Summer camp registration checklist

Requirements vary by state licensing rules, accreditation, and your insurer. Use this as a starting point and add what your program requires.

8+ weeks before camp: set up

• Decide your required items and write them down in one place: every form, signature, and payment a family owes.If it isn't on the list, nobody will chase it.
• Set a due date for each item, ideally 1–2 weeks before your first session.A due date the same day camp starts guarantees a check-in line.
• Have your waiver and release reviewed by counsel or your insurer, especially if the wording changed.
• Confirm your health form covers what your health staff and state require: allergies, medications, conditions, physician and insurance info.
• Choose how you'll reach parents for follow-up (email, text, or both) and get their permission to do so.

At registration: what to collect from every family

• Registration confirmation: camper name, age or grade, session(s), and the parent or guardian's contact details.
• Emergency contacts: at least two adults, other than the registering parent where possible, with phone numbers that will actually be answered during camp hours.
• Authorized pickups: who may collect the camper, and who may not.
• Health and medical information: allergies, medications, conditions, dietary needs.
• Medication and allergy plans where needed, plus a plan for how medication gets handed to your staff.
• Signed waiver / release of liability.
• Photo and media permission: a clear yes or no.
• Payment: deposit, balance and due date, and any financial-aid arrangements.
• Program-specific items: swim level, T-shirt size, transportation, accommodations or support needs.

2–4 weeks before: chase what's missing

• Pull a list of who's missing what, by camper and by item, not just "incomplete".
• Remind only the families who owe something, and tell them exactly which item, for which child, with a link.A "please complete your forms" blast to everyone gets ignored by the people who need it.
• Follow up again a few days before the due date, then on the due date.
• Call the families still missing items after the due date. By now it's a conversation, not a reminder.

The week of camp: final readiness check

• Every camper has every required item, or an explicit decision (waived, or not attending until it's done).
• Health staff have reviewed allergies, medications, and conditions for every session.
• Counselors know the allergies and needs of the campers in their group.
• Pickup lists are printed or available offline at check-in.
• Families have the first-day details: drop-off time and place, what to bring, who to call.

First morning

• Check-in confirms the camper is cleared, not just present.
• Medication is received and logged by health staff.
• Anything still missing has an owner and a time it will be resolved.

Where camps usually lose time

One "incomplete" status for five different problems

"Incomplete" can mean a missing health form, an unsigned waiver, or an unpaid balance. Each one needs a different message and sometimes a different staff member. Track status per item, not per camper, and your follow-ups get specific automatically.

Forms that live in three places

Registration in one system, the waiver as an emailed PDF, the health form on a shared drive. Before the season, write down where each item lives and how you'll know it's done. If you can't answer "how do I know it's done?", you'll be checking by hand in June.

Due dates that are really start dates

If paperwork is "due before camp," it'll arrive at check-in. A firm due date one to two weeks out gives you room to follow up, and to call the families who need a human.

Reminding everyone instead of someone

Every reminder sent to a family who's already done teaches them to ignore your messages. Send reminders only to the families who still owe something, and name the item.

Contact details nobody verified

An emergency contact is only useful if the number works. Ask for at least two, and confirm the numbers aren't both the registering parent's.