Adult Camp in Florida: How Groups Are Creating Their Own

Sep. 3, 2026

13 Min. Read

Adults are going back to camp.

That no longer means only nostalgic summer weekends or novelty experiences. Across Florida, adults are paying to spend their time immersed in multi-day programs built around sports, music, creativity, adventure, learning, and shared experiences.

In December 2025, Flamingo magazine documented the trend in “9 Camps for Adults Across Florida”, a feature by Emilee Garber exploring nine very different camp experiences available to adults across the state.

The programs range from professional baseball and hockey fantasy camps to music, pottery, pickleball, sailing, surfing, zoo experiences, and even mermaid camp. Some last a day. Others last more than a week. Published prices range from $150 to nearly $6,000.

As Garber wrote, the appeal exists somewhere “between nostalgia and new adventure.”

Those nine camps represent one way adults are returning to camp.

There is another model: organizations creating their own.

Companies, alumni groups, men’s and women’s organizations, ministries, professional associations, private communities, and other established groups can bring their own people, leadership, and programming together at a private camp-style campus.

Individuals can buy a ticket to someone else’s adult camp. Established groups can also create an experience of their own.

Searches for adult summer camps, grown-up summer camps, and adult camps in Florida can mean very different things — from joining a scheduled program to organizing a private camp experience for an existing group.

What Flamingo’s Nine Adult Camps Reveal About Florida

The nine programs featured in Garber’s Flamingo article demonstrate just how broad the idea of adult camp has become.

According to Garber’s article, those programs include:

A baseball fantasy camp at the Pittsburgh Pirates’ spring-training complex in Bradenton
A Tampa Bay Lightning hockey fantasy camp
A Rock ’n’ Roll Fantasy Camp in Miami
An adult behind-the-scenes zoo camp in Jacksonville
A multi-day pickleball camp in Sarasota
A pottery retreat in Indialantic
A foil-sailing school on Merritt Island
An adult surf camp in Jacksonville Beach
A mermaid camp at Weeki Wachee Springs

The activities are completely different. So are the prices, locations, and lengths of the programs.

What they have in common is the basic structure of camp: people leave their normal routines, join a community around a shared experience, follow a schedule, and spend time doing something together.

That model does not have to be limited to professionally organized programs with individual tickets.

Private groups can build their own.

There Are Two Ways to Experience an Adult Camp

1. Join Someone Else’s Program

This is the model most people probably imagine when they hear the term “adult camp.”

You choose an experience, register as an individual, pay the published price, and join the program designed by the camp operator.

The organizer determines the schedule, instructors, activities, and overall experience.

2. Create Your Own

The second model starts with an existing community.

A company brings its employees.

An alumni organization brings its members.

A men’s or women’s organization brings its community.

A professional association brings its members.

A ministry brings its network.

A private organization brings together people who already share a connection.

The organizing group then creates the experience.

It determines the purpose, speakers, activities, schedule, workshops, recreation, and social time. The venue provides the physical environment where the experience happens.

That is the fundamental difference: you are not simply attending someone else’s adult camp.

You are creating one for your own community.

That is where a private, exclusive-use camp campus becomes particularly useful. See Retreat Center Rentals and A Place for Every Group.

What Actually Makes Something an Adult Camp?

An adult camp is not simply a group of adults staying overnight somewhere.

The strongest adult camp experiences usually combine several elements:

A defined community
A shared purpose, theme, or interest
A multi-day schedule
Overnight lodging
Shared meals
Structured programming
Recreation and social time
A temporary break from normal routines

The theme can be almost anything.

Leadership
Sports
Professional development
Brotherhood
Women’s empowerment
Creative pursuits
Faith
Recreation
Team building
Education
A reunion
Or simply a classic summer-camp experience for grown-ups

The important distinction is that the organizer can create the program around the people attending.

The venue does not have to determine the theme.

The organizer does.

Who Organizes Adult Camps?

The organizations creating private adult camp experiences are often very different from one another.

Corporate and Professional Groups

Companies can build multi-day experiences around leadership, strategic planning, team building, professional development, and recreation. A private campus allows the group to combine meeting time with shared meals, outdoor activities, and informal time together. See Florida Business Retreat Venue.

