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Chapter 1 of 30 · 1 min read

Overnight Camp Residential Business Basics

An overnight camp provides care beyond activity hours, including meals, sleep, personal support and night response. Plan the full stay from arrival to return home. A daytime activity plan is only one part of the business.

An overnight camp does not end when the last activity ends. You are responsible for a place to sleep, food, personal care, evening choices, night concerns, and a safe return home.

A child may be brave at canoeing and still feel upset at bedtime. A quiet health issue may become important when medicine, meals, sleep, and activity all change. Your plan must support the whole person, not only the timetable.

Choose the main purpose: a first sleep-away experience, a traditional summer week, a specialist arts program, a sports camp, or another clear offer. Add the relevant activity guide to this residential guide.

Be honest about your scope. A recreational overnight camp is not a hospital, treatment centre, or specialist care service unless it is actually set up and authorized for that role. Do not accept needs you cannot safely support just to fill a bed.

A useful first offer might be one short session at an established approved residential site. That does not remove your duties, but it may avoid trying to build facilities and a new program at the same time.

Your task: Write everything your camp promises between check-in and departure, including the hours when participants are asleep.

Put this chapter to work

Optional · Putting your plan into practice

Using Bookify for this goal

This part starts with your own planning and judgement. Use the guide and its worksheets to work through it with your team.

When you are ready to put your camp plan into a booking system, you can explore a sample camp in Bookify or see what the software can help you do.