Hey, Guys and Dolls!

You can enlist to do LOTS of different things during your stay at summer camp! Camps tend to offer lots of the same, more traditional activities like Archery and Zipline and typically a variety of more unique options. Perhaps the camp that you’re going to offers something you’re interested that’s a bit more unique such as Guitar Playing or Doll-Making. Let’s take a peek at the latter today and dive into the world of dolls.

The term ‘dolls’ refers to a wide variety of craft products. Most commonly thought of are probably baby doll toys. But this is just a drop in the bucket of the possibilities to what someone is referring to when they say call something a ‘doll’.

The vast majority of other types of dolls are more so along the lines of a figurine than they are a baby doll. The difference between a doll that’s made to cradle and burp is a crafted toy whereas many other styles of dolls are more like crafted collectibles. Here are a few different types of dolls you can make right home.

Who You Callin’ Mop Head?
Purchase a Mop Doll kit and follow simple instructions to make some cute dolls that are made using yarn that gets wrap around a dowel on a small base. You can put one together quickly and they are simple to make. They make for some adorable bedroom decor and toys for soft playing—they’re not action figures!

These Old Rags?
Rag dolls are another type of doll you can make that relies a bit more on your creativity, whereas Mop Dolls are more cut and dry. Like the ever-famous Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls, this duo was made of rags. These traditionally homemade figures made of cloth are typically made from and stuffed with spare scraps of material laying around the house (though a trip to a supply store can help it along).

Bottle Baby
Lastly, we have water bottle dolls. Really…it’s an anything-that-works doll. With a similar concept to the Mop Dolls that use a wooden base and dowel for the body, this idea uses a water bottle (or, as I said already—anything that will work). Add a head with a wooden bead or whatever else you have layin’ around. Throw on some pipe cleaners or paperclips for arms. Add some felt for hair or clothing. There’s really no limit to your creativity for this one!

It will help move you along with a project to check out some ideas of what other people have done but be sure to add your own creative twist on your dolls. That way, they’ll be special just to you! Have fun with these potential projects and enjoy your doll making! As always, thanks for reading, Camp Fans!

- John

Hey, Snail Mailers!

Writing letters is really in the spirit of summer camp, but it’s such an appropriate activity for right now in the winter season—a great time to flex your writing muscle and practice this therapeutic and cheerful indoor activity as we venture into the holiday season! Here are some great reasons to sit yourself down today and write a letter or two to some of the people you have in your life.

Process Events
Writing things down is an extremely useful means of people cementing events as they come to pass during the course of our lives. All of the people you meet, skills you learn, and things you do—it’s great to review all of those new experiences you’ve had to help yourself process and reflect on what you learned. Writing about your personal perspective can allow you to explore what you’re feeling.

Say What You Mean
Writing letters gives you an opportunity to write down your thoughts and express your feelings. We tend to feel more comfortable saying things to someone by means of written word that might go unsaid in other forms of communication such as talking face-to-face or texting.

Preserve Memories
Don’t leave your memories behind! Put them down on paper. Write about your school, home life, memories of summer camp, etc. Sharing fun memories is a great way to cherish a friendship or family relationship you have with the recipient of your letter! It’s always good to revisit a cool moment or an inside joke we may have shared with someone close in our life!

These are just a few of the many benefits there are to writing letters to people. Make the connection and spread some cheer as we venture into the holiday season! Put your pen to some paper and see what comes out! Happy Letter Writing Day and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Scare Enthusiasts!

Keep the spirit of Halloween alive within the spooky walls of our Seasonal Halloween trunks. These trunks are great for safekeeping all your Halloween decorations but it’s an eye-drawing piece of decorative furniture as well. Keep it out in your hallway or at the front door for Trick or Treaters to see!

And when the season comes to its close, you can pack up all your fake spider webs and lawn ghouls and trick or treat baskets and pumpkin-carving tools and keep them organized in one, tidy trunk! These Seasonal Trunks are sure to frighten your friends and family (especially your baby brother or baby sister)!

