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Let the Hunt Begin

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Hello all!

Welcome to the Everything Summer Camp Blog today where we have a special announcement of an exciting event being held right here and right now on the Everything Summer Camp website! Oh boy, are we thrilled about this one! Already in full swing from two days ago, Monday marked the beginning of The Great Scavenger Hunt at Everything Summer Camp!

We’re sending you all over our website, from one end to another and back again along with the occasional trip to Facebook and YouTube, in search of your next clue. Once you find these hidden clues, you need to put on your thinking cap to solve the puzzle or riddle and figure out where the next clue will be.

Some clues are puzzles—made up of images that you have to combine and link together. Those clues look something like this: Other clues are riddles. They’re just a quick sentence or two that gets you on the track for the next clue. They look more like this: You’ll notice that with each new clue you find, there’s another letter or number you’re given. There are 20 clues. Keep track of all the letters and numbers you find and, after you’ve reached the final clue, unscramble the letters and numbers to complete the scavenger hunt.

The Great Scavenger Hunt will keep going until Sunday May 9th. Everyone that completes the hunt by then will be entered into a random drawing for Gift Cards to Everything Summer Camp. We’ll draw four winners and each winner will receive a different amount Gift Card: $500 to First Place, $100 to Second, $50 to Third, and $25 for Fourth Place.

We hope you have as much fun on the Hunt as we did creating it! As always, thanks for reading. And, now embark upon your journey of The Great Scavenger Hunt at Everything Summer Camp by clicking right here! Your first clue awaits…

 

- John


Children's Book Day

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Hey, Booklovers!

Today is Children’s Book Day, made to honor all the youth books out there, written for kids and preteens. While summer camp is brimming with activities that are a blast and tons of fun games to play, there’s also the opportunity for downtime where you can just take in your surroundings and enjoy reading a good book.

Between our selection of the Choose Your Own Adventure Books and the very nearly complete series of the Camp Confidential books, we have some pretty awesome title available here at Everything Summer Camp that are perfect for campers to take along for their stay!

Choose Your Own Adventure
The only books where the reader decides how the story goes, the classic Choose Your Own Adventure series introduces us to strange worlds of science fiction, fantasy, and adventure. These interactive tales tell a story a number of times over so the story goes differently based on the choices the reader makes. Then, ‘reread’ the book and make other choices to see the plotline change and end up entirely different.

Choose Your Own Adventure books have been proven to aid kid’s growth through experiential learning. Click here to learn more.

Camp Confidential
You're bound to chew through the books in the Camp Confidential Series like bubblegum! These tales of summer camp are all written by Melissa J. Morgan. With a sizable selection of the books from her ongoing series, catch the all the drama, gossip, and fun times that go on at Camp Lakeview as well as Camp Walla Walla! Check out all the titles we offer by clicking here.

Mad Libs
They’re not exactly books, but they ARE awesome for kids. Short little stories with key words left out, Mad Libs aid kids in learning their parts-of-speech in a hilarious way. These stories request that you fill in the ________ to turn simple tales into hysterical riots. Mad Libs were created one fateful night back in 1953 and have been cracking us up ever since. Have a gander at our selection and click right here.

The Rest
Not to shortchange any of our other available books—if we carry them, it’s because we see the value in them. It’s just the others don’t quite qualify as Childrens Books (Mad Libs were already a bit of a stretch). But Activity Books are a great means of quality downtime whether you’re with anybody or by yourself.

We also offer The Summer Camp Handbook—a treasure trove of awesome advice in all departments of all things summer camp, brought to you by summer camp experts Chris Thurber and Jon Malinowski. There’s also a great guide to survival skills available right here.

And don’t forget to put your pen to some paper yourself with our great Journals as well as our fun Stationery including camp-themed mailing items like Greeting Cards and Postcards.

Enjoy Children’s Book Day with a review of some of your favorites. Maybe you’re currently in the middle of one of these books you got from us right here at Everything Summer Camp. Hope you’re loving it! Happy Children’s Book Day, Readers. And, as always, thanks for reading.

 

- John

 


Ship of April Fools

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Hey, Fools!

…APRIL Fools, that is. And who hasn’t been fooled good at some point or another? We all know WE have at Everything Summer Camp—and I mean, literally, HERE at Everything Summer Camp. With a number of pranksters in the office and an even greater number of those seeking revenge, April Firsts around here seem to escalate every year. Allow me to walk you down a few blocks of memory lane…

For some people, pranks are just part of their personality. For them, it is a must-scratch itch—an unrelenting urge that courses through them like the blood through their veins.

Enter: Matthew Stephen DeMuth—Sales Manager and natural born-prankster.

Looking to cause some fuss one spring, Matt downloaded a Prank Dialer app for his phone. Using this app, Matt was able to make it appear as though people from his phone’s list of Contacts were calling one another. He had Sara call Mark and Mark call Ed, then Ed call Ryan and Ryan call…well, you get the picture.

This prank spanned quite a bit longer than just April First. Matt even went through the trouble of including himself in the prank dials to elude suspicion.

