2025 Camp Planner and Tool Kit

Once the summer has ended and the weather starts to change, summer camp might not be top of mind for your customers. But, it is your job to change that! In the fall, you can get your name out there to prospective customers, continue to foster relationships with current customers, and even take bookings for summer camp next year!

Fall Scheduling

• Sign up with a camp registration and management software: When you use software like Sawyer for camp registration and management, you can set yourself up for success, streamline operations, increase your bookings, save yourself time and energy, and get a great team behind you. 
• Publish your camps as early as possible: The earlier the better, so make sure your 2025 camps are published as soon as you can. To optimize your camp listing, use high quality photos, include sample schedules, provide flexibility in your booking and payment options, and more.
• Give customers a taste of the fun: Offer drop-in camps on school breaks and days off throughout the year. Prospective campers can try your activities before their families make the big decision to purchase for the summer. This is a great opportunity to make connections with families, test out new activities and lessons, and increase your customer base. If you’re only open during a specific season, consider an open house event where families can visit and learn more about your camp. 
• Provide flexibility: Camp is a big purchase. Payment and booking options help prospective customers make the decision to book. With Sawyer, you can let families book by day, week, or month and by credit card, with ACH, in installments, and more. In our 2023 Trend Report, after analyzing almost 9 million activities booked, we found that 19% of parents chose a buy now, pay later (BNPL) option when offered.‍
• Offer gift cards: Gift cards are a great opportunity for grandparents, aunts and uncles, and friends to give the gift of your camp! As holidays and birthdays approach, offering gift cards is an easy way to increase your revenue.

Fall Admin Work

• Update your website: Showcase all of the fun from the past summer by adding photos and videos to your website. And don’t forget to include your new camp dates and booking link! With Sawyer, it’s simple and easy to add the booking widget right onto your website. Parents will see a beautifully designed, mobile-first schedule that includes all of the important information for your camp and most importantly, a button to register!‍
• Evaluate the summer based on your goals: Reflect on the summer that just ended. Did you accomplish the goals you set out for yourself, your team, and your business? Where were the challenges? How can you avoid those pitfalls next year?

Fall Activity Planning

• ‍Test out your activities: Thinking about trying something new during your next camp session? This is the perfect opportunity to test out activities, themes, games, and more during school day off camps and after school or weekend programming. Plus, it’s a great way to introduce new families to your camp!

Fall Marketing

• Connect with schools: Connecting with local schools is a great way to meet customers where they are and give your camp credibility. Use our guide with an editable email outreach template to make connections with schools.
• Keep up with your social media: Make your social media presence known so your camp can stay top of mind for families! Keep the excitement going all year long as you prepare for 2025 camps. Always include a call-to-action (CTA) in your social media and email marketing encouraging people to book camp for next year.
• Build your email list: According to Statista, 92% of people in the US use email as a form of communication. That means email marketing is one of the best ways to reach current and potential customers. With local events, connections to schools, and drop-in camps, you can build your email list of new and returning customers. The best part? Sawyer easily integrates with messaging platforms like Mailchimp and Constant Contact. 
• Showcase your offerings: When you add gift cards, sibling discounts, and other options to your listings, include that information in your marketing! Don’t rely on prospective customers to search: Tell them and celebrate the options!‍
• Collect reviews: When a summer of fun is still fresh in their minds, it is the perfect time to ask customers for reviews. With a camp registration and management system like Sawyer, customer reviews are front and center on your camp booking page. You can also use reviews in your social media and email marketing. Sawyer makes it simple to collect reviews from customers by asking for feedback right on the platform!

When the weather is cold, summer camp might feel far away. But, the winter is actually the most common time for parents to book summer camp! You need to set yourself apart from the competition and give parents all of the reasons to book your summer camp.

Winter Scheduling

• Publish your camps: If you haven’t already, you need to get your camp listings published as quickly as you can. Winter is summer camp booking season and customers cannot book with you if you do not have your listings up! Make them exciting and professional and watch the bookings roll in.‍
• Run a flash promotion: Offering timed promotions, early bird discounts, and other specials create a sense of urgency and excitement around your camps.