Made of heavy-duty birch plywood, these ever-watchful, harvest-spirited camp trunks contain cats, bats, goblins, and ghouls of colossal creepiness as well as cuteness featured on our DuraShell exterior with an extremely scary and high-definition print UV-cured directly onto it! It's pretty cool.

Our Seasonal Trunks are the same size as our best-selling Happy Camper trunk and they include the same high-quality metal hardware to keep the lid securely shut. Use the trunk for day camp, Halloween storage, Fall décor, and more. The Creep Show Designer Trunk also includes extra wide handles on the sides to make carrying your ghoulish goodies even easier.

Keep your cavernous trunk neat and orderly by snagging a Grab a Glide & Go Tray and LidMate Organizer. The accessory organizers are perfect for pairing with your trunk to bring some order to the chaos. If this trunk doesn’t scare you too much, go ahead and order a Seasonal Trunk for yourself today… I DARE you! You can get a closer look when you click right here. Happy Halloween! And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Dessert Devourers!

The campfire craving that has everybody asking for “some more”, these gooey dessert sandwiches consist of chocolate, marshmallow, and graham cracker. Today is National S’more Day. There’s really only one dessert to have when you’re sitting around a campfire. S’mores, though they weren’t always known as such, are the traditional campfire treat that have been around for roughly a century.

America’s traditional treat, S’mores are sandwiches of roasted marshmallow and a piece of chocolate between two Graham Crackers. Short for “Some more,” this delicious dessert got its name because of what it makes you say after you eat it: “Mmm! Can I have s’more?”

A man named Alec Barnum is said to be the one who invented the s’more, though the dessert’s true history is somewhat of a mystery as its recipe appears in a book that was written by the Girl Scouts in 1927 called Trampling and Trailing with the Girl Scouts.

You can make your own variations to s’mores recipes. Some people add peanut butter, others add fruit; as long as you have the initial three flavors, you have a s’more. In fact, all the desserts I listed at the beginning of this post can be made s’more flavored—s’more cake, s’more pie, s’more pudding, s’more brownies, s’more ice cream, s’more cookies, s’more dip, s’more bars, s’more donuts, s’more rolls…that’s—that’s a lot of s’mores.

Of course, big s’more fans here at Everything Summer Camp, join our S’more Bucks rewards program for our online store. It’s a fantastic way to get free money for little effort that’s redeemable for the camping gear available on our site.

Learn more about our S’more Bucks and get signed up with this previous Blog post. Appreciate your S’more Bucks as well as the actual treat and, as always, thanks for reading. Now go roast some ‘mallows and smoosh your S’mores together. Cheers!

- John

Hey, Fire Fans!

Did you know today is Campfire Day! I could go on like I have in the past with fire safety tips like finding a suitable location and sitting at a safe distance (read more when you click here) or go over the different methods of starting a fire like I did in this previous post that you can find right here. But campfires are all about hanging out and relaxing, so let’s just take it easy for this Blog post and talk about why campfires are so cool!

The Snacking
Fires lend themselves to good food. Whether you’re just passing a bag of chips or candy or you’re using the flames to roast your treat like marshmallows and S'MORES, campfires usually indicate there’s some fun junk food going around. 

The Storytelling
Something about the darkness of night and the frolicking flames, the atmosphere tends to eliminate our inhibitions and incite our instinctive nature to tell a good story. No matter if it’s a funny story, a true story, a scary story, some sort of combination of those, or you just got some good jokes or something, fires are the perfect venue to try them out!

The Mesmerizing
While a campfire tends to get people in a talkative manner, it’s always good to keep quiet for a while and let the fire do the talking. The crackles and pops of dry wood are warming and cozy with a spectacular display that’s mesmerizing to say the least.

Enjoy the camaraderie that comes along with those who you sit down with to share a fire—they’re likely some of the closest people in your life. And the magic of sitting around a campfire together is that you will likely walk away feeling even closer. Fires feed friendship! Happy Campfire Day. Enjoy it today by enjoying your own fire this evening. As always, thanks for reading, Camp Folks!

- John