If your teen DD’s are in camp, how do they wash skirts?

amother

OP ↓

Wed, Jul 20 2022, 8:03 am

My daughter is leaving to camp for second half next week. Last year she didn’t wash her skirts at all for a month because everything they sent in to the laundry was put in the dryer and she didn’t want her skirts to shrink. She did wash some tops and since she’s extremely thin it didn’t really bother her if they shrunk a drop. But skirts are different. The length cannot get shorter on some. DD is saying that some girls hand washed things in a basin but when they hung it outside to dry it would get knocked down or blown away. I wish I could drive to camp every 10 days to wash her clothing but I’m 3 hours away! What do most girls do if they don’t have access to a washing machine?

Frumwithallergies

Wed, Jul 20 2022, 8:06 am

2 DDs are in camp now.
I only send cotton skirts (think 3bows camp skirts) that I re-watched and dried.

If you think your dd would prefer to hand wash and hang up to dry, send her with clothes pins.

amother

Ballota

Wed, Jul 20 2022, 8:24 am

My daughter is also in such a camp where they wash the laundry for the girls and dry everything. She has to hand wash her skirts most of her tshirts and bras. It's so ridiculous, I don't know why the camp doesn't figure out a different way of laundry if this way makes the girls have to hand wash all their delicates.
She said there are girls who bring 8 Shabbos outfits and 25 weekday outfits.

Chayalle

Wed, Jul 20 2022, 8:30 am

My DD is in CBY, and there are some washing machines that the campers can use (you pay for the load with quarters) so she does some of her own laundry and hangs them to dry.

I also usually help her do some laundry when I go up on visiting day, halfway thru. But this year there was such a line at the laundry room, that I just took her laundry bag home with me. I washed everything, hung to dry on my deck, and then sent it back to camp to her with a ride.

ETA - in CBY, it's universal camp practice to wear ONE outfit for Shabbos (unless someone spilled her iced coffee on you by accident, which happened to DD....) - night and day. They do this to minimize the amount of Shabbos clothes needed, and the associated pressure. No need for 8 outfits.

Last edited by Chayalle on Wed, Jul 20 2022, 8:39 am; edited 1 time in total

amother

Pewter

Wed, Jul 20 2022, 8:35 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

My daughter is in camp for her second summer. I don’t buy her things that will shrink. Her weekday skirts are all a-line or pencil skirts. Her shirts are all cotton t-shirts. Her shabbos stuff doesn’t go in the laundry, so she is super careful, and also takes a bunch of shabbos outfits, not only 2-3.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Wed, Jul 20 2022, 8:39 am

amother [ Rose ] wrote:

I don’t think camps are expecting you to send clothing to delicate/expensive to go in their laundry (most camps I sent to specifically asked not to)

Nothing delicate or expensive but I always hang her skirts so they don’t shrink

amother

↑ Rose

Wed, Jul 20 2022, 8:42 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Nothing delicate or expensive but I always hang her skirts so they don’t shrink

Can you send her with skirts that won’t shrink (mine don’t) or ones that have a little extra room to account for shrinkage?
If not she’ll just have to wash them in the sink and hang them out to dry on her bunkhouse clothesline or railing

amother

Natural ↓

Wed, Jul 20 2022, 8:52 am

I don’t expect her clothes to come back too wearable. Whatever does, great. I told her not to send her shabbos clothes to be washed. Hopefully she listened 🙏🏻

amother

↑ OP ↓

Wed, Jul 20 2022, 9:07 am

amother [ Natural ] wrote:

I don’t expect her clothes to come back too wearable. Whatever does, great. I told her not to send her shabbos clothes to be washed. Hopefully she listened 🙏🏻

Actually I think my dd pretty much stopped growing so I do hope she will finally be able to wear her things next summer too.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Wed, Jul 20 2022, 9:08 am

Chayalle wrote:

Good idea to take things home on visiting day. I wonder how I could find a ride to send back?

amother

↑ Natural

Wed, Jul 20 2022, 9:27 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Actually I think my dd pretty much stopped growing so I do hope she will finally be able to wear her things next summer too.

Right, but I’m just being realistic. Everyone tells me half the stuff don’t come back wearable. Best not to buy things that you’ll be upset if they don’t come back in good condition.

amother

↑ OP

Wed, Jul 20 2022, 9:29 am

amother [ Natural ] wrote:

Right, but I’m just being realistic. Everyone tells me half the stuff don’t come back wearable. Best not to buy things that you’ll be upset if they don’t come back in good condition.

She’s been wearing her summer clothing since June. I didn’t buy a separate wardrobe just for camp.

amother

Sand

Wed, Jul 20 2022, 2:55 pm

I guess it depends on the camp, but my daughters always washed their skirts and Shabbos clothes by hand, as do most of their bunkmates. They use a plastic drawer as a basin and bring a small bottle of Woolite and clothing pins to camp. Some bunkhouses have clothes lines outside to hang up clothing and otherwise the girls use tree branches! How to do laundry by hand is actually a great skill my girls learned in camp and it comes in handy at home too during the year when they forget to put their uniform skirts in the hamper until after the laundry is done and then they wash them by themselves. Smile