it on the parents. But until that glorious day... send what you can and send a note.

fleetwood

Tue, Aug 18 2020, 10:04 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

5$ is fine. It shows that you appreciate the counselor and give what you can.

yidisheh mama

Tue, Aug 18 2020, 10:15 am

My sister worked in a day camp in Brooklyn last summer. She had just graduated HS. Most of her tips were $5, some 10's and 15's, too, but not many. She was 18, not a young kid.