Showering at Camp - New Camper Blog Series

Welcome back new camper families! We are nearing the end of our New Camper Blog series – summer is almost here! We hope you’ve learned so many fun details that will help prepare you for the summer, but don’t forget to reach out if you have any final questions. We are happy to help!

Today we are going to talk about showering. It may not seem like that exciting of a topic, but as a new camper family, we recommend being prepared for this piece of camp. Let’s jump right in!

Shower set-up: Every cabin will have 1-2 showers, which makes getting a shower easy at camp! No walking to a communal bath house at Greystone. We have tank-less hot water heaters providing never-ending hot water (truly!). [Sidenote: Any Greystone alums out there will be praising these details as we all remember walking to the shower houses and holding a chain to keep the cold water turned on.] All in all, our campers are lucky with how easy showering is!

Privacy: All of our showers are in private locations in the cabin with a door or curtain to separate the shower from the rest of the cabin. Girls have room to undress and change in privacy for the shower.

Showering frequency: Most campers shower every day, but we require that girls shower every other day. I can just picture some of you moms being shocked by this statement in one of two ways: you either can’t imagine that your daughter wouldn’t shower every day (how gross!), or you’re thrilled that your daughter will take a shower every other day as she may not get that many showers at home (halleluiah!). This is a great example of how every parent feels differently about how often their daughter should shower. At camp, we have found the middle ground of requiring a shower every other day.

Talking about showering: Before camp, please talk to your daughter about showering. If it is important to you that your daughter takes a shower every day, tell her! Your daughter’s counselor will be reminding her as well, but having a conversation before the summer will help set expectations for your daughter.

Preparing for showering: Make sure your daughter is confident taking a shower; we don’t have bathtubs at camp! Practice washing her body and getting the shampoo out of her hair. Every summer, we have girls who we think are showering (as they are going into the shower every day). However, we find out later that these girls never even used soap or shampoo while they were in the showers! Our counselors remind the girls, but make sure your daughter is prepared before she comes! She will need to be able to take a shower on her own.

Length of shower: This is where showering gets exciting! Girls need to take quick showers at camp so that we can move through all the campers in a cabin. When you have one shower for 12 people, that’s a lot of showers in a day! We encourage our girls to get in and get out quickly – so help your daughter know this ahead of time. Those luxurious long showers will have to wait until the return home!

Times to shower: After the final class of the day, we have Free Time on the schedule. Girls will return to their cabins, and many will take a shower at this time, rotating through showers before dinner. However, there are many times to shower each day, and we have a list of those times hanging on the cabin’s bathroom mirror. Girls can shower after lunch, after dinner, after Evening Program and other times during the day. Sometimes these other times are the way to go as fewer cabinmates will be showering during those same times.

What to bring: We provide shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in all our showers; they are available for anyone to use! However, if you have specific products you would like to use, campers can bring whatever they would like. If you’re bringing your own shower products, make sure to label them and show them to your daughter! It helps for girls to know what their shampoo and body wash look like before they come to camp. Finally, some girls bring cheap flip flops to use as shower shoes, but they are not necessary.

Is that enough information about how showers work at camp? I hope so! If you have any other questions, let us know. Talking to your daughter about showering before the summer will help prepare her for camp. Until next week!