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

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 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.

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.”

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.”

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.

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.”