Should twins share a cabin at camp?

Almost never. Put them in the same age group and different cabins. They will see each other all day at meals and activities.

How will I hear about each twin at camp?

Ask the camp. You want each twin to have their own counselor who calls you, plus one first-week update that covers both kids by name.

What if only one twin wants to go to camp?

Send the one who is ready. It is not a breakup. Plenty of families start with one kid and add the other a summer later.

What is the best kind of camp for boy-girl twins?

A brother-sister camp. Each twin gets their own camp, with its own counselors and traditions, on the same property.

Do camps give a discount for twins?

Many overnight camps give a sibling discount, and twins should count. Ask. At our camp it is 5 percent for two siblings.

Will my twins be homesick if they are split up?

Usually less than you think. Twins in separate cabins still see each other every day. If one has a hard night, a counselor handles it, not the other twin.

Should Twins Go to the Same Sleepaway Camp?

Q: Should twins go to the same sleepaway camp?

Usually yes. Same camp, different cabins. They feel safe knowing the other one is close, and they still get friends and a story of their own.

On the second day of camp last summer, a mom emailed me about her three boys.

She had seen tons of photos of her twins. Smiling, running around, doing stuff. She was worried about the third one.

She also said this: she'd heard from one kid's counselor and not the twins'. Fair. We fixed that. More on it below.

That's the real twin question. You're not wondering if they'll survive camp. You're wondering how to set it up so each kid gets a great summer, and you hear about both.

I own a sleepaway camp in New Hampshire, and I'll tell you about it at the end. I've also spent 30 summers at camp and visited more than 500 camps in 48 states.

The Short Answer

Most twins do best at the same camp, in different cabins.

They feel safe knowing the other one is close. They grow when they get a bunk, friends and a story that's just theirs. Boy-girl twins do best at a brother-sister camp, where each twin gets their own camp on the same property.

At my camp, we've had seven sets of twins in the last three summers. Every set that came in 2025 came back in 2026.

Why Twins Need a Summer of Their Own

Twins share everything. A birthday. A room. A class. The backseat. Every party invite.

Camp might be the first place your kid walks into a room and gets known as just themselves. Not "one of the twins."

Joan Friedman is a psychologist, an identical twin and a mom of twins. She puts it this way: "For many twin pairs, a physical separation can help each one learn how to be more independent and self-reliant." (Washington Family)

One twin mom in Ohio sent one daughter to sleepaway camp and kept her identical twin home, on purpose. Her reason: "I needed to find a way for Miriam to just be herself, not half of twinship." (Northeast Ohio Parent)

You don't have to go that far. Most twins don't need a different camp. They need a different cabin.

Same Camp or Different Camps?

Here's how I'd think about it.

Both want to go, and they like being near each other: Same camp, different cabins.
One of them wants space: Same camp still works, as long as cabins are separate. Ask the camp how they do it.
One is ready and one isn't: Send the one who's ready. Plenty of families add the second kid a summer later.
Boy-girl twins: A brother-sister camp. Two camps, one property.
They fight like cats: Same camp, different cabins, and tell the counselors before day one.

Should Twins Share a Cabin?

Almost never.

Put twins in the same age group and different cabins. They'll see each other at meals, at the lake and at evening activities. They just go to bed with their own crew.

Twins do great at camp in separate bunks. Each one has to make their own friends. Nobody gets to hide behind the other.

Then they swap stories at dinner.

Two Twins Who Wanted to Stay

Two 10-year-old twin boys came to our camp for the first half of last summer. First sleepaway camp ever. They had only done day camp.

Around week two, their mom heard from us. The boys wanted to stay for the second half.

She called them. They went back and forth. In the end they went home on the day they'd planned.

Next summer, they're coming for the full summer.

Boy-Girl Twins

Boy-girl twins have the hardest camp search.

A boys camp or a girls camp splits them up. A coed camp keeps them in the same dining hall, same activities, same everything, all day.

A brother-sister camp is built for this. He goes to the boys camp. She goes to the girls camp. Each gets their own counselors and their own traditions. They meet up for big events, and you only do one drop-off.

How You'll Hear About Each Twin

This is the part parents of twins worry about most, and it's the part camps mess up.

Two kids means two counselors, two sets of photos and two stories. It's easy for a camp to update you on one kid and go quiet on the other. That mom from the top of this article lived it.

Ask the camp who calls you about each twin, and when. You want a real person for each kid. You also want one update that covers both, so you're not piecing it together from photos.

Will My Twins Be Homesick Apart?

Usually less than you think.

Twins in different cabins still see each other every day. Knowing your brother is across the dining hall is a pretty good safety net.

Homesickness is mostly a kid who doesn't understand how the new place works yet. I wrote about that here.

One rule: the other twin is not the fix. If one kid has a rough night, a counselor handles it. Don't guess which twin will have the harder first week. Ask the camp to watch both.

5 Questions to Ask Any Camp If You Have Twins

Ask these on your next call with a camp director.

Will they be in different cabins?
Will they be in the same age group?
Who calls me about each twin, and when?
If one twin is homesick, who handles it?
Do twins get the sibling discount?

A good camp has a quick answer to all five. If they've never thought about it, that tells you something too.

About My Camp

I own Camps Kenwood & Evergreen, a brother-sister sleepaway camp in New Hampshire. Kenwood is for boys, Evergreen is for girls, and they're on the same lake.

Here's how we do twins:

Same age group, different bunks.
Each twin has their own counselors and their own check-in call.
In the first week, you get one update that covers both kids by name. That's the fix from last summer.
Twins get the sibling discount.

It's not the only good camp for twins. Ask every camp these five questions. Ask us too.

See how twins do at Camps Kenwood & Evergreen

You got this,

Jack

P.S. Have twins and not sure if they're ready? Text me at 585-451-5141.