The Point Lake and Golf Club encourages kids to be kids during its Kidventure Camp. Campers can let loose during whipped cream fights in an open field or enjoy soapy watery fun  and loads of pool games.

The competition of a three-legged race can be brutal—and forgetting your swim suit humiliating—but for most, summer camp is a relatively carefree experience, a respite from school and siblings and a departure from the pressures of normal life.

As at most club properties, the Kidventure Camp at The Point Lake and Golf Club in Mooresville, N.C., offers junior members a chance to come to a bucolic setting, enjoy activities they love, and gamely participate in those they don’t. However, unlike most, Kidventure Camp at Point Lake also encourages kids to be kids, with off-the-wall activities they could never get away with anywhere else.

Whipped cream fights? Why not! Candy Sushi? “Delish!” Cardboard boat races? Counselor torture? 30-foot gutters filled with ice cream? Now we’re talking.

THE GOAL:Offer a safe, fun and unique summer camp experience and have The Point Lake and Golf Club become a place where kid members can be creative, use their imagination, and meet new friends.THE PLAN: Run eight differently themed one- week camps, with a big closing event for each on “Fantastic Friday.” Camps would start on Tuesday and run through Thursday (9 AM-4 PM), with all Fridays offering special excitement. THE PAYOFF: Camp participation was boosted, bringing in $57,000 of revenue. Even more value was gained from how it brought members closer as their kids became friends during camp.

“We wanted to offer a variety of activities exclusively to our club that kids may not be exposed to elsewhere,” says Activities Director Kris Cichelli. “During Kidventure Camp, the kids are encouraged to use their imaginations and get in touch with their creative—some might say outrageous—sides.”

As part of the program that was officially revamped for the 2008 summer, this year’s campers will again participate in everything from yoga, tennis and a “mini boot camp” that encompasses a variety of physical fitness activities, from relays, obstacle courses, and exercise stations to team-building games, cooking lessons and swim races.

Perhaps the most exciting part of each camp session is the much anticipated “Fantastic Friday,” where the club staff, building on one of the distinctive themes used for each of the eight different weeks of summer camp, hosts a special event for campers and their parents.

“One of the weeks last summer was themed around professional sports, so on Fantastic Friday we hosted a tailgate party,” says Cichelli. “We had a cookout during lunch, and afterwards we held the first annual ‘Turkey Olympics,’ where campers participated in various track and field games that somehow all revolved around a frozen turkey.”

Adding to the allure of Fantastic Friday, the Point Lake counselors collaborate to choose a Camper of the Week, based on participation and behavior. The lucky camper then gets to single out one counselor and start the “Counselor Torture.”

“We have 10 envelopes of silly things that they can do to the counselor, such as squirting chocolate syrup on their face, rubbing mustard on their arms, pouring powder on their head, or cracking a raw egg down their back,” says Cichelli. “The kids get to do the counselor torture just as the parents arrive, so they get to watch as well. And they think it’s hilarious!”

Hosting events like these does have its challenges, though. “Sometimes the counselors burn out before the summer is over,” says Cichelli. “So we try really hard to keep morale up. We also host staff parties for them during the summer, and on occasion we provide lunch for them.”

To help everyone remember camp fondly long after the “torture” has ended, Point Lake takes group photos of all kids and counselors that the kids then get as a keepsake of the fun.