Weekends

[Dave]

The curfews thread got me curious about this. For the overnighters here, what happens on weekends? Do you still do camp stuff? From what I read it seems like you don't do that stuff on weekends. What does your camp do on weekends? How does it work?

[rockinsmiles]

We get off around 3 on friday (the campers leave around 10) and are off till Sunday around 10. So the weekends are pretty much left up to us. Some people go home. Some people go home with those people. Sometimes there are parties and sometimes people go to clubs. We eat out a lot, watch movies, and go bowling. One time we had a staff canoe trip. Hardly anyone went on it but it kicked butt! We also might go swimming or play soccor. I have some plans of my own for the weekends for this summer!

[camper]

dave, i think its at the camps w/shorter sessions where they have weekends off...at my camp since all the kids are there for 7 weeks we obviously don't have weekends off. weekends are just normal camp days for us...except that on weekends we have a ton of visitors at camp, mostly tours. saturdays and sundays we like to call "showtime" b/c of all the tours haha.

the only differences are that:
1. instead of having saturday as a set night out like the rest of the week (the rest of the week half the counselors are out and half are in) saturdays rotate, everyone has 2 prescheduled sat nights in and the rest out. if you need to switch for some reason you have to discuss w/your grouphead.
2. sundays we sometimes sleep in an hour. it depends on the weather and what is planned for that day.

[Flower]

We're like camper. We've still got campers since most of them are there seven weeks. On a normal weekend, Saturdays are just like any week day. We have activities and evening program and all. Sundays are different. We sleep in a half hour, have breakfast, and then the whole morning is spent in cleaning the cabin and the kids, writing letters, and relaxing. Everyone goes to Sunday lunch in uniform so it looks really spiffy. (And what's better than eating lasagna in white?) After lunch is staff meeting and then the camp is broken up into teams of mixed age groups with 15 year olds as captains for team games. Some weeks they're real sports, some weeks they're silly games. Each Sunday has a theme they go with for team names and the girls make up team cheers. Counselors are either running a game or on a team. After that is general swim, and then cold cuts and PB and J for supper followed by the week's campfire for evening activity. Sunday is the one day a week that no counselors are off for days off or nights off.

[audur]

Most of our campers leave around 10 on Saturday morning, and new campers arrive around 2 on Sunday (some programs run longer than one week, so they stay over the weekend). After our campers leave, we go back to our units and get them ready for the next group of girls. We then have a short meeting, usually between 12 and 1, and then we're free to leave... we have to be back at 12 on Sunday, when we have a meeting and lunch before our campers arrive. So, we don't have a full weekend off, and usually can't get much done on those weekend - mostly, we just hang out, go out to dinner, go swimming, watch movies and catch up on sleep. Some people go home, others stay at camp. Sometimes there are parties, or people will go to a bar, or something. We do have two longer breaks during the summer - 2 and 3 nights, where a lot more people go home.

[Sparkes]

My camps weekend is somewhat similar to Flower's. Saturday is a normal day/night, but on Sunday we have a half an hour extra to sleep in, breakfast is buffet style, and we only have 2 periods in the morning. The rest of the day is normal though, but a bit more relaxed. In the evening all staff have to stay in camp and we have our meeting once all the younger campers are in bed.

[CAMPFRIEND]

We ran 1 adn two week sessions. Between sessions staff got 48 hours off. I think that i get less time off on the weekends off working day camp!

[Flukie]

During one-week sessions, our campers leave between 1-3 pm, with the units being cleaned by 4. Then some of the staff leaves for home or friends, while others stay on property. I generally head home to see the BF who is very sad I go to camp for so long. Lol.

On two-week sessions, we have campers! Regular program goes on during Saturday. Sundays we have a All-Camp Reflection and an All-Camp Program. Then into the final stretch we go! :)

[prettysocks]

We have crazy 10 day sessions... Campers come during the morning on Sunday, and leave 10 days from then, which is a Wednesday. They are supposed to be gone by noon. And since we are such a huge staff and SO EFFICIENT we're usually out of there by 2pm. So our "weekend" is from Wednesday afternoon - Saturday 5pm. Some people stayed at camp, and would take a car or cab into the city to go out for supper, shopping, bar, etc.., and just hang out and relax at camp.. But most people went home for the 3 days. I went home, and would do laundry, sleep, and call my friends to remind them I still existed.

[who_stole_my_loofa]

we dont have weekends off..... our days off are during the week. we're really not even allowed to leave camp on the weekends because of shabbat on friday and staff meetings on sunday- but on saturday night we are allowed to go out. depending on where you work and your agreement with your co-- your day off will be monday-thursday night.

[daisy_0144]

We have ten day sessions, so sometimes our "weekends" are in the middle of the week. We leave @ 4pm-ish on Day 10 and have two full days of break. We must be back at camp @ 10 am on Day 1(day13). Sorry if its confusing, it took me a long time to get it. Staff can stay at camp if they wish or go home or stay with other staff. Usually there's a bit of each. Occasionally, there maybe training during the "weekends," sometimes for just a few staff or for all staff.

