Happy Memorial Day!

Today we observe the federal holiday of the United States in which we remember and honor the many soldiers who have died serving their country and protecting our freedom. Because of the observed day off from school or work along with the day’s proximity to the beginning of summer, it’s often celebrated as an unofficial first summer day.
Lots of folks pass the day away leisurely with the people they love enjoying the beautiful weather (so long as Mother Nature permits). Others with a closer connection to those who have served their country might visit cemeteries or memorials. There are volunteers across the whole country that offer to go around in national cemeteries to place small, United States flags on each grave.

Here’s a look at what some of us around the office at Everything Summer Camp are up to today:

Matt—Sales Director
Matt’s spending all day outside this year. He’s planting his garden all morning. In the afternoon, he’s off to watch his kids in a few sports events—he’s got a soccer game, softball game, and a T-ball game that his youngest is playing in. After all the sports, it’s back home with his family where they’re grilling out for the evening.

Keisha—Receptionist
Keisha, on the other hand, has a day indoors all planned out. With just a couple months to go until the arrival of her second kid, she plans on spending the vast majority of the day relaxing with her family, watching TV, and basking in the joys of air conditioning.

Art—Maintenance
A veteran himself, Art has a closer connection to Memorial Day than anyone else at Everything Summer Camp. He’s making visits to memorials around the area like The Highground in Neillsville, WI as well as the Cadott Veteran’s Tribute in Cadott, WI. Between these two sites, he’ll observe reenactments, ceremonies, museum exhibits, and more.
A happy Memorial Day to all. Remember those who fought to protect your freedom and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Summer Lovers!

What’s not to love about summer? Going to the beach, family get-togethers, family vacations, SUMMER CAMP!!!—the fun never ends…until you wake up with a sunburn, that is. These horrible by-product of too much sun exposure can ruin a day, a week, and a lot more than that if harmful UV rays settle in to pose a certain threat to your skin.

Yes, unfortunately the most beautiful days bring with them harmful UV sun rays that come pelting down on your skin in brilliant sun showers. Fun in the sun can certainly turn into a painful experience if you’re not careful about protecting yourself against those gorgeous rays. And that’s why I’m talking about sunscreen today—National Sunscreen Day.

A day intended to remind us to practice proper protection against the powerful sun, Sunscreen Day spreads awareness of the damages sun exposure will do and the necessity to apply and reapply sunscreen products when spending time in the hot sun. Sunscreen works by creating a barrier between your skin and the rest of the world.

With proper use, sunscreen will help to prevent skin cancer. ‘Proper’ use, however, is much more frequent than most people are probably aware. For true protection, people ought to apply sunscreen many times throughout the day (especially if you’re spending the whole day outside which you essentially will throughout the summer).

That’s why our Sunscreen selection is full of fun misting sprays, gels, and wipes to help encourage campers to apply and reapply as needed. These are kid-safe and natural formulas from trusted brand names like Aloe Gator, Supergoop!, and Burt’s Bees.

Our Sunscreen Department goes beyond sunscreen for camp with products like lip balm and poison ivy protection. Get the protection you need right here when it’s time to head off to summer camp! And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Summer Campers!

This Blog has featured many a famous celebrity who was once a summer camper like yourself. We’ve talked about famous actors, musicians, athletes, entrepreneurs, and all other walks of fame. Today, spotlights someone who isn’t really any of those things, yet he’s still a household name the world over—Noam Chomsky. Considered to be the most important intellectual alive, is it any surprise that he attended summer camp?

That’s right, he went to Camp Massad, a Jewish summer camp in the Pennsylvanian Poconos. In operation for 40 years, Camp Massad closed its doors in 1981. It was around his time at camp that Noam’s superior intelligence started to show.

Noam attended Oak Lane Country Day School when he was younger. This progressive school allowed its students to study their own interests in an environment that ignored competition. When Noam was only 10 years old, he wrote his first article which concentrated on the spread of fascism after the first World War.

Just two years later, he moved on to high school. He was only 16 when he started his college education at the University of Pennsylvania. There, he studied philosophy, logic, and languages—primarily Arabic.

It wasn’t difficult for him to land a teaching career at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Throughout the years, he’s written over 100 books that focus on language, war, politics, and mass media. While his writings got his name out there, it didn’t bring him to the level of popularity that he now has. Noam attributes his success to “a series of accidents”.

