Hey, Camp Fans!

When you deal with so many interesting products like we do here at Everything Summer Camp, you can’t help but get a little curious about the origin of the gear, supplies, toys, and other items that we handle on a daily basis. That’s why I’ve started writing these History posts in which we investigate the back stories behind specific gear and other products. A lot of the products we sell have histories that go way back, even to ancient times.

Today, however, we’re going back only 64 years ago, to 1953. Today we’re looking at the history of Mad Libs.

This unrivaled, classic, fill-in-the-________ word game was an overnight success! By removing parts-of-speech and replacing it with a different, random noun, verb, adjective, etc., Mad Libs transform simple stories into hilarious laugh attacks. The best way to give a group a big case of the giggles is with an uproarious tale from a Mad Libs page.

The concept for Mad Libs was born that fateful night back in 1953 when their co-creator, Leonard Stern was looking for the right adjective in a script he’d been writing. After he had struggled in the search for half an hour on this single word, his best friend Roger Price walked in. Evident to Roger that his friend was in deep frustration, he asked what he could do.

Leonard confided in his friend over this elusive adjective that he could not track down for the last 30 minutes. When Leonard asked for help, his friend Roger blurted out “clumsy and naked” which, as incorrect as it was, at least made Leonard laugh. The pair almost immediately recognized the potential behind this hilarious description of somebody’s nose (as Leonard’s script had been calling for).

Leonard commenced to leave the script where it was for the rest of the night and went to work with his friend Roger writing short, page-long write-ups with key words missing. You can find awesome, camp-themed Mad Libs and other fun ones right here when you shop our website! Enjoy laughin’ it up with your friends with Mad Libs and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Sleepyheads!

Today is the Festival of Sleep—a day for loafin’ around the house and staying warm under the blankets amidst the dead of a chilly winter. In honor of the day, last year I posted about all the different benefits a good night of sleep brings to us as people—not just in the winter, but year-round. You can check out last year’s post right here.

But this year, I’d like to focus more on sleeping in the winter season—or, more appropriately, THROUGH—the winter season. I’m talking about hibernation.

Unfortunately, we people don’t hibernate—much as we feel we may want to! Our bodies just aren’t biologically designed to do it. So who DOES hibernate? Oh, lots of creatures! You have bears and bats—they’re the most popularly-known—but there are also mice, chipmunks, skunks, raccoons, groundhogs, snakes and a number of other reptiles, some amphibians, bees, and more.

Not all of these animals are true hibernators the way that bears and bats are. These guys fall asleep and will coast clear through winter and spring. Others, however, like raccoons and chipmunks, tend to wake up periodically to snack on some food that they have stored up. But even then, if they’ve run out of their food supply, they’ll go searching for more. Still, they sleep for much longer than you or I could ever dream.

What are these animals doing, you ask? Well, these creatures’ bodies have all adapted in one way or another to remain inactive as a means of conserving their energy. By slowing their metabolism and reducing their body temperature considerably, these creatures stay asleep for days, weeks, even months at a time.

Food gets to be hard to come by for some animals—especially bears, and so, instead of migrating or expanding their diet, these animals took the lazy route and make the bold move to sleep through this season of scarcity. The benefits of sleep for us—like boosting our mental, physical, and emotional well-being—are nothing compared to what sleep can do for these animals who essentially freeze time for themselves.

We may not be able to hibernate, but we can certainly pretend! Enjoy getting the most out of your Zzzz’s today and all winter long. And, as always, thanks for zzzz…

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

Learning to be True to Your Heart is a great lesson that kids pick up at The Gift of summer camp. Is it any surprise that kids love going to camp ever since the mid-1800s—and Still?! Many adults nowadays are former summer campers themselves and a bunch of them have gone on to become famous icons. It’s my pleasure today to tell you about Mr. Drew Lachey of the hit group 98 Degrees.

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Drew attended the Clovernook Elementary School in North College Hill—a suburb of Cincinnati. He moved on to the School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) in the Cincinnati, Ohio Public School District.

