Hey, Camp Folks!

Memorial Day is just around the corner and we’re kicking the summer season off in style here at Everything Summer Camp! We’re thrilled to announce our Memorial Day Weekend Sale. Incredible deals and savings start today and we’ll be running this sale through Tuesday, May 30th. Right now is the perfect time to shop camp essentials, find the perfect gear, and take advantage of exceptional discounts found all throughout our store.

Too Many Discounts to Count!

Because of material shortages we’ve faced in the last few years, this marks our first SITEWIDE SALE since 2020. And we've gone all out to make this Memorial Day Weekend Sale our biggest and best yet. With an extensive selection of products, there are too many discounted items to mention individually in this Blog post, so we’ll just cover the major highlights!

Save on Summer Camp Trunks and Trunk Stuff

For all of our trunks we’re taking $20 off the regular price—that includes our Traditional Steel Trunks, Designer Trunks, as well as our Pop Up Soft Trunks. After you pick up your discounted trunk, maximize its functionality with 15% off on select Trunk Accessories.

Discounted Summer Camp Supplies

The number one rule of packing for summer camp is LABEL EVERYTHING. So we’re taking 20% off of all name labels! An item found on pretty much every overnight camp packing list, laundry bags can be found at 15% off for specific bags. Lastly—they’re not called ‘essentials’ for nothin’! We’re offering select toiletries at 10% off the regular price.

Dropped Prices on Select Personalized Products

Personalizing camp gear is a major way to give your camper a sense of ownership over their camp stay and help prevent feelings of homesickness. That’s why we’re taking 15% off the regular price of select Personalized Products like our Bunk Organizer, Shower Caddy, and Gear Up Toiletry Pouch.

Camp Gear Clearance

Find excellent deals throughout our site on specific pieces of gear. Enjoy 25% off on products like the Gear Up Torch 1000 LED Flashlight, the Deluxe Fan/Light Combo, and the Everything Summer Camp Sit Anywhere Chair! You’ll find other products with a 15% discount such as the Under Armour Hustle 5.0 Backpack, the Nalgene Wide Mouth 32oz Water Bottle, and the Kelty Kids’ Callisto 30° Sleeping Bag.

Reduced Prices on Writing Materials

If you want to get word from your camper while they’re away, you’ve got to make it fun and easy. You’ll see select Camp Stationery at 20% off on products like our ESC Camp Stationery Sets, a 5 Pack of our Summer Camp Greeting Cards, and Variety 10-Pack of Postcards.

Remember that these deals I just covered are only the tip of our Memorial Day Weekend Sale iceberg! After these special—mentions, there's still an acre of discounted products you can find across our entire website like select bedding products, towels, and plenty more.

Rest assured, you'll find incredible savings across various categories, making this the perfect opportunity to stock up and save big. Get your child ready to go for summer camp with awesome discounts on gear that last for a limited time only—through Tuesday, May 30. Don’t miss out! And, as always, Happy Camping.

- John

Hey, Tree Huggers!

Typically observed on the last Friday of April, today is Arbor Day—a day for encouraging people anywhere and everywhere to plant a tree. Trees are amazing! Did you know that trees never die of old age?! Did you know they drink three times as much as you?! Did you know they brighten our attitudes and boost our spirits?!

How do trees make us feel good? Well, it’s not necessarily the trees themselves, but where there are trees there are lots of negative ions. A negative ion is atomic energy that is emitted from the earth. They improve our mood, reduce pain, and boost our energy. They’re emitted everywhere, but are much more abundant in places like forests, waterfalls, and other areas where nature is left uninhibited.

In honor of Arbor Day, let’s shoot the breeze about trees.

Tree Talk
Trees can talk? You bet! Well, not verbally, no. But they can communicate with one another. Willows Trees, for instance, will secrete a certain chemical when it’s being harmed by insects. The chemical is an alarm to other trees nearby. Trees that “get word” will respond by growing something called tannin on their leaves which detracts the insects.

The Tallest of All
Trees grow to be very, very tall. But the tallest of all resides in the Redwood Forest of California. The Sequoia trees are the largest in the world. And the biggest one of them is called The Giant Sequoia. Not only is it the biggest tree on Earth, but it’s the biggest living thing on Earth! It stands 30 stories tall and 82 feet around. It’s somehow been calculated to weigh nearly three tons (6000 pounds).

The Air Diet
Despite how much they drink, arborists (tree experts) say trees only get about 10% of their nutrition from water and soil. They sustain themselves mostly from sunlight and air. It’s believed that they absorb 90% of their nutrition simply from the air they breathe.

Trees are truly something else! Do you have a spot to plant a tree? We'll be putting a 'family birch' in the ground in my mother's backyard around Arbor Day. Let us know in the comments if you’re going to celebrate Arbor Day by planting a tree. As always, thanks for reading and happy camping!

- John

Hey, Fishy Folks!

