Hey, Camp Fans!

As the summer season makes its subtle shift into fall, it’s nice to look back and reflect on the fun that you had. That’s why, when the camp season is over, we’re always excited here at Everything Summer Camp to keep with our traditional ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest. While we'll eventually post everybody's entries, first we have ten winners to announce this year for prizes of $25, $50, $100, and the grand prize of $250!

And today I’m announcing the first of our four $25 winners. Today’s winner is (drumroll, please)….

Harper S.! Congratulations, Harper! You’re our first $25 prize winner! Harper spent some fun summer days at Gold Arrow Camp for her very first year of camp! Read all about it in her excellent entry:

“I went to Gold Arrow Camp for my first year. One day we went on the Bears’ Adventure (my age group is named the Bears.) We stopped for s’mores and a counselor named TQOE (The Queen of Everything) told us a story: Once there was a king who loved his garden. He got too old so he couldn’t take care of his garden anymore. So all the children in town lined up in front of his palace. A kid named Tom was also growing a garden. He was the first kid in line. He could see the garden. It was nice and big. The king came out with a huge bag of seeds. He announced, ”You all have to come back in a year with this flower, watered, given sunlight and then I will see who has done the best so they can take care of my garden.’’ So Tom went back to his house and found the perfect spot in his garden. The next day nothing happened. He did the same thing, but moved the pot. The next few days the same thing happened so he stopped caring for it. It never grew. A year was gone. He was so nervous so he got in the back of the line. Every child’s seed was full grown. The king was frowning until he got to Tom’s. He held it up and said, ’’I gave all of you non-growing seeds and Tom’s was the only one that didn’t grow. So he will be the next emperor of my garden.’’ All of the other kid’s lied and didn’t bring the real seed in the pot like Tom did. The king wants an honest and brave person to rule the garden. I thought the story was a great story. TQOE was an amazing storyteller and she told stories every night, which made Bears’ Adventure really fun! My experience of Bears’ Adventure at Gold Arrow Camp was very fun!"

Thanks again for your submission, Harper! We’re so glad to hear how much you loved your first time at camp. Your counselor sounds like a great storyteller and it appears that you have that gift as well. You relay the story very well! I like how much you appreciate the story. You sound like an awesome Bear! For anyone else interested in Gold Arrow Camp, you can check it out right here.

Tune in the rest of this month as we continue to announce our prize winners. Once our winners have been announced they’ll receive an email with the gift certificate code. As always, thanks for reading, Camp Folks!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

Queue the record scratch. Pencils down and heads up! Today is the last day for taking submissions to our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest. If you have yet to submit your entry, stop what you’re doing and visit our submissions page right now—click here! Take your entry, put it into the submission field, fill out the other fields, and hit submit. Or you can opt to upload your camp story too—whichever method you prefer best will be fine.

We want to hear from as many of our readers as possible! This has quickly become one of our favorite times of the year; not only does it mark the close of our busy season, but we also get to hear about all the accomplishments and friendships you made as well as what fears you may have overcome or simply what your favorite part was about going to summer camp!

We hope you’re as excited as we are to find out who among our participants will be winning the gift card prizes. To reiterate the breakdown from previous posts, there will be the first round of winners made up of four participants who won the $25 gift card to our site. Next, there will be three $50 gift card winners. Then two winners for $100 gift cards. And the grand prize winner of a $250 gift card to Everything Summer Camp.

Make sure you don’t miss out on the fun! Tune in next week on Tuesday, September 3^rd when we reveal our first among our random winners and publish their entries right here on the Blog to kick off this year’s ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest collection. Maybe one of them will be yours! Looking forward to it, Camp Fans! And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Writers!

It’s another camp season in the books! And now that kids are returning home, they have some time for reflection on the experience they had at camp. We want to hear how it went. Tell us through our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest! Last year we saw the most submissions yet and we always love reading each and every one!

We can’t wait to hear what you guys cooked up this summer!

Tell us about your most memorable moment or talk about all the great people you met. Maybe you want to write about the camp you went to and why you think it’s the best! No matter what you choose to share, we’d love to hear it! Include your first and last name as well as the name of the camp you visited and how long you’ve been going to camp. Submissions must be 150 words to qualify, but go for more if want!