[campCardinal]

We have one week sessions. On Saturdays we get up early (7 o clock) and pack up the cabin and get ready for breakfast. We eat at 7:45 and have to be out of the dining hall by 8:15. Starting at 8:30 campers parents will start picking them up, even though check out isn't until 9. Most campers are gone by 10. Once your whole cabin has left you're job is to clean the cabin (sweep, mop, take out trash, wipe down mattresses). Once that is done you're free to go home-- so usually by 11 you are free to go. On Sundays we have staff meeting at 1. So, you have Saturday afternoon and Sunday Morning off.

Most staff goes home, as most are locals. Internationals go home with people, or the camp director. There are parties, sleep overs, movie nights, bowling, dinners out, baseball games, trips to amusement parks, pretty much anything and everything. It's usually easy to find something to do, but a lot of people just go and sleep. I use the weekends to spend time with family and friends from home. It's nice.

[camplover86]

We have 10 day sessions. We get about 2 days off between sessions, but it is not always on the weekend. Actually i never really know what day of the week it is. During our between session breaks, we are allowed to stay at camp, or you can go home. I usually rode the bus home as a bus monitor and then rode it back to camp at the begining of the next session. I don't think I am going to do that this summer because you miss all of the pre and post session staff meetings.

[melon4382]

We have regular activities during weekends. During change weekends, when old campers leave and new campers come, we get that day off and the campers who stay longer than one session(2 weeks) go on a trip. The following day the new campers come and then we do rules and regs. and all that fun stuff.

[Pooka]

We generally run five-day sessions, starting Sunday and ending Friday afternoon. Around five PM, the campers put on a brief parent program before they leave, showing what they've done and learned, and then it's a staff meeting, clean up, and time to go. Almost everyone leaves for the weekends.

Staff usually get weeksends off, but occasionally there'll be weekend sessions. Weekend sessions are usually for younger campers who aren't quite ready for five days away from home, or for family or troop camping. They can be pretty fun.

[muchaprin]

we get days off but they are not always on a weekend. we have 7, 7 day sessions and then in between we get at least two nights and one full day off. I usally go home I like to take people home with me that live to farway to go home. three times a summer we have a mother daughter over night so some of the staff has to stay an extra night to help with that but on that week end we get an extra night off.

[KiwiCRB]

On the weekends we either get to go home or have special weekend events. They are either resident camp (troops), dad daughter, or mom and me. Actually this is the first year to have mom and me, but I don't have to go to it because my group will be canoeing. No offense to any moms out there but dad's as a whole are much more laid back and their weekend has always been a lot of fun. I guess we will see if the mom's weekend will be as fun, and it really could be. But these weekends are always kind of laid back and relaxing because campers aren't our constant responsibility since they have leaders/ parents there with them. The staff gets to all sleep in the same place and just have fun with the activities.

[lifer]

We have one and two week sessions, so we get weekends off after each one week session. Depending on the week, we finish around noon on Friday or Saturday, and we're off until staff meetings on Sunday mornings.

Even though weekends should be used for sleeping and recharging, most staff always feel the need to go out and let loose. We aren't allowed back on camp at night if we've been drinking, so people either get motels or go to local staff houses. We are pretty close to Chicago on the train, so that is a pretty popular trip as well. Doing laundry and going shopping is usually high on the list as well.

[sarahdee]

At my camp...weekends are just regularly camp days. We continue it follow our schedule except sundays which are special days...or theme days and everyone goes on picinic in the afternoon and stay till after supper.

[Melk]

on the weekend we have kids we take a break from what we usually do. Friday is beach day where we go to lake Michigan and have cookouts and swim and play games and make sand cities. That night is shower night, movie night, and early to bed night. Saturday we have a longer cabin time play an all camp game and at night we have Pinewood Idol. Sunday is sleep in day... we have brunch, a longer thought of the day, cross country race, Lake swim, swim testing, low down dirty day (mud fights, counsleor painting, car washing ect), and then counslor abuse hour.

On weekends we dont have kids we usualy go camping or go out to get dinner or see a movie or to a club. One weekned a year we go up to winsdor we just have to be back at camp by 10am on sunday.

[lifer]

All sessions check in on Sunday, but some check out on Friday at 9 am, and others check out Satuday at 9 am. Usually staff like to go out on those nights, which usually happens at a local staff person's house. (We cannot return to camp property if we've been drinking, so you have to have somewhere to stay the night.) Sometimes we do big group trips to Chicago or Six Flags Great America or someplace like that. Last year everyone went to the Real Madrid football game, and the Taste of Chicago is usually a pretty popular destination as well.

[CampFreak]

Our resident camp program ends Friday after the closing camp fire (Close to 6:30). After that staff have to clean the entire camp, once that is done we are free to do what we please. So we usually just do stupid things haha and have a big fire at night. Saturday we do what we want. It is typically a lot of fun.
However every other week we have kids stay for a sleepover weekend. On saturday a few staff and a director go on some planned trip (bball game, amusement park)

[Smudge]

Our sessions go over 2 weeks so during those weekend we just have normal camp programing, except we get to have a sleep in on a Sunday morning. The other weekends we generally get done cleaning camp about 3pm on the fri and are then free until 10am sunday. We usually use this time to go shopping, do touristy things and generally have fun.