Hey, Thankful Folks!

Our Thanksgiving celebration has come a long way since the Pilgrims first made their arrival to the New World in 1620. They celebrated a day of thanksgiving (a much more common day of celebration before the official holiday came along) with a menu consisting of deer, various types of fowl (like turkey and duck), fish (like cod and bass), and flint corn. Also, there was no Macy’s Day Parade or Detroit Lions matchup.

Days of thanksgiving were once held rather frequently throughout the year as a European custom that the Pilgrims brought along with them when they came to the New World. What were they so thankful for all the time? Anything! It might have been a crop that came in really well that year, the end of a drought, or simply making it through a harsh winter.

But it was Ms. Sarah Josepha Hale who eventually proposed our current feast. She also campaigned for this holiday for 20 years—she was 75 by the time she finally succeeded! She convinced Lincoln by mail that this would be a good holiday to help unify the country after the Civil    War (sort of the ultimate Thanksgiving Day).

And on top of our revamped feast as well as our traditional parade and football game, Thanksgiving has been taking on a new tradition as Black Friday continues to push stores’ opening hours earlier and earlier. The shopping experience now overlaps with the Thanksgiving evening, creating what some refer to as ‘Grey Thursday’.

Lazy Thanksgiving evenings are now designated time to prepare yourself: peruse those ads and map out your route so you’ll be ready to embark on a carefully strategized night of shopping. We know you probably have lots of plotting and planning for this night, so we like to make things easy on our customers by giving them the entire week of Black Friday sales. Check out the most amazing of our deals this year by clicking here and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

Today we’re shining our summer camp spotlight over to the east coast in New Hampshire where we’ll find Lake Winnipesaukee. Here at Everything Summer Camp, we work with more than 270 camps and we’re eager to share what excellent camps each and every one of them are. Have you heard of Camp Robindel for girls? Let me give you the virtual tour right now!

Nested along the Langley Cove in the northern area of Lake Winnipesaukee, Camp Robindel provides 75 acres of paradise where girls can escape the everyday and explore the world with a feeling of independence matched well with the support from a caring community of peers and awesome role models.

They say girls just want to have fun and that’s what Camp Robindel provides with awesome activities on their beautiful waterfront such as Swimming, Kayaking, Sailing, Paddle Boarding, and more. There’s also fun on the land with activities like Archery, Gymnastics, Fitness, Tennis, Basketball, Field Hockey, Golf, Lacrosse, Soccer, Softball, Volleyball, and more.

They also offer fun Outdoor Adventures, Horseback Riding, and Ropes Courses as well as quieter (but equally fun) activities like the Creative and Performing Arts. These creative activities take place in the “Art Barn”—the Arts and Crafts building—while the Rec Hall is typical for theatre and gymnastics and campers have three fully-mirrored Fitness/Dance facilities.

They also have a large Dining Hall with AC, the Nature Cabin, the Health Hut, and an impressive Lodge from before the summer camp existed that features a 40-foot stone fireplace, a grand piano, a great library, and more! Robindel campers are treated to comfy living quarters who sleep in separate areas from the staff. Each of the cabins provide access to electricity, bathrooms with hot water showers, and screened windows.

If Camp Robindel sounds like it might be a nice fit for your camp experience, give it a closer look sometime and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Alright, Excited Shoppers!

No need to wait until after you finish that delicious Thanksgiving feast later this week—you can start your discounted shopping right now; our Black Friday Sale is upon us here at Everything Summer Camp! Take advantage of our AMAZING DEALS that we have in effect on our website starting at 5:00pm tomorrow. Build up your anticipation and read on to check out our sales details!

Unlike previous years, there’s no main theme to our Black Friday Sale this time around. In the past, we’ve presented this yearly sale with “The more you spend, the more you save” in which we included a gift certificate with your order based on how much you spent. Or, last year, we gave away a Sony Playstation VR launch bundle to one lucky customer. This year, however, we’re offering the…

NO SCHTICK SALE!

The discounts of this sale are so good, we don’t even need to grab your attention with some main theme giveaway or a deal where you get money back with your order. This year’s sale is just a straightforward, save a lot of money-type deal. No codes, no gift certificates, no giveaways, and no hoops to jump through! It’s just a straight sale with some eye-popping discounts. Check ‘em out!

