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

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.

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

Hey, Camp Fans!

Last month we asked for people to share their collections with us whatever they may be. And today, I'm thrilled to feature our first collector, Travis T.! Travis attends Camp Longhorn and he collects Baseball cards.

With over 5,000 cards to his collection, he keeps them well-organized in boxes and binders. He started collecting three years ago when he was nine years old. With a collection that is ever-growing, it’s a constant learning experience for Travis. Not to mention, it’s provided a great way to interact with people from all over the world.

Born a baseball fan, Travis was inspired to start his card collection when it dawned on him that every player had a card. It’s a challenge with no end in that regard. “You can’t collect them all,” Travis tells us. “So it is always a challenge looking for the next best deal.” But collecting in itself has furthered Travis’ understanding of the stats and teams of lots and lots of players.

“From there I started understanding their value and shopping eBay and looking for deals,” says Travis. “I am most proud of my graded cards,” he says. When cards are ‘graded’, they’re given a number in value based on the condition of the card and the quality of the print. “Once they are graded they go up in value, come in a case, and are a lot safer,” Travis added.

“I have so many valuable cards that I have worked hard to accumulate,” he says. “I have also spent a lot of time organizing them by team, year, and brand. This has been a HUGE project for me that I have accomplished over many hours. I am also sending players cards for autographs and getting some back in the mail now which has been really exciting!”

Sending cards out to players is a great idea. I’m sure an autograph increases a card’s value as well! While his favorite team is the Houston Astros, neither of his top two favorite players have ever played for the Astros. A mutual favorite for Travis and his dad is Charlie Hough—professional player for 25 years! And then there’s Mike Birkbeck.

With just one-year contracts for each team he played for, Mike really had to earn his keep! But Travis did such a good job in his explanation of why he likes Mike Birkbeck so much, I’ll let him tell the story: “One year he signed for the Indians. His teammates ask him to go on a cookout on a boat. He opted to go with his one year-old son to Disneyland instead. That boat crashed and killed several people on it. He put his family first…”

Such a sad story, but a blessing for Birkbeck! “These are just some of my favorite players and I have cards for each with some autographs seen in the picture below,” says Travis. Another hero of Travis’ would be Mr. Pat Neschek. “Pat is one of the greatest card collectors of all time,” Travis explains. “I would love to hang out with him and see his cards!!!” 

That would be such a cool experience, Travis! What a great collection you have. Thank you very much for sharing all these great pictures and with us and wonderful insight into what you collect and what it means to you! Till next time, Readers. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John