Winter Admin Work

• Create a hiring plan: Summer is closer than you think. Start sourcing and interviewing counselors and other staff members that you will need for the summer. Use our guide for support with questions to ask in camp counselor interviews and more hiring support.
• Audit your website: Parents are looking for professional camps that they can trust. They are also looking for an easy and digital booking experience. Make sure your website has no dead ends or broken links, professional photos, clear language, and a simple booking tool like Sawyer.
• Set SMART goals: Create a series of SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timed) goals that cover a variety of elements. For example, build goals around registration numbers, marketing, camper retention, revenue, and counselor and staff training. Use our guide to learn more about how to set goals for your business.‍
• Create a DEI policy: If you want to create a summer camp where everyone feels welcome and included, then creating a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policy is important.

Winter Activity Planning

• Start building curriculum: It takes time to build and write your curriculum and lesson plans for the whole summer. We recommend starting early, especially so you can make your camp listings even more robust by describing what campers will learn and do in the sessions.

Winter Marketing

• Invest in advertising: Now is the time you want to get your name out there. Beyond social media, Google Ads are a simple and cost effective way to spread the word about your camps. In addition to organic posts on social media, you can attract and engage families by boosting posts and running paid ads on Meta (Facebook) as well as Google Ads. These simple and cost effective ad platforms are DIY and allow you to easily target new and existing customers. Learn more about Facebook marketing in our guide.
• Get some face time in: Attend local community and school events, post flyers in places parents frequent (like indoor gyms, the pediatrician's office, cafes, and stores that fit your programming like sports equipment stores, art supplies stores, etc). 
• Connect with your families: Social media is great because you can actually build connections with prospective customers (and current customers, as well!). Open your DMs for questions about your camps, run contests, ask customers to post reviews, and more.
• Highlight your value: In your email and social media marketing, showcase your counselors, instructors, lesson plans, glowing reviews and more! Why should parents trust you with their children? Include pictures and videos of your camp in session, activities in action, parent testimonials, and anything else that highlights your program.‍
• Nurture your audience: Use Sawyer’s reporting tools to create audience segments for more successful email marketing. You can parse people by where they are in the buying journey or by demographic information like the age of their children, the type of activity they are most interested in, etc. Then, send specific emails that will resonate with them.

"When we announce specific classes we pull age groups and send communications to those specific segments so people don’t get overwhelmed." - Treasure Trunk Theatre

When spring arrives, parents are able to see the summer light at the end of the school year tunnel. Did you know, March is one of the biggest months for camp booking? Make sure you are ready!

Spring Scheduling

• Publish your camps (we’re not joking!!): If you have not already, you need to have your camp listings published as soon as possible. Make sure you include final camp dates, sample schedules, and all of the other important information that parents need to know. Parents have been researching and making decisions all winter, so you need to be sure your camp is on their list. 
• Show you are in demand: Let parents know that your camps are filling up. Include that information in your listings and emails so parents know spots are limited. With Sawyer, you can also open up a waitlist to keep track of interested customers when your camps fill up.
• Keep track of your waitlist: As your waitlists fill, keep track of who is interested in which camps. If your waitlist gets large enough, you can consider opening another session of that camp. At the very least, you will know which camps are most popular so you can plan to run more of those next year.

Spring Admin Work

• Hire counselors and staff: Make sure your team is secure and get started on onboarding so that everyone knows what to expect when summer rolls around.
• Build safety plans and protocols: Parents trust you with their precious children and it is your job to keep them safe. Summer camp safety procedures and plans are the best way to know you are doing the most to keep everyone safe.‍
• Train your counselors: Proper camp counselor training is one of the best ways to keep your campers and staff safe over the summer. With the right plans and agenda, you can keep your counselors engaged and learning during onboarding and throughout the summer.

Spring Activity Planning

• Write lesson plans: Once you have your curriculum outlined, it is time to write summer camp lesson plans for your activities. Lesson plans are important to keep both instructors and campers on track throughout the session. ‍
• Gather supplies: Review your lesson plans and activities: What do you need to make this summer the best one yet? Make sure you stay organized while getting everything you need.

