Here's what happened when I planned an adult summer camp and what I learned

Throughout the weekend and even after, many folks told me that Happy Worm Summer Camp was better than they ever expected. Music to my ears after spending so much time organizing a weekend that I had hoped would lead to greater connection with friends.

 

What is Happy Worm Summer Camp?

Happy Worm Summer Camp was something I had envisioned for a few years yet had never pulled the trigger on... until this year. Well, technically the year before in December when I texted friends and had them bookmark the weekend on their calendar. Happy Worm Summer Camp is a summer camp for adults designed to reconnect friends and get the chance to be a kid again with classic summer camp activities like capture the flag, hide and seek, campfire songs and of course, s'mores.

 

Why?

Well first, why not? The goal and intention for planning Happy Worm Summer Camp was to bring people together and encourage connection in a playful way that I think as adults we can sometimes forget how to do. When's the last time you played hide and seek?

Last month, the inaugural Happy Worm Summer Camp took place at a large, farm-style Airbnb just outside of St. Louis, Missouri. And here's what happened.

Thursday:

- Campers arrived throughout the afternoon and evening and we wanted to quickly get people into the spirit of camp. We had cutout wood name tags from tree branches and brought a wood burner and had everyone pick their camp names and carve them onto their name tag. We had Acorn, Trout, Guppy, Beans, etc

- We had also made bandanas with the Happy Worm logo in two different colors as well as a few different shirts that people purchased in advanced. I had the merch ready to go for when campers arrived and let them pick their bandana too. The bandanas were important for later on in camp.

- Our camp chef, Maddie, had made spaghetti for dinner and dirt and worms to really get people into the worm theme.

- We played Sardines, where one person hides and everyone finds them and when they do, they hide with them. So fun. If you haven't played this, you should. Turn all the lights off and it gets incrementally more stressful as more and more people disappear to hide.

- We also played cards later and recreated the scene from The Parent Trap. A must.

 

 

Friday:

- We started the morning with yoga led by one of our campers while Maddie and the other cooking-inclined campers helped prepare Build Your Own breakfast burritos.

- Then, we kicked off Wormlympics. This is where the bandanas came into play. We had 10 games and 20 campers. During the opening ceremony, it was revealed that the color of your bandana determined what team you were on for the weekend: Survivor-style. This created a fun level of tension and excitement throughout the weekend as each team assigned one person to take on one of the games.

- Throughout the day, we had a puzzle going for folks wanting a quieter activity while others played volleyball.

- We also did tie dye. The campers packing list had included something to tie dye so everyone came prepared.

- Throughout the day we played some of the Olympic games that were planned, like longest wall sit and who could drink a cup of water through a coffee stirrer the fastest. The games intentionally had a good mix of athletic vs non-athletic so that everyone could have something fun to participate in.

- One of our campers held a photography class and showed everyone the in's and out's and then set out a camera for everyone to take pictures with throughout the weekend.

- Maddie and crew made focaccia pizza for dinner which was delicious and then after went and sat around the campfire where we had campfire songs led by our musically inclined campers.

- We had setup a sheet with a projector to watch Wet Hot American Summer however we didn't find the time to do this as we had filled the day with so many other activities.

 

Saturday:

- We again started the day with yoga which was phenomenal. This was a highlight. It was such a great way to start the day as it was nice to have a calm moment before all the chaos of camp.

- Maddie and team made biscuits and gravy with eggs. We were eating reallllly good at camp. Like so good.

- We had arts and crafts where we made stuff out of air dry clay and then later painted them. 

- We did more Wormlympics and a lot more volleyball and puzzles.

- We grilled burgers and hot dogs for lunch.

- We also made Friendship Bracelets. I nice little keepsake from camp.

- We also played Capture the Flag this day. I couldn't remember the last time I played this and it lived up to the hype.

- One camper led a kombucha brewing class.

- We even had one camper put together a play for campers to audition for. It was a southern rendition of the first act of Midsummer Nights Dream and it was hilarious.

- We had tacos for dinner followed by a second performance of campfire songs and s'mores.

- This was the last night of camp so we tried to pack as much in: we had a talent show, played flashlight tag, more cards, watched The Parent Trap, ate some late night pizza rolls and mac 'n cheese.

Sunday:

- Camp was over and we sent campers off with a pancake sendoff.

What's next?!

- Happy Worm Summer Camp is coming back! We'll do a few camps in 2025 and you can join the waitlist here. You'll be the first to know when registration opens!

 

Need help planning one?

- Want to plan a summer camp? Download my free step-by-step guide. Seem like too much work? It isn't, but if you'd prefer to leave it to someone else, send me a DM at @heyhappyworm on IG and I'd be happy to help.

Here's what I learned:

- Why not? Why not plan an adult summer camp? Why not do that thing you've always wanted to do? Why not now? Why not you? It takes energy and effort, yet you'll learn along the way and the outcome is extremely rewarding.

- Get it on the calendar. In hindsight, convincing 20 people to fly to St. Louis, Missouri, drive 45 minutes into the country in August seems like a terrible idea. Part of why it worked was because we put it on the calendar back in December. If you have something you want to do, put it on the calendar.

- Make it worth it! Provide value. The goal was to facilitate connection in a way that encouraged people to be themselves and just have fun. Add some fun surprises. Exceed expectations. Nobody expected all the programming and surprises and thought that went into the week and that added to the experience.