Not to air out their dirty laundry, but the last thing a parent wants to do is sort their kids’ soiled clothes after summer camp.
The weeks-long getaway — which can cost as much as $15,000 — often requires an exhaustive packing list which yields a mountain of laundry at the end of the trip.
Florida-based mom-of-two Hayley Mooney knows this all too well: when unpacking her son’s duffel post-camp, she caught a putrid whiff of a moldy, still-wet bathing suit.
That’s when she turned to First Class Laundry Services and decided to dish out $450 for the cleaning services, which include item pick-up and drop-off, for her son, Liam, she told the Wall Street Journal.
The West Palm Beach business launched the post-camp program last year, and it seems to be a hit with local parents.
“If you have disposable income and you don’t want to touch it, you’re sending it out,” Natalie Matus, the owner of First Class Laundry, told the Wall Street Journal.
“A lot of my clients won’t even let their housekeepers touch them.”
Some parents would rather hire third parties to help their kids pack, too.
At Denny’s locations in New York, New Jersey and Florida, sales associates at the children’s clothing boutique will act as personal shoppers for the youngsters, equipped with the child’s packing list.
At the “camp appointments,” parents can expect to splurge $1,500 to $2,000 on average ahead of camp, Spencer Klein, whose family owns Denny’s, told the Journal.
“I wanted her to have everything everyone has,” Boca Raton mom Beth Leffel told Journal, recalling sending her daughter off to her first summer camp three years ago.
The interior designer forked over $2,000 at Denny’s and an additional $250 at Party City for her kid, although she now hunts for dupes on Amazon that’s easier on her wallet and shares them to her Instagram page “The Savvy Camp Mom.”
“I didn’t want her to be without, especially since I’m not there,” Leffel said. “I didn’t want her to feel different because other kids have this or that. That first summer I went above and beyond.”
Manhattan-based Dara Grandis, a mom-of three, hired a personal organizer to help her kids pack before sending them to summer camp later this month.
Meanwhile, Larchmont, New York, mom Nicole Fisch took advantage of her neighbor’s business, Camp Kits, which sells pre-packed toiletries bundles for kids headed to camp, ranging in cost from $98 to $185.
“A lot of our clients believe the best thing you can spend your money on is your time,” Diana Cooper, the co-owner of the Florida-based personal assistant company The Concierge Crew, told The Journal.