Today, April 1, is modernly known as April Fools Day. But, as we’ve covered in Blog posts past, the first of this month wasn’t always called this. And the day April Fools wasn’t always called April Fools Day either. It was called April Fish Day—no joke. For today’s Blog post, I thought I’d share a few little known facts about April Fools and April Fools related items. Check it out:

Something Smells Fishy Here…
It probably sounds like a cheap gag, but April Fools Day likely came from the French holiday, ‘April Fish Day’. In France, they used to celebrate a different version of the holiday in which the same prank was attempted on friends, acquaintances, and strangers of sticking a picture of a fish on their backside and calling out “April Fish!” in French.

April First for Two Days Straight
Likely derived from the April Fish custom, the Scots and the French came up with the ‘Kick Me’ sign. Scots REALLY like April Fools Day. They like it so much that they celebrate it twice. The next day is called ‘Taily Day’ which is all about sneaky pranks in which kids tried to stick strips of paper to someone’s backside. When successfully executed, the jokers gave their victims a new tail.

The Whoopee Whoopsie
Did you know that just one man in responsible for so many of the novelty gag objects you can think of such as the handshake buzzer, the snake-in-a-can, the stink bomb, and so much more—Soren Sorenson Adams. Back in 1930, he actually turned down the rights to the granddaddy of all gag toys: the Whoopee Cushion, declaring the entire premise to be “too indelicate.” Whoops.

In conclusion, watch out today for anybody trying to attach something to your backside, sit you down somewhere specific, or shake your hand. Maybe enjoy a Fish Fry as today lands on a Friday. Happy April Fish Day! And, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Camp Folks!

Question for ya: What’s tomorrow? The first of March has a tendency to sneak up on folks, since February is always cut short two—but more often three days. So what happens to February 29 during Non-Leap years? And why is February the only month to come in at under 30 days? Let’s take a look into the matter.

It was the second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius, who tacked on two months to the calendar that would follow the month of December. The names of certain months give the calendar away as originally having just ten months. October, for example, is the tenth month, but octo means eight. It’s the same story with December—it’s the twelfth month though deca means ten.

February 30th
Along with the names of the months, the calendar got messed up in other ways thanks to the addition of these two added months, like the amount of days allotted to each month. There is record from a 13^th century historian that claims there was a 37-year period in which February saw 30 days during leap years, but that was using the Julian calendar and not the Gregorian (which we use today).

Sweden Time
In the early 1700s, Sweden reverted back and forth between the Julian and Gregorian calendars which led to years that were observed as leap years because of errors. These error years left Sweden out of sync with the Julian calendar as well as the Gregorian. In 1712, they went back to the Julian calendar, adding two leap days to that year to make it work. Eventually, in 1753, they finally joined the rest of the world, returning to the Gregorian calendar by removing 11 days from the year so that February 17 was followed by March 1. Swedes were rather upset with the management, complaining 11 days of their lives were stolen.

USSR Holidays
The Soviet Union introduced a calendar in 1929 that tried to revolutionize the calendar year. Their calendar proposed five-day weeks—meant for industrial efficiency, eliminating the typical non-work days of Saturday and Sunday. Their calendar provided 30-day months consistently through the year aside from five or six days leftover that were left as “holidays” that belonged to no month. This calendar was used from 1930-1931.

It seems that a consistent calendar is pretty much impossible to create since leap days required to fill in the gaps of our year every four years. Time’s a tricky thing. Especially if your birthday is on March 29! Anyway, till next time, Camp Fans! And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Happy New Year!

Today it’s time to wring out the old and ring in the new! Here we are in 2022, leaving the good and the bad of the previous year behind us and eager to build on an entire, fresh year that’s rolling out before our feet! From everyone here at Everything Summer Camp, we hope your New Year’s Eve celebration gave a warm welcome to 2022 and that you’re having a wonderful start to this new year!

Here’s a slight peek into how things are the way they are concerning New Year’s. Take a look…

Why do we celebrate on January First?
We first see New Year’s celebrations crop up around 2000 BC in the Middle East. New Year’s came along in March—the time of the vernal equinox—springtime! So what’s with the January 1^st stuff? Well, our current calendar is based on the Julian calendar (named after Julius Caesar), not so much the calendar they used prior to. So why do we celebrate on January First? Because Julius Caesar said so, that’s why.

Explan-uary the January
It's heavily speculated and widely spread that the month of January was named after the Roman god Janus. It’s actual origin, however, gives itself away in its root—the Latin word ‘ianua,’ meaning ‘door’. This is the name that was chosen to indicate the opening of a new door. What a way to describe the beginning of a new year—am I right?!!

Dietary Luck Down South
Tradition has it that eating leafy greens and legumes on New Year’s Eve brings good fortune for the upcoming year. Supposedly coming from a Jewish New Year custom, folks down south gobble down black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day thanks to this tradition!

Be sure you enjoy yourself this New Year’s Day and enjoy the last of your days off before your winter break comes to an end. Happy New Year once again and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John