Hey, Straw-Sippers!

At first glance, one would easily assume that straws are a frill of the modern day—something that likely came around about the same time as 1950s diners and fast food chains. But they go back much further than that! Nowadays, we’ve got straws made from a variety of materials. The most common that you’ll find here at Everything Summer Camp are plastic—but not the disposable sort, utilized within a water bottle. Otherwise, there are metal straws, paper straws, disposable plastic straws, and more.

Still I’m sure none of you have used a straw like the first ones ever made. Older than the invention of paper itself, history tells us straws were first invented 6 to 7000 years ago by the ancient Mesopotamians who crafted them out of wood and sometimes gold! The purpose came in warmer, buggier climates, making it easy to avoid any insects that may have landed in their drinks.

The 1800s brought about new methods and materials for construction as well as an increase in popularity for this ancient drinking method. 

Why Not Rye?
The Industrial Revolution in America saw straws getting made from organic elements. Popular materials were rye and wheat grains. These straws—rye especially—would lend a grass-like taste to a beverage. They’d also get soggy quickly. People were ultimately left unimpressed. While the public appreciated the concept, they saw plenty of room for improvement. At least one American inventor, Marvin Stone, did.

Stone’s Straws
Marvin Stone came up with the paper straw which proved to be far superior to the grain straws, both in sustainability and consumer-friendliness. Marvin’s family was already in the business of tubular products such as pencil sharpeners, giving him an edge on straw manufacturing of a large scale. He determined the perfect straw length and width—8.5 inches by 21.5 centimeters. And he developed his manufacturing process: wrap pencils in paper, glue the paper, remove the pencil.

Drastic Plastic
A sudden boom of fast-food restaurants in the 20^th Century brought a great demand for disposable plastics such as cutlery and straws. Novelty straws only upped the plastic game with patents like Slurpee Straws and Crazy Straws. For whatever reason, plastic straws were pushed and normalized for over 60 years, kicking paper straws aside despite their obvious benefit to the environment over plastic.

The fight against disposable plastic straws is being fought with reusable water bottles as well as reusable straws. Do your part and shop our selection when you click right here. And, as always, thanks for reading, Camp Folks! Till next time.

- John

Hey, Folks!

As you’ve probably already gathered—at least from our name if not a million other things—we’re all about summer camp here at Everything Summer Camp, your one-stop shop for kid’s camping gear and a wonderful assortment of other summer camp supplies! Summer camp is kind of our thing. That’s why more than 300 camps across the country work with us directly. And we love shining our camp spotlight on those camps!

We’re fixing our spotlight westward to the mountains of Prescott, Arizona. Here we find Camp Friendly Pines, situated between Groom Creek and Ponderosa Park, a family-owned and operated, private, and independent residential summer camp. It was Ms. Bebe May who founded this fantastic camp 80 years ago in 1941.

Recently having passed away in the spring of last year, our hearts here at Everything Summer Camp go out to the Brown family as well as Friendly Pines camp community. Let her memory live on among the pines.

An interesting thing about Bebe is that she her grandmother and grandfather were passengers on the famous voyage of the Mayflower in 1620! When they came to America, these pioneers helped found the town called Pine and they kept a cattle ranch. Bebe’s mother then, grew up on this ranch where she learned to rope and ride and shoot with the best of them. She passed her love of cowboy fun on to her daughter Bebe and Bebe passed it on to countless campers!

It’s a very sweet story.

There’s lots of fun stuff you can do at Friendly Pines like Archery, BB Guns, Basketball, Canoeing & Kayaking, Campcraft, Challenge, Dance, Drama, Drawing and Painting, Earth Lore, English Riding, Fencing, Fun in the Forest, Free Swim, Guitar, Handcrafts, Hiking, Improv, Jr. Adventure, Jr. Facilitators, Land Sports, Pet Care, Photography and Journalism, Podcasting, Pony Carts, Ranch Hands, Riflery, Singing, Sewing, Soccer, Tennis, Tomahawks, Ultimate Frisbee, Vaulting, Videography, Volleyball, and, of course, Western Riding!

Check out all the fun you could be having in the next camp season if you choose Camp Friendly Pines for your summer camp stay. You can get a closer look when you check out their website by clicking right here and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Swingers!

When you’re just a dance machine, there’s no stopping you. As long as you’ve got the beat and your disco ball, the night never ends! A symbol to signify the 70’s, disco balls, of course, have transcended the decade and are found in skating rinks, concerts, even weddings. But you probably didn’t imagine it was invented until the arrival of disco: January 1, 1970.

