Hey, Camp Aficionados!

Memories are great, but photos make a great accessory to help visualize your memory of a time that was obviously fun enough that someone took a picture to, more-or-less, immortalize the moment. Photos help us hold on to memories and keep loved ones close by even when they’re far away. Today is National Camera Day! Read on to learn how cameras were invented.

These captured images have come quite a long way from their early days of playing with light exposure to the current digital age where people’s cell phones typically have a high-quality, built-in camera. This technology was tinkered with for a long time. 

Inverted images that shown upside-down (commonly referred to as a Camera Obscura) had been a point of interest for many years—potentially since the ancient Greeks. It was in 1816 that the first somewhat successful photograph was produced by a French inventor named Nicéphore Niépce.

He made his own camera and coated a piece of paper with sliver chloride to use for the photograph. In the chemistry world, silver chloride is known for its crafty conversion to silver when illuminated or exposed to heat. It darkens when exposed to light. Absolutely intriguing stuff!

This technology was played with and eventually made for the market. By the 1840s, cameras became a commercial item, available to the public. Transforming from a wooden box to a more ‘handheld’ design, cameras have continued to evolve in our present day.

From disposable to digital, cameras have really evolved throughout the years. You can find great cameras for your summer adventures right here at Everything Summer Camp like the Fujifilm Quicksnap Waterproof Camera and the Kodak Fun Saver Camera. Treasure your camp memories forever in our fantastic Three Cheers Photo Book or the appropriate Summer Camp Photo Frame. Check it all out right here and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

As usual, Everything Summer Camp is gearing up for the fast-approaching summer camp season (some of you may already be there). We really got into this season—we’ve been bringing in new products left and right! So many, actually, that it’s been a little hard to keep up with on the Blog. But for those of you who are still awaiting their weeks of summer camp, I’ll continue to inform you of our latest products.

We just brought in a slew of new products from an excellent supplier—Outdoor Products! In fact, there are so many new products from them that I don’t even have enough room to talk about it all on this Blog post. But, what I can do is give you the lowdown on several.

Duffels
I’ll start with the duffels since there are so many of them. First of all, we have their Deluxe Duffels which cover a vast array of different sizes. These are your classic, barrel-shaped duffel bags in Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large, and Mammoth-sized.

Then there are their Utility Duffels, another barrel-shape style with a bit more pocket room and other accessories than the Deluxe Duffels offer. These bags are available in Large, Giant, and Colossal Sizes and are perfect for camp.

Ponchos
Available in children’s sizes as well as adult, these Mulitpurpose Ponchos prepare you for a rainy day. Lightweight, they fold up nice and tight for easy packability and you can lay it flat to use it as a ground tarp too for keeping your gear off of a freshly soaked ground. Provided with a full cut hood and drawstring closure, you can stay nice and dry in these awesome Ponchos.

Backpack Rain Cover
These Rain Covers keep your backpack—and all the gear inside of it—shielded when the rain falls. It sports urethane-coated nylon taffeta to make it 100% water-resistant. It’s guaranteed to keep your pack dry with its elastic take-up as well as side snaps to provide FULL coverage. And it’s supplied with a nylon drawcord and cord lock.

Pick up any one of these great ‘Outdoor Products’ and check out their full collection right here at Everything Summer Camp! As always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Folks!

Unlike so many of the posts on this Blog, this one is just for the parents. Last week I posted three ways that you can do to alleviate your concern for your child’s upcoming summer camp stay—or ‘childsickness’, as summer camp experts Chris Thurber and Jon Malinowski call it in their preparatory guidebook, ‘The Summer Camp Handbook’.

In their book, they mention a number of things that you can do to help reduce the pain of missing your child during their camp stay. Last week I talked about learning as much as possible about the camp, talking with other parents whose kids are or have been to camp, and also, to prepare your kid as best you can for group living. Today I’m offering two more pieces of advice from their summer camp book:

#1. Get News from Your Kid’s Cabin Leader.
It can be very comforting for parents to keep in touch with cabin leaders and get word about how their kid is doing. Leave some stamped postcards addressed to yourself with your kid’s cabin leader and ask them to send an update here and there so you know how things are going.