Men’s Groups

Men’s organizations and ministry groups can create weekends focused on brotherhood, leadership, faith, conversation, recreation, and shared experiences. Church-based men’s weekends often use the exclusive-use model described on our church group retreat page.

Women’s Groups and Empowerment Retreats

Women’s organizations can build retreats around leadership, empowerment, education, creativity, connection, and community.

Recovery Groups

Recovery communities and program alumni can bring their own facilitators, schedule, and support model to a private campus. Orange Springs provides the setting. We do not operate a clinical recovery program.

Alumni and Reunion Groups

Former classmates, alumni organizations, and established communities can create a multi-day gathering that feels more immersive than a traditional hotel reunion.

Ministries and Private Associations

Organizations with an existing membership base can bring their own speakers, facilitators, curriculum, and programming while using a private campus for lodging, meals, meetings, and recreation. See Church Group Retreat Venue in Florida.

Special-Interest Communities

Hobby groups, professional associations, clubs, creative communities, and other private organizations can create an experience around almost any shared interest. For a wider look at who uses the campus, see A Place for Every Group.

In every case, the common factor is the same:

The group already has the people.

It simply needs a place to bring them together.

How to Host Your Own Adult Camp in Florida

Creating an adult camp does not necessarily require building a camp business from scratch.

For an existing organization, the process can be much simpler.

Define your community. Who is coming? An adult camp can work particularly well when the attendees already share a connection through a company, organization, profession, ministry, alumni network, club, or community.
Define the experience. What should the time together accomplish? The answer could involve leadership, education, recreation, fellowship, strategic planning, personal development, or simply giving the group time to reconnect.
Determine your ideal group size. The venue should fit the size of the community you are bringing together. Orange Springs Retreat Center is particularly suited to private groups of approximately 60 to 200 guests. See FAQs.
Build a schedule. The most memorable camp experiences usually balance structured programming with recreation, meals, downtime, and informal social time. Not every hour needs to be scheduled. Part of the appeal of a camp environment is the opportunity for people to spend time together outside the formal program. A sample flow is on Creating Your Perfect Retreat Itinerary.
Choose the right venue. A true adult camp experience often works best when lodging, meals, meeting space, and recreation are all available in one place. That eliminates the need to transport participants between a hotel, restaurant, meeting facility, and activity venue. See Amenities and Available Activities.
Give yourself time to plan. Private group venues can book well in advance, particularly for weekends and popular seasons. If your organization is considering a future adult camp, it is worth beginning the venue search early. Current dates and the booking sequence are on the Rates, Availability & Booking Guide.

Why a Private Campus Changes the Experience

One of the most significant differences between a traditional hotel retreat and an adult camp is what happens when the group has an entire property to itself.

At Orange Springs Retreat Center, one group uses the campus at a time.

That means your organization is not sharing the dining hall, meeting spaces, recreation areas, or general campus environment with unrelated groups.

The result is a different kind of experience.

Your group can create its own schedule.

Your organization can move naturally between meetings and activities.

People can gather informally.

The evening can end around a campfire instead of everyone returning to separate hotel rooms.

And the overall experience can feel like it belongs to the group rather than simply taking place inside a rented meeting room.

For organizations creating their own adult camp, that flexibility matters.

A Real Camp Campus for Adult Groups

Orange Springs Retreat Center has a particularly relevant history for groups interested in creating their own camp experience.

The difference is that Orange Springs was built around the camp model long before “adult camp” became a popular trend. The property operated as Camp Shalom beginning in 1971 and continues to provide the core elements that make a multi-day camp experience possible: shared lodging, communal meals, meeting space, recreation, and room for an entire group to spend time together.

In 2002, it began operating year-round as Orange Springs Retreat Center, providing private, exclusive-use experiences for organized groups. That story is on our about page and in the New York Times feature on the property.

Today, the 100+ acre campus borders the Ocala National Forest and includes:

Climate-controlled group lodging
More than 200 beds
A dining hall seating 200+ guests
Meeting and programming spaces
A private spring-fed lake
A white-sand beach
Canoes, kayaks, and paddleboards
Lake inflatables
A swimming pool
Tennis and basketball courts
Volleyball and open sports fields
Archery
Fishing
Campfire areas
Indoor and outdoor gathering spaces
High and low ropes elements and a climbing wall, with professional facilitation arranged separately when needed

The full activity list is on Available Activities. The goal is not to tell every adult group what its camp should be. The goal is to provide the setting where organizers can create the experience they have in mind.

