Hey, Shoppers!

Thanksgiving is right around the corner which means that Black Friday is waiting right around the corner too. I’m sure that lots of you will have already looked over the Black Friday ads for your favorite stores before you sit down to your Thanksgiving feasts. And I’m sure that as you’re stuffing your face with turkey and mashed potatoes, you’ll hardly be able to stand the wait of embarking on your strategized night of shopping.

But did you know that back when Black Friday was just in its youthful days, stores didn’t want their ads leaked? It made the competition fight back with some aggression. As the times changed, however, and stores began to realize just how excited people were about Black Friday sales, they began to want their ads “leaked” so that shoppers would have some time to map out their Black Friday shopping strategies.

Nowadays—let’s face it—no advertisements are actually being “leaked” anymore. Don’t doubt it for a second that major corporations (or even smaller retailers) know how to keep a secret! From Black Friday ads to company mergers, it’s nothing new for a company to have to keep a tight lid on certain events. They can keep something to themselves when they want.

I think that at this point, we all realize it’s no marketing scandal and that stores are purposefully “leaking” their ads to the public. Nowadays this more-than-obligatory move isn’t really something to be ashamed of so much as it’s necessary to keep up with all the other stores.

With no one being fooled anymore, why don’t stores just come right out and disclose their ads for Black Friday sales without having to go through their typical “how-did-this-happen” attitude?

I know the marketing department at Everything Summer Camp would never involve itself in such monkey business, participating in such tomfoolery as leaking our own Black Friday ad.

Hey, Pickle People!

There’s no question about it. Pickles are an all-American treat! It’s a favorite condiment for hamburger fixings—one of the most American foods in the country.

While pickles can be incredibly complementary, sometimes there’s just nothing else that will satisfy your taste buds save a big, salty pickle completely on its own, packed with explosive pickle juice. If I close my eyes and think about it, I can almost taste that bursting bite into a perfect pickle right now. YUM!

So, I’m sure you’re all asking yourselves, why am I talking about pickles? But the question should really be why aren’t YOU talking about pickles? After all, today is National Pickle Day and pickles deserve all the praise that they receive. Not enough people are aware of today’s significance. However, for a holiday that was created only six years ago in 2007, its popularity has grown immensely. People care about pickles.

I’m sure that most of you already know pickles started out as nothing more than cucumbers. The cucumbers were then pickled. Pickling a vegetable is simply preserving it in brine or marinating it in vinegar. Pretty much any vegetable can be pickled—it doesn’t really even need to be a vegetable. Popular foods for pickling, besides cucumbers of course, are okra, onions, peppers, olives, cabbage, eggs, herring, sausage, pigs feet—the list goes on.

So how did this nationally delicious holiday get started? Pretty much because it didn’t exist even though it ought to. The date was picked arbitrarily (though it was set for the very near future when it was first pickled out—er, picked out, I mean—so that the wait for National Pickle Day wouldn’t be too long—who would want to wait to celebrate after having such a delicious idea).

If you love pickles and you love National Pickle Day (and why wouldn’t you?) then get out there and spread the word about it. After all, you need friends around to make it a celebration! As the slogan of National Pickle Day goes, “Eat a pickle, Hug a friend.”

Hey, Readers!

Today is Veterans Day. What are we celebrating when we honor Veterans Day? We’re showing our appreciation of those who have served their country in the armed services. We call those people veterans. Everything Summer Camp extends immense gratitude to those who have fought for our freedom.

Here’s something you might not have known about Veterans Day. This American holiday shares the same date as two other holidays that are recognized in other areas around the world. Those holidays are Armistice Day and Remembrance Day. What’s special about these three holidays? Why do they all share the same date?

November 11 marks the end of World War I (five years shy of a century ago) when a truce was made with Germany. Veterans Day is pretty much the American celebration of Armistice or Remembrance Day. Although, our intentions are to honor all veterans—not just those from the first World War.