Actually the disco ball goes back much longer ago than that.

Before we get into the history of disco balls, give yourself Night Fever! Night Fever! with the cool Mini Disco Ball Light from iScream. You can party like it's 1979 with this travel-sized sphere that projects a color-shifting spectrum of light onto surfaces to bring movement, excitement, and a dance floor! Simply attach the Disco Ball to your USB power supply. Check out the Mini Disco Ball Light by clicking right here.

Just as it is with any invention, it took time for disco balls to really take off in popularity. They finally made it big in the world of nightclubs as a worldwide staple in the 1920s. Even then, however, that wasn’t the beginning of disco balls—that’s just when they became popular. The disco ball actually goes all the way back to 1859.

An invention of two brothers: Charles and Logan McGrath, co-owners of a bar in Basildon, England. They fashioned the disco ball—just one in a great number of experiments they tried to bring interesting lighting effects to their bar to highlight their dancers and bring in more customers. Of course, they weren’t called disco balls back then as disco music had not yet been developed—they were simply referred to as ‘mirror balls’ or ‘glitter balls’.

So when you start dancing to tunes in the light cast by this great Mini Disco Ball Light from iScream, remember that your great-grandparents also partied underneath those shining spheres on the dance floor. Good times! Get your own Mini Disco Ball Light when you click right here and, as always, thanks for reading, Camp Folks!

- John

Hey, Camp Folks!

Winter months are a great time to break out the markers and add life to coloring books or art projects.

As summer approaches you can put markers to good use for your summer camp preparation! After all, a clothing marker is the simplest and sometimes most reliable method of labeling your clothing and other items on your packing list.

A blast of bold color, markers are just plain fun. And they’ve been around for well over a hundred years! Check out this colorful look at the history of markers.

The First Markers of Their Time

Marking Pen

Fountain Paintbrush

About 15 years later, Benjamin Paskach patented his ‘Fountain Paintbrush’. He gave it a sponge for the tip which was more fun to use and he used different paint colors—the biggest selling point of the sponge-tipped marker. Despite the improvements it made, Paskach’s Fountain Paintbrush never became doable for a wide market and, thus, never actually took off.

Magic Marker

It was nearly another 30 years before the first modern marker was created. In 1953, Sidney Rosenthal accidentally invented what he dubbed the Magic Marker when he placed a felt tip on the end of a small bottle of permanent ink to appease his curiosity and it took off big!

Permanent Marker

In 1964, the Sanford Manufacturing Company introduced the Sharpie—the world’s most popular permanent marker brand.

Washable Marker

About fifteen years after that in 1978, Crayola was founded and went on to become the world’s most popular washable marker brand. 

Markers continue to be incredibly fun and practical utensils that we can use artistically or for more practical applications such as labeling clothing and other summer camp gear. Visit all of our labeling options when you click right here and make sure that they arrive within plenty of time for your trip by checking our Shipping Policy.

Tired of coloring with markers? Try out our compact and fully loaded watercolor kit for a new creative medium.

As always, thanks for reading!

Hey, Camp Fans!

A flat surface is something you should never take for granted! Of course we have desks for a home office and classrooms full of school desks, but where can you turn when you need a hard surface and there are no desks available? This is liable to happen in plenty of settings like a warehouse, sporting events, and—for sure—summer camp.

With the Storage Clipboard from Everything Summer Camp, you can head off to summer camp complete with stationery, pens, and stamps. Writing materials store right inside the clipboard! Its hinged lid opens to reveal the handy storage bin below. Keep your stationery, pens and more organized with this great clipboard that doubles as a makeshift desk.

Yes, our Storage Clipboards are cool, colorful, and convenient, but clipboards weren’t always so. In fact, just 150 years ago, they weren’t around at all. And when the first ones emerged, they weren’t referred to as clipboards; they were called board clips.

It was George Henry Hohnsbeen who patented the very first ‘clipboard’ by name

in 1908. Of course there’s not a whole lot to a clipboard in the first place, but the earliest models were about as basic as they can be—a wooden board with a metal hinged clip.

It didn’t take very long, however, for different materials and variations to be included in the construction. Aside from the original wood, people began making clipboards out of heavy-duty aluminum, PVC, high-impact polystyrene, and more. Storage clipboards were an obvious expansion to add to product to create convenient safe-keeping for documents that belong together.  

Clipboards are perfect for taking along on day trips in the woods where you can sit with Nature and write a letter, or a poem, or draw a picture of your surroundings. The paper on your clipboard offers a whole world of possibilities! See where your artistry and imagination can take you! Thank goodness for clipboards. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John