But, despite his efforts, being the desperate pranker that he is, people started to suspect Matt anyway which forced him to take it even further. Having wisely excluded Brian from any of the prank calls, Matt was in a position to frame the mild-mannered Operations Manager. Unfortunately for Matt, nobody bought it.

And, double-unfortunately for Matt, people hadn’t forgotten about his tricks one year later. Taking a note from the office pranks between Jim and Dwight in the hit show, ‘The Office’, Mark and Sara worked together to obtain Matt’s phone and toss it above the ceiling tiles. Then, as Jim did in the show, Mark and Sara proceeded to call Matt’s phone…frequently, which surely drove the much-deserving DeMuth quite crazy. 

In other years, Ed—the president of Everything Summer Camp—has dirtied his hands with the best of them in April Fools past. In fact, he’s become rather notorious around the office, actually, for his diabolical pranks and clever deceit. Several years before Matt pulled one over on everyone with his Prank Dialer app, Ed got everybody all at once as well.

Having installed fake security cameras in the break room, Ed created a cacophonous rise out of everybody at lunchtime when they saw the cameras and expressed their unfavorable opinions. The prank was pretty much forced to be revealed very quickly before a mob started.

Ed topped himself in a following year when he disclosed to everybody that the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) released a new law concerning proximity safety. He then explained that OSHA deems our trunk factory to operate too close to the adjoining offices and all office employees must now wear mandatory safety goggles.
April Fools.
Gotcha!

Check out some of the fun we've had on April Fools past when you click right here.


What's all the Racket About?

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Hey, Tennis Players!

Sports are a great, healthy, and entertaining way to feed your competitive nature and keep yourself physically fit. There are literally hundreds of sports, but today is about only one of them: Tennis. Happy Play Tennis Day! Folks have been playing the time-honored sport of Tennis (or something resembling it) for centuries and it’s remained a favorite for so many people!

Tennis History
The Tennis that we know and love has actually only been around for less than 150 years. One Harry Gem, an Englishman, went over to his friend Augurio Perera place and the two developed the game there on Perera’s lawn. This led to the first Tennis club being formed in 1872 which initially consisted of only four members. Predecessors to the sport, however, are traced back to the 12th Century in France where it was called Jeu de Paume,which is French for ‘Game of the Palm’. Originally, there were no rackets and the game was played by hitting the ball with your open hand.

Popularity
It helped Tennis along that King Louis X was a big fan of the game. He is considered to be the world’s first tennis player to be known by name. Since the days of King Louis X, Jeu de Paume changed greatly. Rules were added. Some were taken away. Rackets were thrown into the mix. And the competition we know today started to take form. It seems that, along with the game itself,today—Play Tennis Day—has likely been celebrated for centuries.

Play to Celebrate
Of course, the best way to celebrate Play Tennis Day is to pick up a Tennis ball or two and visit your local Tennis court, maybe with a friend. If you’ve never played before, introduce yourself to it. It’s lots of fun. And you can always play ‘against’ a wall if you don’t have a partner. Tennis is a really cool game—one that makes you face your opponent one-on-one without the help of teammates and only yourself on which you can rely. It’s a great sport to develop your sense of independence, drive, and determination.

It’s commonly found at summer camp, but you certainly don’t need to wait till this summer to get to playing! Your school may offer Tennis classes or maybe you can find a qualified instructor to teach you.However you choose to celebrate, Play Tennis Day is a great way to appreciate this beloved sport. As always, thanks for reading, Camp Fans. Your serve!

 

- John


Send a Card to a Friend Day

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Hey, Friendly Folks!

Sending Greeting Cards in the mail has been a time-honored tradition—one that probably goes back further than anyone would have expected. It’s a treasured practice around Christmastime that people look forward to sending and receiving, it’s a common birthday tradition, and it’s used for a slew of other special occasions. It can also just be a nice surprise when you have something special to say! 

Today is National Send a Card to a Friend Day.

You can buy cards at a store, print one from a design you find online, or roll up your sleeves and break out the markers for a very special handmade card! Whichever route you pick, it’s a really great feeling, knowing you’ll put a smile on a good friend’s face.

How will you choose who to send the card to? Well, throughout any given year, is there anyone you think of often that you aren’t able to see regularly? That person would probably be a good candidate.

Maybe it’s a friend from camp that you only get to see during your summer visits. Maybe it’s an old neighborhood friend who moved away or stayed put when you moved away. Maybe it’s a family member you’re close with that you don’t get to see often enough.

No matter who you pick or what kind of card you decide to give them (whether it be a sincere message or a funny joke), it’s sure to relay your love and thoughtfulness before the recipient even opens the envelope! Take a little time today to either find or create your own card and get it in the mail to somebody who means a lot to you.

We offer a good amount of camp-themed Greeting Cards here on our website which could be perfect to send to a good ol’ camp friend. It can read something like: “Can’t wait till we’re together again at camp!” Check out our options when you click right here and find a great card for one of your friends. Happy Send a Card to a Friend Day and, as always, thanks for reading!

 

- John