The holiday started out as Armistice Day, proclaimed by Woodrow Wilson in 1919. Seven years later, the holiday was made official with appropriate ceremonies and dedicated to world peace. Nearly 20 years after that in 1945, Raymond Weeks, a veteran of World War II, thought to expand the celebration to include all veterans instead of only honoring those from World War I.

Veterans Day can sometimes be confused with Memorial Day. While they ARE similar to each other, Memorial Day restricts who is being honored. It is a day meant to remember those who have fought and died while serving their country. Veterans Day is meant to honor both those who have fallen and the ones who survived.

It’s taken a long time for the holiday to become what it has come to be. So appreciate those around you that you may know who have served in the armed services for your country and wish them a Happy Veterans Day.

Hey there, Sweet Tooths! (Or is it Sweet Teeth?)

Either way, there’s no getting around it. Candy is one tasty side of life! I love it. You love it. Everything Summer Camp loves it. And there’s no better day to celebrate your love for candy than today—National Candy Day!

When we saw that National Candy Day was coming up, everyone here at Everything Summer Camp started talking about our favorite kinds of candy. We all found that our favorites happened to be the old stuff, the stuff you don’t see in the corner convenient store anymore. I’m talking vintage.

Most candy is already pretty old. In fact, the majority of it is actually old enough to be considered “vintage.” See, the rules of how old something has to be in order to be considered a vintage piece are a little blurry. I’d say a fair age for something would be 50 years before you could safely call it vintage. By those rules, any candy that was made before 1954 counts as vintage candy.

That’s A LOT of candy!

M&Ms, for instance, started being manufactured by the Mars company in 1941. And the extremely popular Snickers bar is 11 years older than M&Ms—introduced in 1930. But that’s just the tip of the vintage candy iceberg.

Now don’t get me wrong. Snickers and M&Ms are definitely old candies. I’m just saying there’s other candy that’s REALLY old. One easy example would be the Tootsie Roll, manufactured by the company Tootsie Roll Industries. In 1896, this became the first penny candy (candy that cost only a penny) to be individually wrapped. Tootsie Rolls predate M&Ms by almost 60 years.

But if you think that’s old, get a load of (my personal favorite) Ribbon Candy! This stuff makes M&Ms look brand new! Ribbon Candy is ancient in the candy business. Nearly a hundred years older than M&Ms, this candy was being manufactured as early as 1856—maybe even earlier.

What’s your favorite candy and how old do you think it is?

Hey, Candy Cravers!

Certain holidays seem to have complimenting candies that go together like sidekicks hang around superheroes. Easter has Cadbury eggs for instance while Valentines offers candy hearts with suggestive messages printed on the side to say what secret admirers can’t say in person.

But this is the month of October when we celebrate All Hallows Eve. I think everyone knows that candy corn is Halloween’s candy sidekick. But other than that, not much is known about this popular, yet mysterious candy treat.

People say that candy corn was created in the 1880’s by someone named George Renninger who worked for a place called Wunderle Candy Company. But this really only refers to the candy once it was marketed and sold as candy corn. This stuff had been around for a much longer time than just 133 years.

Candy corn never had a patent in the beginning. It’s recipe was simply passed down from generation to generation. At first candy corn was made by hand—forming sugar, corn syrup, wax ,artificial coloring, and binders into multicolored, candy imitation of a corn kernel.

When the candy first hit the market, it belonged to a company called Goelitz. It wasn’t called candy corn at this point; it fact, it wasn’t really called anything. Goelitz gave it its first, official marketing name, christening it, “Chicken Feed.”

The name didn’t last long as it sounds absolutely revolting, but the recipe hasn’t really changed since the days before it was patented. Since this candy’s hit the market, it’s exploded (which is surprising since most people don’t even like candy corn).

Lots of people find the taste of candy corn to be too bland and waxy. Personally, I think they’re all crazy! I’ve loved this treat since my first Halloween!

So remember to get your Chicken—er, candy corn this year, Kids, and enjoy the age-old treat!

- John

P.S. Can you guess how many pieces are in here? Win our Candy Corn Contest with the right number! Submit your best guess here.  You could win a $100 Everything Summer Camp gift card!