Spring Marketing

• Stay top of mind: While customers are primed to make a purchasing decision, it is so important to stay on their mind. Post frequently on social media and engage with your prospective and current customers. Vary your posts to include photos and videos from last summer, testimonials and reviews, instructor bios, and more.
• Offer referral bonuses: Encourage families to refer friends to your camp and reward them when they do!
• Lean into urgency: As you get more bookings, focus on the limited remaining spots in your email marketing subject lines, social media posts, and other forms of communication with parents. Be as specific as possible so parents know that the clock is ticking. Similar to early bird offers, “last chance” messaging can persuade parents to act fast. 
• Get excited: Camp is almost here! Bring the excitement into your email and social media marketing by counting down the days and posting photos of you and your team getting ready for your campers. You can even send digital or physical welcome packets with personalized letters, stickers, social media frames, and more to encourage campers and their families to spread the excitement.
• Interact with families: Connect with your campers and their families on social media to get them in the camp mindset. Use Instagram Stories to ask questions, run polls, and more, then share the responses to create a sense of community before the summer begins.

That’s right! While your camp is running, you should start planning your next camp! Your campers are having fun and enjoying your programming, so their parents are more likely to make a purchase for next year.

Summer Scheduling

• Publish your camps for next summer: Parents will book for next year if their child is currently enjoying camp. Don’t miss out on those bookings! ‍
• Offer timed discounts: Encourage parents to book camp for next year as early as possible by offering a discount if they book before this current camp session ends. In addition, you can offer sibling discounts to welcome the whole family. These early bird discounts and new camper rewards encourage early bookings.

Summer Admin Work

• Focus on staff retention: Ensure your counselors and staff are feeling appreciated for all of their hard work. When your team feels good, they will be more likely to return for the next camp season. Use our guide to learn how to retain employees.‍
• Evaluate your staff: As the camp season comes to end, it is important to run evaluations with your counselors and staff. Get a run down of how the season went, where counselors succeeded and struggled, and so much more. This will help you make next summer even better.

Summer Activity Planning

• Keep track of what works: Which activities have been a hit this summer? Have your counselors and staff take notes of what is working (and what is not!) to build next year’s curriculum and lesson plans.‍
• Save the successful activities: Your staff is not the only part of your camp that you should evaluate. Start creating a folder for next year’s camp activities and save the hits now so you remember.

Summer Marketing

• Post, post, post: While camp is in session, post every day on your social media accounts to show prospective (and current!) customers how much fun everyone is having at your camp. 
• Create a sense of urgency: Email your current customers to tell them that they will get a discount if they book camp for next year before the current season ends. Check out our guide for more tips on email marketing for camps.
• Gather testimonials: While everyone is having fun, ask campers and their parents for casual interviews and other user-generated content that you can use in your marketing for next year. With a camp registration and management system like Sawyer, it’s simple to gather reviews!
• Find ambassadors: Know of a parent with an engaged social media following or is an influential member in their community? Maybe someone who holds a role in the PTA? Consider offering discounts or free sessions for their child in exchange for social media posts and referrals.
• Celebrate your current campers: Research estimates it is 5-25x less expensive to keep current customers coming back than to find new customers. As the season comes to an end, utilize email marketing, social media marketing, and even in-person marketing (think: pickup and drop-off) to encourage your customers to return next year for camp.‍
• Highlight your value to prospective customers: Now is the time to entice families who signed their children up for other camps this year. Showcase photos, videos, testimonials, and more. Make prospective customers feel jealous that they missed out on your camp this year so they book early for next year!

Planning and executing a successful summer camp requires a ton of moving pieces. At Sawyer, we are the summer camp experts. We’ve gathered all of the resources you need to make your 2025 summer camp the best it can be. Click here to download your customizable summer camp planner!

Scheduling

• Benefits of camp management software
• How to optimize your camp listing

Admin Work

• Questions to ask in camp counselor interviews
• How to set goals for your business
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion at summer camp
• Benefits of gift cards for camps
• Summer camp safety procedures and safety plan template
• Camp counselor training
• How to retain employees
• Camp counselor evaluations (with template)

Activity Planning

• How to write a summer camp curriculum
• Summer camp lesson plans (with template)
• Activities for hot summer days
• Summer camp activities for all ages

Marketing

• How to make connections with schools (with email template)
• Early bird discounts and camp marketing ideas
• How to ask customers for reviews
• Google Ads for camps
• Facebook marketing for camps
• Event marketing for camps
• Email marketing for camps
• Social media marketing for camps
• Instagram Story ideas for camps
• TikTok marketing for camps
• Why is user-generated content (UGC) important for camps?
• Marketing budget template for camps
• How to use Canva to make marketing assets

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