Summer Camp (Adults Only)

This weekend, while scrolling through Instagram, I noticed that one of my pals was spending the weekend somewhere that looked suspiciously like a summer camp. Was my 30-something friend taking a break from her job to be a counselor somewhere?

Upon further investigation, it turns out that she was at an adults-only summer camp, which has recently become a popular summertime activity. From a CNN story from earlier this summer:

For these grown-ups, ranging from their mid-20s to early 60s, socializing at Throwback takes on a whole new attitude. No more worrying about “getting dressed up and looking attractive” before going out on the town, said Gibbons. For $245 they can socialize in a relaxed setting where they can “have fun and act like they’re 15 again for just a couple days.”

When Gibbons got the idea to start Camp Throwback three years ago, she met some resistance. “I tried to get companies on board to help fund it, and they all kind of wrote it off as a silly idea,” she said. So she saved her money, rented an unoccupied 4-H facility and scheduled her first camp in May 2014. All 120 tickets sold out in 30 hours, she said.

People make friendship bracelets, compete in eating contests, and go to archery practice. There’s lots of booze involved.

This sounds like fun, though as someone who’s more introverted, I’d rather put $245 towards a cabin rental with a small group of friends where we could go on hikes and play board games and drink quietly. But participating in a Wet Hot kind of summer camp with a bunch of adults does sound entertaining — even more so if it came with a talent show directed by Amy Poehler.

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