After nearly a year-long scavenger hunt for tie-dye decor, monogrammed decals and glitter for labeling water bottles, toiletries, pillows and miscellaneous swag, Natalie Liberman, gave her daughter her big summer camp “bunk reveal.”
Liberman was influenced by posts she’d spent months scrolling through on Instagram — so much so, she ran up a tab of between $4,000 and $5,000, she told The Post.
Her 7-year-old daughter Alexandra’s eyes lit up when the girl saw a sea of rainbow-colored merch with her name printed in bold bubble letters ready to be packed away in a trunk and shipped off to her elite summer camp in Pennsylvania. The season starts Saturday.
“It’s not enough just to have their name labeled in Sharpie anymore. It has to be hot pink with rainbow stitching and stars embroidered on it,” Boca Raton-based Liberman, 35, told The Post of sending her daughter off to sleepaway camp for the first time.
Personalized camp swag — the hashtag #bunkjunk has amassed more than 953,000 views on TikTok — has become an unofficial status symbol for kids. It’s also created an entire genre of parents influencing each other to buy colorful decor and custom PJs, scrunchies, headbands and lock boxes personalized with their child’s camp colors. Some are even getting a kick-back with Amazon storefronts.
And even though camp is just getting started, some parents are already prepping to out-do each on visitors’ day.
“A lot of kids give their parents lists. You should see what parents roll up with — food from the kid’s favorite fancy restaurants in New York City. Things like high end street wear and sneakers all the way down to bags full of the best Japanese candies. Total status symbol insanity,” Connecticut-based Chloe Jo Davis, a parenting influencer who writes the mom blog The Girlie Girl Army, told The Post.
The mom of three boys devoted an Amazon Storefront page to sleepaway camp packing and visiting day items — including a $124 Fujifilm disposable camera, $86 green and white Nike basket ball sneakers, and a $50 mini karaoke machine. She says she’s made thousands of dollars through her influencer affiliate links since starting the page last year.
“I always keep my ears and eyes to the ground on what the new camp trends are going to be. One year it could be “toxic slime licker” candy and the next year it’s Supreme hats,” she said.
Liberman’s shopping frenzy started in December, stocking up on her camper’s clothing. Then came shopping for swag.
“With social media and Instagram it’s a constant reminder,” Liberman told The Post of scrolling through niche camp-merch influencer pages for ideas on how to jazz up boring water bottles or toiletry kits.
“I got [Alexandra] a comforter in a bright tie-dye theme. I got a pillow in a bright tie-dye. A shower caddy with her name in bubble letters. Her laundry bag, even her rainbow lock box has her name on it. It’s all personalized to the max,” she said.
That’s not all, she’s also customized a $68 Postcard Pillow complete with a note and family photo she plans to surprise her daughter with on visiting day to add to her collection.
“Everyone’s trying to think, ‘What’s the next hot item?’ Maybe we’re getting carried away,” Liberman told The Post of having to run out to buy Nike sneakers that matched her daughter’s green and white camp colors.
“It’s the parents who care [more than the kids]. I don’t want her to not have it if everyone else has it,”
Liberman sourced most of her custom camp goods from Manhattan native Jody Gellar, a mom of two based in Delray Beach, Florida, who started the online store ShopInBTween.com. She customizes merch like $86 lounge-around pillows, photo blankets ($118) and $38 water bottles. Gellar decided to monetize her own DIY projects in 2018 when she found herself packing for her own kid’s camp haul.
“There’s an official camp packing list, then there’s the ‘fun’ list [with tchotchkes] and custom items. I’ll consult with parents and say, ‘Ss your daughter a bubble gum glittery girl? Is she a lacrosse player? Do they want tie-dye everything?’” Gellar said of curating camp trunks as early as December for the summer ahead.
“I have orders that go well over $1,000,” Geller told The Post.
Liberman, meanwhile, remembers the good old days of sleep away camp when all you needed was a lava lamp and a family photo.
“That’s all you hung up with a thumb tack,” Liberman said.
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