Hey, Cookie Kids! 

Do you flip for the Chocolate Chip Cookies? Who doesn’t?! These appealing discs of dough and chips have magical powers that are sure to make your mouth water. Today is Chocolate Chip Cookie day—a day that’s sure to have you preheating the oven and mixing ingredients. Break out the flour, sugar, and—of course—the chocolate chips and let’s get bakin’! 

Easily the most popular of all the cookies, I’d be stunned to find anyone reading this Blog post who has never had one before. Can you imagine a world without the Chocolate Chip Cookie? Unfortunate as it may be, many folks have lived their whole lives without ever knowing the taste of this delectable treat! After all, the recipe was only created in the late 1930s. 

It was Ruth Wakefield, an experienced baker with a degree in household arts, who made the original Chocolate Chip Cookie. Ruth ran the reputable Toll House restaurant in Whitman, Massachusetts where she first conceptualized this new cookie with melted chocolate chunks. 

She put out her ‘Tried and True’ cookbook in 1938 which introduced the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe to the world. The recipe blew up! Within a year, this cookie got so popular that it was mentioned on a radio program hosted by Betty Crocker. As if the cookie needed any help, this radio mention really did solidify this cookie’s reputation as a cultural smash! 

Many origin stories have been proposed for how Ruth came up with this cookie. Some have said it happened by chance when some chocolate fell into her cookie batter. Others suggested that chocolate was a quick replacement ingredient that just proved to be amazing. These are just stories, though. 

The truth is that Ruth was an absolute perfectionist when it came to her craft. She knew the art of baking very well. This iconic cookie was no happy accident! It’s the result of Ruth’s know-how for making a recipe and testing it carefully. Be sure to indulge for Chocolate Chip Cookie day and say a little thank you to Ruth for her incredible recipe! As always, thanks for reading! 

- John

Hi, Camp Fans! 

Never fear; the All Natural Moso Purifying Bag is ready to bust up those bad smells that can sometimes get trapped in a closet or maybe your footlocker trunk! Made from 100% bamboo charcoal, this bag is a perfect odor eliminator! This fragrance free bag will remove all odor, bacteria, allergens, excessive moisture, and harmful pollutants in an area as large as 90 square feet. 

Derived directly from the bamboo plant, the main ingredient in a charcoal bag is called Activated Charcoal. Here’s how it works: 

When you burn bamboo, there’s not enough air to allow it to combust into flames. As a result, the carbon inside the bamboo distills into the coals that remain. When the charcoal interacts with steam, activation occurs—the surface area of the carbon molecules gets much bigger and develops deep pockets where dirt, oils, and other undesirable stank gets trapped. 

Activated charcoal is said to have been used by the Egyptians for as long as 6,000 years ago. It wasn’t used for air purification, though, but rather for smelting ores to create bronze. Around 3,500 years back, they started using it for healing ailments and, in doing so, discovered that it would absorb unpleasant odors. Further use for it was found about 2,500 years ago as a means of water purification with antiseptic properties. 

Keep only what you want in your footlocker! Throw a charcoal bag in your trunk to prevent mold and mildew and keep things clean and odorless! Care for a Moso Air Purifying Bag couldn’t be easier; simply set it out in the sun for an hour once a month and the bag is ready to use again! This bag is non-toxic and eco-friendly—safe around pets and children—and will last you up to two years.  

As always, thanks for reading and happy camping! 

- John

Hey, Paperbackers! 

Do you find yourself often enough glued between the front and back of a soft, handheld novel? Today ought to be just your cup of tea! Find your favorite spot to read and plant your face in your favorite soft cover because today is Paperback Day! It doesn’t matter if you’re sitting under a shady tree or curled up in a nice, big chair—it’s what you’re reading that counts. After all, books offer a whole different world to which you can escape! 

Of course, you can’t curl up as comfortably with a hard cover book the same way you can with the casual portability of a paperback. And that means people didn’t know the joy of truly getting cozy with a good book until the paperback revolution came around in the 1950s. 

We have Allen Lane, a publisher in England to thank for this revolution. He used money out of his own pocket to launch the Penguin Books imprint in 1935. The softcover saw immediate success in the local area, but it didn’t take too long to sweep the world! 

Paperback popularity went through the roof in a very short period. They were cheap to produce and gave way to dime novels—a quickly produced book of typically low quality printing and writing. However, many paperbacks were simply reprints of their hard cover original. 

No matter what the content, softcover books shoehorned their way into places where a hardcover dared not go such as newspaper stands, drugstores, airports, hotel lobbies, etc. Books were now an item that people would buy on impulse! 

Softcover books are great to pack along for camp and any other summer travels you may have planned. Be sure to peruse our selection of Choose Your Own Adventure Books, the Camp Confidential Series, Mad Libs, as well as summer camp guidebooks, available right here at Everything Summer Camp and happy Paperback Day! As always, thanks for reading, Camp Fans. 

- John

Hey, Card Players! 

Who doesn’t love sitting down to play a game of Speed, King’s Corner, Crazy Eights, or any other number of card games from a zillion options! Bringing a deck of cards to summer camp is a great, simple way to pass some time in your cabin, breaking the ice and learning a bit about the new friends you’re making. Playing cards have become commonplace—a gaming staple found in the majority of American households. 

But how old are these popular devices of entertainment? And where did they come from? Let’s check out the history of playing cards and see what we can learn about them. 

It’s pretty common knowledge that our current-day deck of cards contains 52 cards split into four suits in red and black (along with two Joker cards). But things weren’t always so matter of course. In fact, the typical playing deck has made a great number of versions throughout the hundreds of years of its invention.    

Playing cards first show up on historical record in Western Asia during the 14^th Century, though they’re likely much older. We cannot know just how old as the fragile nature of paper cards don’t last through the ages. Super portable, playing cards traveled across the land spreading like wildfire. 

New cultures would take the concept of playing cards and create their own version as you can see in the image to the right. They progressively became something that resembles the typical deck of cards that we know and love today. 

Keep an ace up your sleeve with a deck of cards at summer camp and enjoy downtime with a card game or two! Card games are a great way to make friends fast. Enjoy some fun with friends and cards. As always, thanks for reading, Camp Folks! 

- John

Hey, Camp Folks!

We’re almost always adding and improving upon our products here at Everything Summer Camp. Sometimes our products go through quite the journey to arrive at the product you see in our store. Take a look at our Trunk Liner accessory, for example, and check out the incredibly different origin of this particular product:

Paper Lining
A number of years back, we used to line our trunks with a paper lining. The plywood we used back then wasn’t the superior, cabinet-grade wood we use now and it didn’t always look the most beautiful. We also used fasteners that would protrude into the interior of the trunk. The paper lining hid these undesirable elements of our trunks. 

Once we upgraded to a visually pleasing wood and changed fastener methods, it no longer made sense to line our trunks. We wanted to show off our new gorgeous interior—complete with that rich birch scent and old-fashioned feeling. 

Of course, we still wanted to offer the option of a liner to protect that beautiful wood so we developed our fabric liner trunk accessory. It’s been through a number of modifications over the years to arrive at its latest and greatest version. 

Fabric Liner
Similar to the lining you can find in a suitcase, our water-resistant Trunk Liner is actually thicker and tougher. The protective nylon fabric is constructed for a perfect fit in your camp trunk. It couldn’t be easier to remove and only takes a moment longer to reinstall—no tools necessary! We offer our Trunk Liner in three sizes to fit our Happy Camper, UnderGrad, and Graduate trunks. 

Click right here to browse our entire selection of traditional steel trunks as well as our extensive and innovative collection of trunk accessories. As always, thanks for reading and happy camping! 

- John