If your children aren’t quite ready to go away on their own to overnight camp, then think about tagging along with them this year.  Family Camps offer a stress-free vacation with lodging, cooked meals and pre-planned activities included.  Check out these options for great getaways for the whole family.  

The Family Vacation Center,  located on the campus of UC-Santa Barbara, offers a week’s worth of lodging in an apartment-style suite with daily housekeeping and buffet-style meals.  An extensive sports program, various theme nights and art activities will keep your family as busy as it wants to be.  A “date night” for mom and dad is even an option thanks to the comprehensive childcare available for all ages, even infants. 

A week at Wonder Valley Family Camp,  just a four-hour drive from Los Angeles, will cure your kids’ mid-summer boredom.  Your family will be actively engaged from sunrise to sunset.  Awaiting your arrival is an assortment of sports-related fields and courts, an equestrian center, an aquatics center, a skateboard park, a ropes challenge course, a go-kart track and a petting farm - along with so much more.  This full-service resort offers air conditioning, private restrooms and dining in their new 6,000 square foot lodge.  Children’s programs are offered for ages 0-17.

The Montecito Summer Family Camp is nestled beside a small lake in the Sequoia National Forest. Picking which week your family will attend may depend on which theme night interests you most.  Pirates, 80s Flashback, Super Heroes, Hawaiian Luau, Disco and Casino Night are but a few options for nighttime dress-up fun.  A plethora of water and land sports will keep everyone entertained during the day.  Family-oriented rooms are available at the Montecito Sequoia Lodge.  For more privacy, you can choose to bunk in a cozy cabin.

If you’re nostalgic for childhood camping trips (where you actually sleep in a tent!) or summers on the farm, drive up to the coastal Sonoma redwoods.  You’ll find Plantation Farm Camp, a rustic experience where everyone bunks in a platform tent.  In the mornings, your family will help with the farm chores.   Your kids will be thrilled to feed the animals, groom the horses, collect chicken eggs, milk the goats and cows, chop firewood and tend the garden.  At meal times, you’ll enjoy delicious food made with local ingredients, many grown on the farm using organic methods.  Your little campers will forge their own classic childhood memories in the great outdoors as they help pick blackberries to put in the cobbler for dessert.  (One in their mouth.  Two in the bucket.  Repeat as needed.)  You’ll also find plenty to keep you busy when the chores are done.  Nighttime will find the family enjoying camaraderie around the campfire while stargazing, swapping stories and spinning wool.

Or for families who love to explore their creative side, Family Camp at Cazadero Performing Arts Camp could be just the ticket for a summer vacation full of music, art, drama and dance.  Each camper (age 6 - adult) can register for up to 4 classes per day.  The hardest part will be deciding which classes to take. Stone carving, African dance and drumming, mystery and folk theater, clowning and circus arts, poetry pages, guitar, congas…. and the list goes on.  Outside of class, there are plenty of outdoor recreational activities to fill up the free time.  Four choices in housing accommodations are offered - each family can choose between tent camping, RV camping, dorm rooms and tent cabins.  Meals are served three times per day in their dining hall.  For those with younger ones, childcare is also available for 1 ½  - 5 yr olds. 

A week at Idyllwild Arts’ Family Camp is another option for a creative outlet.  A 2 ½ hour drive from Los Angeles, Idyllwild Arts offers an extensive range of arts and crafts classes as well as outdoor activities.  They’ll even embrace your choice to just skip it all and laze about for as long as you wish.  Located on 205 acres in the San Jacinto Mountains, the campus has indoor and outdoor theaters, art studios, dance studios and practice rooms with pianos.  For your dining pleasure, most meals are served buffet-style.  One- and two-room lodging facilities, both with daily maid service, are available for your stay.  Evening entertainment includes concerts, lectures, games, folk dancing and campfires to spark your minds and engage your spirits.  The week’s end will be a hoot as each family performs in the Family Talent Show.  Camp is held the week prior to Independence Day and space is limited.  (Translation: No large crowds!  But you better act fast or you may miss out.)

While pondering the above California-based camp locations, don’t discount a trip to Idaho just yet.  Along with fields full of potatoes, you’ll find a great Family Camp hosted by ROW Adventures at a Rocky Mountain resort called the River Dance Lodge, which boasts the best in family outdoor adventure.  Canoeing, hiking, swimming, kayaking, fly-fishing, river rafting and horseback riding all provide perfect opportunities to commune with nature.  You’ll enjoy all-inclusive meals while dining next to the river at the Syringa Restaurant.  At the end of each day you’ll attain perfection as you soak in your log cabin’s private hot tub. 

No matter where your family chooses to camp this summer, it will be an unforgettable adventure and a bonding experience for the whole family! 

Images courtesy of the Family Adventure Center, Plantation Farm Camp, Idyllwild Arts and ROW Adventures.