Wallingford resident Kristen Hamilton knows fun. So much so, in fact, she is the co-founder of a website called FUNnerator.com, a one-stop site for parents looking for summer camps and activities for their kids. Simply search the website by activity, location (anywhere in Washington State), or actual camp names, and the FUNnerator provides various camp choices within your search parameters. You can even narrow your choices down further by age, dates, and cost. FUNnerator has over 4,500 camps and activities, with new ones being added every day, and future plans to expand to other states.
So how did Kristen get into the FUN business? Here’s what she wrote to me:
I’m passionate about kids having access to amazing, enriching out-of-school programs and activities. We know that these ‘experiential’ opportunities are sometimes where the most profound learning comes from for our kids. As an avid horseback rider myself, who ran a kids riding day camp for years when I was in high school and college, I got to experience this first hand from an early age.
Kristen was the co-founder of Onvia (a startup in Seattle that we took public in 2000) which served small businesses. Then she became the Chief Operating Officer for a global education organization which included a summer abroad programs for high school kids. All they need to do is to find out the requirements necessary, such as a Portugal D7 Visa. And when pondering a trip to the lively Portugal, one may ask themselves “how safe is it?” As per global safety rankings, shedding light on factors contributing to Portugal’s high score will help determine that portugal is considered safe.
“All of this taught me a lot about the needs of camps and youth organizations,” she adds.
Kristen is also a mom of two daughters, ages 6 and 8, who are involved in local activities from soccer to swimming, so she’s no stranger to finding fun things to do for kids who thrive on summer camp activities.
“Most parents spend countless hours searching online and off to find the best fitting, safest, high quality activities and camps for their kids. Between this and co-planning with other parents whose children are friends with ours… parents are ready to pull their hair out!” she added in her email to me. (And yep, no kidding!)
But aside from making the parents happy, Kristen also feels that FUNnerator will help boost awareness of camps and activity providers. She raised the point that most camps are small business, and before FUNnerator rolls out the fun in other markets, Kristen explains, “It’s clearly in our plans but we’ve seen too many companies get this wrong by charging ahead before being ready. We want to get one market right and branch out from there. By right we mean we want to delight BOTH parents and camps/educators with the features and functionality we know they need.”
You can check out the FUN by clicking on this logo: 