I visited a $600 women-only summer camp for adults that's skyrocketed in popularity — see why it had a 60,000-person waitlist

A growing number of adults have started seeking out these nostalgic experiences.

A spokesperson for Connecticut-based Club Getaway, which offers both family and adult-only camp programs, told BI that bookings for its 2024 season increased 17% compared to the previous year.

Similarly, Philippa Girling, the CEO and cofounder of France-based woman-only summer camp Camp Chateau, told BI that the company now has a more than 13,000-person waitlist for its 2025 dates. They had been fully booked in five days — 15 months in advance.

The Standard Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, and Four Seasons Resort and Residences in Los Cabos, Mexico, started operating annual adult summer camps in 2023.

A spokesperson for the Standard, Miami Beach, told BI that the hotel's three-night camp saw a 50% growth in guests from 2023 to 2024.

Rather, it's the brainchild of Liv Schreiber, a social media influencer and founder of Hot and Social, a New York City-based events company that aims to introduce its attendees to new friends.

This sentiment doesn't stray far from Camp Social's ethos.

The three-day, adult women-only camp, which started at $600 per person, offered a schedule similar to traditional sleepaway camps.

Its attendees could try archery, rock climbing, yoga, and kayaking.

In the morning, they could wake up with workout classes or a cold plunge in the lake. In the early afternoon, they could "paint and sip" by the water and participate in Camp Social's "Olympics."

A few hours later, they could attend an organized pool party.

The only mention of politics I heard during my 1 ½ hours at Camp Social was a reference to the coconut tree memes.

"Unplugging is a benefit that comes with having a lot of fun," Schreiber said.

One of the solo travelers even attended Camp Social instead of hosting a bachelorette party with personal friends.

But when I arrived a day after Camp Social started, most of the women I saw were walking around in pods, chatting as if they'd been lifelong friends.

"Your needs as an adult are the same as when you're a kid," Schreiber said. "You want to meet new people and relieve yourself of the stress you may have at home. You don't want to feel lonely or left out."

More than a third of Americans between 18 and 25 said they felt lonely frequently or constantly, according to a December 2022 survey by the Harvard Graduate School of Education shared with BI in 2023.

To combat this, young adults have been attending more in-person events, whether it be running clubs, art classes, or, in this case, summer camps — even if that means shelling out extra cash for the potential to make new friends.

"People realize that life is about more than your Instagram feed and what you own," Schreiber told BI. "We're shifting toward understanding that how we feel is the most important thing."

One of Schreiber's goals was for the campers to have fun and leave as friends.

She may be an influencer with about 231,700 followers across Instagram and TikTok. But at Camp Social, she's just another one of the girls.

And if they weren't approaching her, she was approaching them.

"How was the pool?" she asked one of the campers.

"You're such a good camp friend," she remarked to another attendee.

"I'm your Jewish mother," she told me during a break from our early afternoon stroll, noting that she had memorized all the camper's names. "Your sister."

But as an adult, she was no longer looking forward to her summers.

She said she's done the Hamptons' Surf Lodge and the Aspen, Colorado mountain "stuff." However, "the bougie stuff doesn't fill your cup," Schreiber told BI. "You can check off that you were in the Hamptons and feel fancy, but I didn't want to have to try or put makeup on."

"I literally just wanted to go back to camp as an adult, and I thought some other people may want to go back to camp as well," she said.

The camp's founder said there were about 480 guests at this year's event — four times as many attendees as last year's camp, which had been hosted about an hour away.

The three-day weekend was sold out in less than 10 minutes and accrued a 60,000-person waitlist, Schreiber said.

Campers ranged from their 20s to late 40s, she added, although most of the women I saw looked like they could've been in their 20s. Many live in New York City, so Camp Social chartered buses to and from the city (guests who opted in paid an additional $100).

More than 60 of these women flew in from out of state, be it Iowa, California, or even Puerto Rico and the Netherlands.

One attendee drove 19 hours from Missouri.

It plans to expand the program, potentially with more weekends, to meet these demands.

They also received daily gift bag drops on their bed "to make the girls feel like literal influencers," Schreiber said. The goodies included a full-sized face sunscreen from SkinCeuticals, a shimmering body moisturizer from Hempz, and a bag from Eddie Bauer.

Sponsorships were everywhere around the property, from the SkinCeuticals cabin, where campers could receive esthetician-performed facials, to the Saucony-sponsored five-kilometer run, in which runners received free shoes.

Five of the campers even came on behalf of Amazon to stay in what Schreiber called the "Amazon influencer bunk." (Camp Social hosted a screening with the tech giant.)

"It's about the in-between moments where they're enjoying themselves and don't feel stressed," she said. It's to "come with the intention of trying something new and realizing life doesn't have to end when you graduate."