Pop Up Soft Trunks
We’re knocking down our Pop Up Soft Trunk price from $129.99 to $99.99. Amazed yet?

Solid Color Trunks
Get Solid Color Trunks like the ever-popular Happy Camper and Undergrad (but not including Create-Your-Own Trunks) for $30 off as well!

Designer Trunks
Our Designer Trunks—made with printing technology that embeds the image directly into the exterior metal of the trunk—are $20 off.

Steel Pattern Trunks
You’ll have to wait for our biggest discount of the year but, come midnight on Black Friday, we’re bringing them back! Get Tie-dye, Botanical Explosion, and Zebra Pattern Trunks for $99.99—that’s $90 off!

This sale’s reach is site-wide while supplies last and offers tons of other great deals of at least 10% off on lots of great items and as much as 20% off on certain products in select departments. And all you have to do to get these deals is simply, visit our site! Have fun shopping and act fast to enjoy your savings! Supplies are limited! As always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Summer Campers!

Get ready to learn about another celebrity who attended summer camp when she was your age! Learning the meaning of ‘doin’ it her way’, Penny Marshall (TV’s Laverne from the 1976 ‘Happy Days’ spinoff, ‘Laverne and Shirley’) enjoyed her summer stays at a number of different summer camps.

Working the northeast coast, she attended Camp Odetah in Connecticut, Camp Geneva in Lake Como, Pennsylvania, and Camp Edgement in Deposit, New York. She also worked as a cabin leader at Camp Diana-Dalmaqua, located in New York’s infamous Catskill Mountains.

Growing up with her father and sisters in show business, Penny was naturally interested in entering the show business. She started out in a commercial for a beautifying shampoo alongside the renowned Farrah Fawcett. Hired on to play the ‘homely’ girl with stringy, unattractive hair, Penny was saved from the ‘homely’ label by the actress who was hired to play the ‘pretty’ girl (Farrah).

It may not have been the most flattering introduction but, even so, Penny persevered and continued auditioning for acting roles wherever she could find. She got the attention she was after when she landed the recurring guest role of Myrna Turner on ‘The Odd Couple’.

After her talent in comedic timing had been revealed, she was eagerly cast one of the dates (alongside Cindy Williams—Shirley) for Fonzie and Richie in ‘Happy Days’. Thrilled with Penny and Cindy’s performance, the pair reprised their roles in the hit spinoff that was created just for them, ‘Laverne and Shirley’. Audiences fell in love with Penny and she was nominated three times for a Golden Globe award.

Over time she developed a skill for directing as well as acting and she went on to direct such features as ‘Big’ starring Tom Hanks and ‘Bewitched’ with Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell. She was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture in 1992 for ‘A League of Their Own’.

So, like Penny Marshall, go ahead and make all your dreams come true. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Aficionados!

It was great to read all the camper submissions we received this year for our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest at Everything summer Camp. We’re happy to share them with our online community and post each submission right here on the Blog! Besides our seven lucky winners of larger prizes, all other entrants received a $15 gift certificate to our online store! Today’s post is from Audrey C., who wrote in to tell us about the best week of her entire life at Sky Ranch Camp. Here’s her submission:

“Starting out the week I was nervous that I was going to miss home but as the week went on and I grew deeper in Christ! I learned so many things about myself, and had the time of my life doing amazing activities and learning things about myself that I would have ever learned about if I wouldn’t have gone to Sky Ranch! On Wednesday night at camp we had worship after the girls night activity and this one lady came out and started singing about Christ. And once she started singing I started to break down crying because I thought about Christ and how he died on the cross for us. Then I asked myself will Christ accept me? After worship one of my counselors came up to me and we started to talk and while we were talking Allie the sky three and four director came up and Allie and my counselor Sarah Lee and I started talking. At the end of our 45 minute conversation Allie told me that I had just accepted Christ into my life! I had given my trust to God and God had given his trust to me! As the week went on Allie and I had more one-on-ones going deeper into Bible study, and I will never forget this week of camp because this was truly the best week of my entire life!”

Audrey clearly loved her time away at Sky Ranch Camp. We’re happy to hear that your nerves calmed down early on enough that you could enjoy your time away. Readers may love it too if it’s a good match for you. Look into Sky Ranch Camp on their website by clicking here and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John