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.

We decided to up the ante this year and—boy, did you guys respond well! We more than doubled the submissions that we’ve received in the past! We have ten winners 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)….

Julia M.! Congratulations, Julia! You’re our first $25 prize winner! Julia spent some fun summer days at Camp Merrie-Woode this year as she keeps coming back for more every year. Read all about it in her excellent entry:

Bracelets
Camp Merrie Woode has three sessions a 2-week, 3-week, and a 5-week. My first year I went to 2-week but, soon realized it was way too short. So, my next year I tried out 5-week and have gone to a 5-week for 4 years since. After you have gone to Merrie Woode 4 years or 17 weeks you get a silver bracelet that has your initials and an MW on the other side. The bracelet shows how long you have been at camp. When you are getting your bracelet the whole camp sits around a camp fire and sing songs, tell stories, and at the very end the camp directors present the campers who are getting their bracelets with their shiny new bracelets. When I got mine it was so exciting and it makes you feel sooo happy.

Uniforms
At camp everyone wears a gray shirt that has a pocket and a collar. It is called a middy. We also wear green Sophie shorts and a tie that we tie in a square knot. We always have to wear that except on Sundays where you wear all white and your tie all day except during Sunday activity where you can where whatever you want to. On Sundays we have cinnamon rolls for breakfast, then we clean our cabins, then we have chapel outside, then we sign up for Sunday activities. You can swim, or hike, or tie dye. Or anything else pretty much. Then you have free time, then lunch, then rest hour, then you go do your activities. I really liked slip’n slide. It is so fun.  It is also long.

In conclusion my camp is really fun you can learn new things, meet new people, and experience sleeping at a camp with people besides your family.

Thanks again for your submission, Julia. We’re so glad to hear how much you love your time at summer camp year after year. Sounds like you love it more every year.

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—Hard brake! *URRRRrrrrrrrr!*

If you’re reading this and you plan on participating in our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest but have yet to actually enter your story, then 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.

Today is the last day for taking submissions, however, so make with the haste before the cutoff cuts you out of this year’s contest!

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 a couple weeks from now on Wednesday, September 12^th when we reveal our first random winner and publish their entry right here on the Blog to kick off this year’s ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest collection. Maybe it’ll yours! Looking forward to it, Camp Fans! And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

By now, I’m sure you’ve heard that our fourth annual ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest is in full swing and the submissions period is open! Yes, indeed! In our fourth year now, we’re doing things a little differently, offering bigger prizes and more of them! And, as usual, we have a $15 gift certificate for Everything Summer Camp in exchange for your camp stories!

We want to hear all about those accomplishments and friends you made at camp. What fears you may have overcome and your favorite parts about camp are great things we want you to share as well! The month is wrapping up, so get your submissions into us as soon as you can—the cutoff date is less than ten days away on August 31!

If you have yours ready to go, take care of it now and click here.

We have ten random winners this year. 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 for the site. Three random winners will get $50 gift cards. And four random winners will receive $25 gift cards.

In case you’re not quite sure what to write about, I offered some suggestions when I first announced the contest this year. You can check out that post by clicking here or get a quick refresher with the following ideas:

• What was the most fun you had?
• What kind of athletic, artistic, and thinking skills did you learn?
• What great friends you made!
• What being away from your parents felt like!
• What kind of beautiful things did you see during your stay?

Also, be sure to mention the name of the camp you attended and what you loved most about it! Include your first name and your last name initial and how long you’ve been going to camp. We loved hearing about your summer for the last few years and I can’t wait to receive a fresh new batch of camp stories from this year! So, get writin’ and send us your submissions, Camp Fans! And, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

Summer gets busy fast—especially near the end; we all want to fit in as much fun in the sun as we can before the season ends. But make sure you don’t miss out on the opportunity to share your camp stories with the widespread camp community, not to mention win a cool participatory prize from Everything Summer Camp!

With August in full swing, there’s no time to dally! Get your memories written up and send your submissions into us—our final call is just two and a half weeks away on August 31.

Don’t forget: Everyone who submits gets a $15 gift certificate to Everything Summer Camp! But on top of that, the ante is getting upped for this year’s Camp Story Contest! Instead of seven, this year we’ll have 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.

Articulating all your new camp experiences on paper helps you process and reflect on all the things you learned. If you’re not exactly sure what you’d like to write about, you can check out some ideas on the previous Share Your Camp Story post I wrote last month. Check it out by clicking here to see it.

In your submissions, please include your first name as well as your last name initial, what camp you visited, and how long you’ve been going to camp. Parents are more than welcome to send us their submissions to let us know how the camp experience was on their end too!

We enjoy hearing your camp stories so much we can barely wait to receive a fresh new collection of stories from this year! Share your stories by clicking right here. And, as always, thanks for reading, Camp Fans!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

For most summer campers, another camp season has come and gone. 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! It’s seen great participation in previous years and we always enjoy reading over the submissions we get.

I can’t wait to read all the great stories you have from this summer!

Tell us about your most memorable moment or talk about all the great people you met. No matter what you choose to share, we’d love to hear it! Include your first name and the initial of your last name, the name of the camp you visited, and how long you’ve been going to camp. Tell us about the camp you went to and why you think it’s the best! While 150 words will qualify, we’d prefer to see submissions be closer to 250—take your time to really set the camp scene for us.

Write About…
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.

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—we’re all ears!

All Entries are Winners!

We’re upping the ante for this year’s Camp Story Contest! Ten random winners will be selected. 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 so everyone’s a winner!

Tell us how camp went and submit your stories to be shared right here on the Blog! Check out the entry form (linked above) for further details and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John