Adult Camp Ideas for Private Groups

There is no single definition of what a privately organized adult camp has to look like.

An organization could create:

A classic adult summer camp. Cabins, shared meals, lake activities, field games, campfires, tournaments, and a weekend designed around the nostalgia and fun of traditional summer camp. See Rent an Entire Summer Camp in Florida for Your Adult Group Retreat.
A corporate leadership camp. Strategic planning and professional development combined with team activities and informal time away from the office.
A men’s or women’s weekend. A multi-day gathering built around conversation, leadership, education, faith, connection, recreation, or empowerment.
An alumni camp. A reunion experience where former classmates or community members stay together instead of simply gathering for one evening.
A skills or hobby camp. An organization can bring instructors, speakers, or facilitators and create programming around almost any shared interest.
A ministry retreat. Church networks and ministry organizations can bring their own programming, worship, speakers, and leadership while using the campus for the complete group experience.

The common denominator is simple:

The organizing group brings the vision.

The venue provides the space to make it happen.

What Orange Springs Offers Adult Camp Organizers

For groups planning their own adult camp in Florida, Orange Springs Retreat Center is designed to simplify the physical side of the gathering.

Exclusive Use

One group uses the property at a time.

Lodging

Climate-controlled group accommodations allow participants to stay together on campus.

Meals

Chef-prepared meals can be planned with the group.

Meeting and Programming Space

Indoor spaces are available for presentations, workshops, meetings, worship, and other group programming.

Recreation

Organizers can build lake activities, sports, swimming, campfires, and other recreation into their schedules. Cool-season dates use the same campus; see Winter Retreat Venue Florida.

One Place for the Entire Experience

Instead of coordinating multiple hotels, restaurants, meeting facilities, and activity locations, the group can remain together on one private campus.

The organizer remains responsible for the program.

Orange Springs provides the venue.

Room for the Organizer’s Vision

Orange Springs Retreat Center rents the campus to groups that want to create their own adult camp.

That gives organizers significant flexibility.

Your experience can be built around teaching, leadership, recreation, fellowship, professional development, ministry, creativity, or a classic grown-up version of summer camp.

Your organization determines the people.

You determine the purpose.

You build the schedule.

The campus provides the setting.

Plan Your Own Adult Camp in Florida

The growing popularity of adult camps shows that people are still willing to step away from their normal routines and spend meaningful time together.

For some, that means joining a professionally organized experience.

For established organizations and private communities, it can mean creating an experience specifically for their own people.

Whether you are planning a corporate offsite, men’s or women’s retreat, alumni gathering, professional association event, ministry weekend, special-interest camp, or classic adult summer camp, Orange Springs Retreat Center may be the setting your group needs.

Our 2026 calendar is fully booked, with an active waitlist for cancellations. New bookings are currently focused on Fall 2027 through Summer 2028. See our Rates, Availability & Booking Guide for current planning information.

Call (561) 221-7773 or visit our Contact / Check Availability page to begin planning. Mike Sokol, owner of Orange Springs Retreat Center since 2002, handles group planning directly.

If you already know you want to rent an entire camp-style property for your group, visit Rent an Entire Summer Camp for Your Adult Group Retreat.

Source

Emilee Garber. “9 Camps for Adults Across Florida.” Flamingo, 16 Dec. 2025. https://flamingomag.com/2025/12/16/9-camps-for-adults-across-florida/

The examples of adult camps discussed in the opening section — including program names, locations, and the published price range of $150 to nearly $6,000 — are based on Garber’s reporting. The quoted phrase “between nostalgia and new adventure” is from that article. Descriptions of Orange Springs Retreat Center, the groups that use the property, and what the campus offers organizers are based on Orange Springs Retreat Center’s operations and facilities.

Orange Springs Retreat Center · 168 Camp Shalom Trail, Orange Springs, FL 32182 · (561) 221-7773 · orangespringsretreat.com

Contact Orange Springs Retreat Center today to discuss availability, request pricing, or schedule a tour of the property:

“One Group At a Time Always- No Shared Spaces, No Outside Guests”

Check out how Orange Springs Retreat Center was featured in the New York Times.

Posted on September 3, 2026