There’s an endless list of things you could write about for your submission—a list of everything you ate while at camp, for instance. But the best submissions are written about the parts of camp that meant the most to you. Take your time to really set the scene for us.

Write about the things you learned at camp. Write about all the friends you made while you were there. Write about how it felt to be away from home. Write about the beautiful landscapes and natural surroundings you saw at camp. Or submit a journal-style entry that chronicles a day in the summer camp life!

Submit your written entry of your time at camp by clicking here. There is no entry fee. If you're under the age of 18, you'll need permission from your parent or guardian to participate in this Contest.

And speaking of parents—we certainly love hearing from you as well; so don’t hesitate to enter your own submission if you’d like to share your own story. How did the experience go on your end? Has your kid shown a positive change in character and behavior? How did you cope with your camper being away? Did you learn any lessons? Tell us anything you want, really—we’re all ears!

For this contest we’ll be picking ten random winners. Our first randomized winner will receive our top prize of a $250 gift card to use on our website! Two more winners will receive $100 gift cards to our site. Three random winners will get $50 gift cards. And four random winners will receive $25 gift cards. All other participants will get a $15 gift card to make everyone a winner! 

Tell us how camp went and submit your stories to be shared right here on the Blog! Check out the entry form for further details. You can browse through previous submissions by clicking here and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Folks!

What an excellent response we saw for our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest at Everything Summer Camp that we held after LAST summer! We’re still publishing each and every one right here on the Blog! We received a handful that weren’t long enough to qualify for our contest, but we thought we’d at least share them on the Blog. Check out two more accounts from excited campers right now!

First is this entry from Michael Q. who attended Camp Deerhorn:

“Today I came home after 3 weeks in Camp Deerhorn. It was my first time at Deerhorn and the longest I had ever been away from home. I am very proud that I won 1 of the 6 Bravery Awards out of about 150 campers. I won it because I overcame my own fear. It was very windy and most kids were too scared to sail out, including me. However, one camper was in need of a sailing partner. Even though I was scared I decided to help him. I went out sailing on a windy day and had a great time!”

Next up is a submission from Hamed Al D. who wrote in to tell us about her boys’ camp experiences at Camp Kenwood.

“I really enjoyed camp, everyone was very friendly and nice. I felt very welcome. I made friends from the very first day. 2018 is my first year going to camp and it was amazing. This was my first time away from home and it was an amazing home away from home experience.”

Thanks for these submissions, Michael and Hamed! It’s always great to hear when summer camp produces such fun experiences. Glad you both had such positive first-time experiences. Thanks for sharing! If anybody else is interested in attending one of these camps, put some time aside and look into Camp Deerhorn and Camp Kenwood for yourself! And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Folks!

The Everything Summer Camp ‘Share Your Camp Story’ drawing saw an excellent response last year with 60 entries! That’s why we’ve published each and every one right here on the Blog! We received a handful that weren’t long enough to qualify for our contest, but we thought we’d at least share them on the Blog. Check out these three accounts from excited campers!

First is this entry from Winnie O. who attended Camp Oneka: “My camp is awesome because it has been around for 110 years. My grandmom, my mom, and my aunt all camp to this camp too. This was my first year and it was so much fun. Camp Oneka has the best food ever all thanks to Nancy, the cook who has been there since my mommy went to this camp 30 years ago. She cooks the most amazing mashed potatoes and I love her chocolate cake with green icing. My camp is also the best because I learned to play Newcomb, tie a square knot and go sailing. I made new friends from all over the world and can't wait to go back next year.”

Next up is a submission about Aliza C. and her time at Camp Agawak:

“Returning for my fourth summer at Agawak I knew what to expect, I didn’t want or expect change, but it was coming! First session continued as normal. Yet, when second session arrived so did change. My cabin for the past 4 years received new campers. This brought shock as the new campers didn’t know us or anything about camp. We had to show them the ropes to being a camper.”

Thanks for these submissions, Winnie and Aliza! Glad to hear camp was full of fun, new experiences for the both of you! If anybody else is interested in attending one of these camps, put some time aside and look into Camp Oneka or look into Camp Agawak for yourself! And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John