It’s cool for a kid when parents find fun, creative ways to connect with their kid while they’re apart during summer camp. A popular thing to do is to leave a letter for your kid with a cabin leader on opening day. When your kid gets this letter it should help ease your kid into this separation.

#2. Write Often
Writing to your kid feels great and it feels even better (thought it may not happen that often) to get a letter back from camp. Whether your kid’s camp is near home or not, it’s guaranteed to feel extremely far away from home to your kid. Camp, though fun and awesome for a kid, is a strange, new place that feels very far away. A letter from you makes things seem a little closer.

Letters to your kid should be positive and upbeat. Kids aren’t good at communicating, at least not by mail during their summer camp stay. They have so much to do that’s right there in front of them and ten times more fun than writing a letter home. But they’ll greatly appreciate a letter from you!

Next week will conclude this month’s series on what do to help take care of your ‘childsickness’. Tune in next Tuesday and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

We love talking about ourselves here at Everything Summer Camp. But it’s good to give somebody else a turn every once in a while too. That’s why we started posting Summer Camp Spotlight posts. These Blog posts take the spotlight off of us and put it on a deserving camp. Today I’m talking about Camp Emerson.

Located around the magical Berkshire mountains of Massachusetts, Camp Emerson boasts some beautiful campgrounds, sandwiched between Lake Emerson and Lake Plunkett. With awesome surroundings and great facilities, campers at Camp Emerson are free to play, make friends, and grow!

Into sports? You’ll have a blast at Camp Emerson. They have everything from their Basketball court to the Baseball diamonds, Volleyball nets, and Soccer fields. They offer Archery, Fencing, Golf, Gymnastics, Tennis, Fitness. And don’t forget the water sports! They’ve got Canoeing, Kayaking, Waterskiing, Wakeboarding…. They definitely have it all at Camp Emerson!

They also have awesome programs for performing arts like acting, dance, improve, and a lot more as well as excellent programs in visual arts like cartooning, Jewelry, Mixed Media, Stained Glass, and so much more.

For kids whose interests are all over the map, Camp Emerson presents their ‘Step Beyond’ program, a fast-paced course in kids who are hungry to learn about a broad range of cool things. From Cooking to Rocketry, their appetites will be sated in the ‘Step Beyond’ program.

They also offer very cool wilderness and survival programs where campers can go exploring, go fishing, and learn survival skills.

Camp Emerson campers create their own schedule every two weeks by picking their favorite six activities for their well-rounded, full camp days. Why shouldn’t they get to choose. After all, it’s  their camp stay! And these full days make up their camp experience where they undergo a great level of personal growth and begin to understand the concept of their role in a community.

Camp Emerson is awesome! Check it out for yourself and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Everybody!

Happy Fathers’ Day! Fathers across the world are honored on this day for their dedication, unconditional love, and support. Last year I told you how the holiday of Fathers’ Day came to be, whereas today I’m going to give you gift ideas you can buy (at little or no cost) for dear ol’ dad. After all, often times, he’s the HARDEST to buy for!

Dads are interested in more practical gifts, so ideas like wallets, watches, swiss army knives, keychains, grilling accessories, bottle openers, shaving razors, kitchen cutting boards—are all fairly low-cost great gift ideas that your fathers will be happy to receive because they’re gifts that they can USE!

Another great way to show your appreciation is with a card. Whether it’s store-bought or homemade, you can give him a little message of your love and appreciation that’s sure to touch his heart! Making your own card is easy! Just fold a normal 8.5” x 11” piece of paper and voila—you have a front, an inside, and a back!

Go the extra mile with your card too and include a coupon that offers your services for a night of dishes, taking the trash out, or some other random chore around the house. Your father’s sure to enjoy a gift that gets him out of daily chores.

Draw a picture for your dad. A picture says a thousand words and, often times, the thought of this gift alone is enough to put a twinkle in ol’ dad’s eyes. Whether it’s a family portrait, a picture of you, or one of dad himself, it’s sure to be treasured.

Lastly, nothing says ‘Happy Father’s Day’ like a creative arts and crafts project. Get inspired with a bunch of great ideas—click here for a dad-dedicated Pinterest page. Check it out and make something nice for your pop today! Happy Father’s Day and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John