His name became famous for his anti-Vietnam War activism which made President Nixon put Noam down on his list of enemies. While his anti-war position brought him some trouble and did damage to his career, Noam is still considered the world’s most important living intellectual.

A voracious reader, he reads through five newspapers on a daily basis with subscriptions to publications like The Boston Globe and The New York Times.

Noam was eager to learn about everything he could get his hands on. A great quote of his is, “I was never aware of any other option but to question everything.” Fighting indoctrination and encouraging independent thought, Noam and summer camp get along great. How will you get along at camp? Learn more about Noam right here and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Happy Memorial Day!

This weekend is a great time to finalize your summer camp preparations and make the last of your purchases. Why? Because Everything Summer Camp’s traditional Memorial Day Weekend Sale is slashing prices on hundreds of our camping gear products, camp clothing, and much, much more. Save on select gear with this excellent weekend sale. Check it out:

First and foremost, we’re offering $15 off of all our Steel Camp Trunks—including the ever-popular Happy Camper. And the trunk fun doesn’t stop there! We ship it to you with a $10 gift certificate for Everything Summer Camp waiting inside! Maybe you’re not in the market for a hard camp trunk? Well, you’ll be happy to hear that the same deal applies to our Pop-Up-Soft-Trunk—an exceptional duffel bag that performs about as well as a steel trunk!

We’re taking $5 off of our latest means of trunk decorating—Name Plax! These are contour-cut vinyl decals featuring your name in all its glory with your choice in color for font, background, and border! Removable, but not reusable, Name Plax are intended for the top of your camp trunk, but may also look good on your bedroom door, windows, and walls. Aside from fabric exterior trunks, they work on most any camp trunk you have—not just C&N brand!
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The first and last rules of summer camp packing are to label everything! This weekend you can find all of our labeling products available for 20% of their regular prices! Also marked 20% off are our new ‘camp. Tees’ collection—an instant hit. We tapped one last department with our 20% off wand: our Color War selection of excellent Color War T-shirts and other fun accessories to celebrate your team spirit!

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We’re cutting a bunch of prices on our camping gear by 10%. All products in our Sleeping Bags, Rain Gear, Laundry Bags, Toiletry Bags, Bedding, and Swimwear Departments can be found for 10% off!

As much as all that is, it still isn’t quite everything! In fact, this sale is stretching out to so many different departments and products that I couldn’t come close to completing the list on this Blog post. Suffice it to say there are another 150 discounted products on top of the all the others I already mentioned! Deals anywhere from 5-20% off are lurking all over our site, so don’t be afraid to browse around!

Have fun getting ready for your Memorial Day fun and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Packers!

Today marks our last installment in our four-part May series that shares packing techniques to make for a successful summer. Using the wealth of information from ‘The Summer Camp Handbook,’ I’ve covered the right type of container to use, the proper gear for campers, and different methods of labeling. Now that you have the right packing container and you have your gear all labeled, today’s post focuses on tips for the literal packing part of the process.

Bring Extras
As I mentioned in the second post of this series, it’s always smart to bring extras of the basics. Seven pairs of socks and underwear for seven days at camp might seem like enough, but campers can go through more than just one pair in a day if they go swimming with their underwear on. Or there may be a couple-day lag in laundry service. A good idea is to pack 1.5 times the number of days between your camp’s laundry days.

Roll it All Up
An excellent method for packing your camp clothing is to roll everything up and then stack them in your container like pencils in a can. This makes it easier for your camper to see everything that’s been packed without having to unfold and go through the contents of their container.

Pack Your Packing List
It’s also a smart idea to attach your packing list to the inside lid (if you have a camp trunk) or some visible spot in your container. Keeping your packing list around will make it easier to ensure that everything that went to camp is coming back.

Kids are a Part of It
It’s a big deal for kids to feel as though they have a certain amount of control in the decision-making processes of summer camp. Be sure to involve them with packing so they know how to operate all the camp gear they’re bringing and know where everything is.

Everything Summer Camp has great travel accessories to make the most efficient use of your packing space. Eliminate stress and hassle with our great Packing Cubes, the LidMate Organizer, as well as a Glide n’ Go Tray for absolute convenience at camp. Make the most of your packing space and help send your kid off to get the most out of their summer camp experience. And, as always, thanks for reading.

- John