While he didn’t attend summer camp in his childhood, he worked at one as a cabin leader at the age of 16. He spent two fun-filled weeks on the shore of Lake Fairlee, looking after the summer campers of Camp Billings and building an appreciation for the beauty surrounding him in the green hills of Vermont.

After his time working as a cabin leader at Camp Billings, Drew got involved in several interesting career paths before finding himself in a musical group. He found work behind the counter of a delicatessen. He trained to be an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and served as one in New York City. And he went on after that to be a combat medic in the U.S. Army.

Along with his older brother, Nick, and their friends Justin Jeffre, and Jeff Timmons, the four of them formed the pop group 98 Degrees and achieved nationwide success.

No stranger to television appearances, Drew showed up on one of the ‘Hollywood Squares’ in 2001 and has had a handful of guest appearances on Nick’s MTV show ‘Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica’. He was also the winner of the second season of ‘Dancing with the Stars’.

If you’re interested in Camp Billings for yourself, you can check out their website right here. Even working at summer camp is a positive experience! Maybe you’d make a great cabin leader for some local camp. As always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

You know what’s always a treat for us is when we get to talk up the excellent summer camps with whom we’ve developed solid relationships. We work with more than 250, so we post about them fairly frequently. We call them our Summer Camp Spotlight Blog posts and today, we’re fixing our spotlight on Camp Lake Hubert for girls—sister camp to Camp Lincoln in the Lake Edward Township of Minnesota.Located on beautiful land occupying the south side of Lake Hubert, these campgrounds boast a clear, spring-fed lake with a soft, sandy bottom and gradual slope. Providing more than 120 acres and a second small lake on its south border (Bass Lake), the setting at Lake Hubert for girls sets the perfect tone for a wonderful summer camp experience.

Your camper is sure to be engrossed in a number of all the available activities from options like Archery, Baseball/Softball, Crafts, Dance, Drama, Golf, Guitar, Gymnastics, Lacrosse, Martial Arts, Biking, Horse Riding, Radio, Riflery, Soccer, Tennis, Rock Climbing, High and Low Ropes Course, Day and Overnight Trips, Fishing, Kayaking, Sailing, along with a whole lot more!

Give your daughter the gift of summer camp—the gift that keeps in giving as it instills confidence in its campers and teaches them how they fit as an individual into a healthy community of camp-minded folks as well as how they fit into the natural world.

You and your daughter can choose from a two, three, four, or eight-week camp stay. All summer sessions at Camp Lake Hubert are designed to introduce your daughter to a subtle maturation, but they encourage kids to opt for the longest session-length they feel they can handle as the benefits and overall impact multiply exponentially the longer you stay.

If Lake Hubert seems like a good place for your daughter, be sure to check out their website for yourself and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Merry Christmas to One and All!

The Christmas holiday has been celebrated for a long time and it’s come to mean a lot of things to the people who love this day of the year. Nobody’s working today at Everything Summer Camp! We’re all spending the holiday with our families, enjoying all the traditional gift-exchanging, feasting, and all-around merrymaking. I know that’s what I do every year!

Each season provides us with its own specific atmosphere and this particular season was made to be spent in the warm company of those who are dear to us. Despite the fact that it contains the coldest, darkest day of the year, we brighten the season up with our cheerfulness, our good will, and the company of our loved ones.

As did many of you, I’m sure, I traveled this year to be with my family. We always tend to really immerse ourselves in the holiday spirit, so there’s lots of smiles, laughs, and merriment here in my mom’s house. This will be the last Christmas for my mother and my siblings to gather in the home where we all grew up to celebrate our family Christmas so it means a lot to us all.

Many of our Christmas traditions like gift-giving, feasting, and bringing trees into our homes have been adopted from a varied past, originating from Pagan celebrations and re-popularized by none other than Charles Dickens with his still-famous Christmastime masterpiece, ‘A Christmas Carol’.

These traditions have been carried out for many, many a year and, as for me and my family, we’re all more-than-happy to carry on the age-old traditions and keep Christmas a warm day that unites us and brings us all joy. I wish togetherness, joy, and merriment to all of our summer camp families out there and, as always, Merry Christmas!

- John