• 

Articles like this always get a rise out of me. Maybe it’s because I am a camp purist. I believe camp should be about bug juice, lanyards and mosquito bites. It should be about sneaking off during a game of Capture the Flag to take a “nature walk” with the boy you have a crush on. It should be about having to take a swim lesson in the lake even when it’s cold and gray outside. It’s not about being a princess. But it is…there have always been specialized camps. I went to computer camp in the 80s. What feels new is the move towards camps created by pop culture juggernauts like “American Idol” or inspired by Disney’s princesses. Inspired in no small way by Disney’s $4 billion princess line, these camps appear to be all the rage with little girls. And, once they become tweens or teens, this type of camp somehow morphs into Barbizon (or at least it does in this article). From the story:

Summer camps in Delaware and nationwide are combining lessons in ballet, ice skating and gymnastics with the chance to spend a week pretending to be Cinderella or Snow White. For older girls, a more grown-up version of princess camp offers classes in hair care, skin care and modeling.

The proliferation of all things princess started the same way most trends start — with product marketing.

Mattel’s Barbie doll, for instance, has her own princess line.

Disney’s Princess line, featuring characters from Pocahontas to Snow White, is expected to hit $4 billion in sales this year on products from books to clothing — much of it colored a pale pink.

Saks Fifth Avenue has almost 100 Club Libby Lu stores nationwide, where employees are charged with treating each girl like a VIP — Very Important Princess. The closest stores to Delaware are in Philadelphia and Washington.

Delaware Technical & Community College program director Rodney Bailey got the idea for this year’s fairy tale camp because “my own kids are really into the whole princess thing, the whole Disney thing. It seems like there’s a different princess movie every summer.”

Does anyone else find this trend disturbing? There’s something about camps inspired by a very specific (Disney) version of femininity that just seems weird. But then again, I don’t have kids yet. I just spent time with my two and a half year old nephew, and I know the power of these characters. Every morning it was “Diego! Diego! Mommy put on Diego!” If I had a little girl screaming loud enough for princesses….I would tell her all princesses had to go to camp and get dirty and drink bug juice and make lanyards….before they became princesses.

• 

Categorized under: Tweens

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.