If I'm an expert in anything it's summer camp (j/k sort of) — I started going to Y camp when I was 7 and stayed pretty much all summer long until I was a teenager. I even worked at two different summer camps and attended my camp reunion for "staff from the 80s." Anyhow — I was quoted in an article published in the Kingston Whig-Standard, Regina Leader-Post, The Vancouver Province, The Vancouver Sun, and the Ottawa Citizen. The text of the article is in the extended entry. Newsletter readers: you gotta come to Ypulse.com to read…

Gee mom, I don't wanna go home. Summer camps drop mozzie repellent for minty spa pedicures
Canwest News Service
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Byline: Misty Harris
Source: CanWest News Service

Summer camp, once defined by the twin pillars of mystery meat and poison ivy, is getting a makeover worthy of a Hilton sister.

From spa treatments and massage sessions to yacht rides and fashion instruction, Canada's diminutive divas now have a range of resort-style camp offerings at their well-manicured fingertips.

Of course, sleepaway camp still teaches survival in the wild. But today's "wilds" are more Beverly Hills than backcounty.

"It takes more to entertain kids these days than it did 10, 20 or 30 years ago," says Melanie Senior, head of marketing for a new spa camp. "They're not content to just sit in front of a piece of paper and draw a picture."

Spa and Wellbeing Camp, hosted by Pali Adventures in southern California (www.paliadventures.com), promises the ultimate in pampering for youth aged 12 to 16. Discerning campers earn their style stripes through daily classes on the art of yoga, Zen meditation, manicures and pedicures, facials, aromatherapy, massage, nutrition and etiquette.

"We have so many parents saying, 'Dammit, why can't we come?'" Senior says, laughing.

An Ipsos-Reid study for the Canadian Camping Association indicates that 90 per cent of parents who themselves attended camp will send their children.

Attendees of B.C.'s Malibu Club, run by the Christian organization Young Life, are transported to the luxurious property on the Malibu Princess Yacht. The camp, nestled among the mountains off the Sunshine coast, was originally established in the 1940s as an elite celebrity resort.

Amenities for teen campers include cabins overlooking the Malibu Rapids, a professional golf course, access to sailboats and an outdoor swimming pool.

"The people running these summer camps know that not everybody is going to love that nature, dirty, bug-juice camp experience," says media maven Anastasia Goodstein, whose Ypulse website tracks youth marketing campaigns. "So they follow what teens and tweens do in their spare time and try to build that into their camp program."

Teens whose dials are tuned to the catwalk, for example, can enlist in Pali's popular Fashion Design Institute. The summer program, which attracts campers from across the globe, allows young people to learn from real designers how to be "the next Tommy Hilfiger, Donna Karan or P. Diddy."

Pali's camps cost between $1,435 and $2,795 US, depending on the length of the program.

Senior says it's about giving youth what they want. But Goodstein
suspects it's more likely a subtle way of grooming a new generation of consumers.

"Camps are being viewed as another space and place to market to teens," says Goodstein, pointing to the annual Camplified camp concert tour that launched such musicians as Canada's Fefe Dobson.

"If the music industry has figured that out, why shouldn't the spa and cosmetic industries also take advantage of that captive audience?"

Young people, for their part, are lining up in droves for the revamped camping experience. Senior says part of the appeal is the blending of specialty programs with time-honoured camp traditions.

"We still have Smores and we still have a campfire and we still have a guy on a guitar sitting around singing old camp songs," says Senior. "Although when the kids do requests, there gets to be more Eminem tunes happening."

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