Packing for Summer Camp

If I had to give myself a rating, on how well I pack, I could easily give myself 5 stars!!! Yep, that puts me on the same level as the Four Seasons Hotel!!! I am not normally one to brag on myself, but when you have limited talents, you need to take pride in those you do have!

What makes me such a connoisseur of packing, you might ask?

First of all, I have always been very organized! Even when my house looks as if a herd of robbers ransacked the place, you can open any drawer and any closet and you will see organization.

Second and probably the biggest reason…I have been to church camp, as a camper or a sponsor, almost every year for the past 20 years!!!

My daughter, bless her heart, did not inherit my organization skills. If it were not for my ninja packing skills, I am sure she would never survive at camp…at least fashionably.

Today is your lucky day because I am going to give you step by step instructions on how to pack your kiddos for summer camp.

First make a list of everything your dear children will need for camp.

Here is a general list:

Bedding

Pillow

Towels

Toiletries

Underwear

Socks

Play clothes

Nice clothes (we are packing for church camp, not all camps require nice clothes)

Comfortable shoes

Girl things!!!

Something for dirty clothes

Here is a more detailed printable list summer camp list

Make sure to get a large suitcase with rollers so they don’t have a difficult time carrying it around.

I lay all of the clothes out on my bed and sort them into outfits complete with underwear, socks (if needed) and a matching hair bow (girls only, my son doesn’t wear hairbows!)

I then get gallon size Ziploc bags and write the days of the week on them. I have 2 bags for each day, one for the daytime and one for the evening, one for swim wear, and then I have 2 that say “extras”, and 1 that says “for getting dirty”. All that my daughter has to do is get up and put on everything in the bag for that day!!! She is 13 now so this could be the last year I will have to pack her :(.

I stand these baggies up in the suitcase like a filing cabinet in order of how they will be worn, and put the shoes to the outfit behind the bag that it goes with. I pack 3 bath towels, one swimming towel, a robe and PJs on the other side. See how nicely the baggies look and they wont have to empty out their entire suitcase looking for something.

Please excuse the horrible photo quality!

Next, I pack a bathroom bag.

Within the bathroom bag, there are 2 other bags, a makeup bag and a shower bag (that is easy to carry back and forth to the shower). In the bathroom bag I pack…Sunscreen, bug spray, Tylenol, Melatonin, wet wipes, brush, comb, pony tail holders, bobby pins, hair spray, lotion, deodorant, femine products, tooth paste and tooth brush, shower bag and make up bag

In the shower bag I put travel size shampoo, conditioner, facewash, body wash, razor, and a shower poofy. HINT (when we go to hotels, I always keep all the little shampoos, soaps and lotions for this reason)

One really neat idea, I saw on Pinterest, was to put all your different soaps in travel size bottles with key chain like these and hook them on a lanyard or Amazon has them already made!

I let my dear daughter pack her own make-up bag as I am not a huge fan!!!

I then put the bathroom bag in the suitcase in front of the towels (houndstooth bag in picture).

Finally I pack the bedding on the top since it is the first thing that will be unpacked. I made my kids these pillow cases a few years ago after losing a couple of pillow! I just ironed their name on the edge with iron on letters.