Hey there, Campers!

It’s not surprising to find that a plethora of famous folks were once summer campers just like yourself. Among the long list of the many whom I’ve Blogged about, joining their ranks today is Mr. Jonathan Tucker who too is a former summer camper like all of you will be some day.

Born and raised in Massachusetts, when Jonathan was closer to your age, he and his parents loaded up the family car with all his gear and took him on a four-hour drive to Camp Chingachgook (say that five times fast!) in Kattskill Bay, New York. Located at the foot of Buck Mountain, on the eastern shore of Lake George, Camp Chingachgook presents gorgeous American land.

Thomas Jefferson has said the following about the same land that Camp Chingachgook is built on:

It was around this time that Jonathan started to show an increasing interest in acting. For five consecutive years, starting when he was eight years old, he acted in the Boston Ballet’s production of ‘The Nutcracker’, playing Fritz.

Also in regular attendance of the Boston Ballet, Jonathan has said about his classes, “Ballet is one of the more difficult rigors that I’ve ever done. The Ballet instructors are some of the most intimidating people I’ve met.”

Plugging away, Jonathan Tucker has been pursuing an acting career since his school days. He’s made a number of appearances on episodes of popular TV shows like ‘Law & Order’, ‘CSI’, and ‘Royal Pains’.

He has since found a niche in horror/thriller movies such as ‘The Next Three Days,’ ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,’ and worked with Bruce Willis in ‘Hostage’ from 2005. With determination and focus, the same kind of success could find you, summer campers! Enjoy your summer camp experience and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Everything Summer Camp Fans!

When you can’t find something in a grocery store, you flag down an employee and ask for help. You can’t really do that when shopping an online store; instead, we urge you to give us a call or use our site’s Live Chat when you need assistance. We love talking to our customers. That’s why, every year, we put a great effort into equipping ourselves with excellent representatives to answer your questions. Call us at 1-800-535-2057.

Welcome to the call center.   

A buzzing office with constant chatter throughout its open hours—which are extended in the busy season—you’ll find our seasonal crew at their stations in the call center taking calls and placing orders. Thanks to this helpful team, you can order over the phone with absolute convenience. The most work you’ll have to do is dialing 1-800-535-2057.

Along with taking orders over the phone, some of our representatives make calls to our customers, calling them back about their particular orders if a question happens to arise about a personalized product or any other reason that gives us hesitation toward fulfilling the order.

From keeping meticulous count in inventory to brimming with product knowledge, our call center representatives are quick on their feet and ready to answer your questions as soon as you ask. And when they’re not busy on the phones or helping customers on Live Chat, they stay occupied with stocked product packaging (which, this time of year, is a lot coming in and going out)!

But despite how busy we get at Everything Summer Camp, we always strive to keep our work environment fun—something that I think is reflected in their work. When you call us (at 1-800-535-2057), you’re sure to get a pleasant and enthusiastic greeting. So go ahead and give us a call when you visit our site. And, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

And, oh yeah—did I mention our number is 1-800-535-2057?

Hey, Parents!

With summer camp right around the corner, these are super-exciting times. Among all this excitement, you may find some feelings of concern. If you read my Tips and Advice posts in April, you know better than to show these mixed emotions around your kid. Sometimes that’s easier said than done.

But have no fear; you have lots you can do to help yourself feel better about your kid’s camp stay. Then you won’t have any mixed emotions to hide. Just positivity. Summer camp experts Chris Thurber and Jon Malinowski discuss three ways to alleviate your concern (or ‘childsickness’ as they coin it) in their preparatory guidebook, ‘The Summer Camp Handbook’.

Learn More about Your Camp
Learning about a camp is vital to happily sending your kid off for their summer stay. The more information you can find about the camp the better fit it will be for your kid. That, AND, the more you know about a camp, the less apprehension YOU’LL have about the camp. As Thurber and Malinowski say in their ‘Handbook’,

Talk With Other Camp Parents.
You’ll see that you’re not alone. Or, even better, if you can talk to a parent who has already gone through sending their kid off, they can tell what great benefits camp offers and might even be able to help you cope with you doubts and concerns. If you don’t know any other parents who have sent their kids to camp, you can always call the camp. Ask how your kid is doing and get coping advice from them.

Prepare Your Child for Group Living
Sometimes kids struggle to get along with their peers. Small disagreements between them can snowball into an avalanche and there are a lot of kids living together at camp. Be sure to talk to your kid about behavioral qualities like treating others fairly, being a good sport, cooperating, and so on.

Make summer camp something you AND your kid will enjoy and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Camp Aficionados!

Summer camp is right around the corner and it’s starting to get HOT outside! It feels good, having that warmth on the spring air explode into a full blown scorcher. Sometimes those summer days can just get a little too hot! But you can keep yourself cool with the Deluxe Water Misting Fan from O2 Cool! There’s nothing that satisfies on a hot summer day quite like the instantly cooling mist from this fan.

Lately, we’ve been bringing in lots of fresh products for this coming camp season and we’re not stopping yet! The O2 Cool Deluxe Water Misting Fan is new at Everything Summer Camp. This is one new guy who immediately stands out of the crowd.

Expanding our collection, the Water Misting Fan brings something completely new to the table. Unlike any other fan we carry—the Funky Flexi Fan, the Deluxe Fan/Light, and the 5” Desktop Fan—this one actually uses water to cool you off! No other fan will cool you off with this kind of efficiency! The Deluxe Water Misting Fan is by far your best summer camp companion.

You hardly know refreshing if you haven’t experienced the sweet sweeping mist of this O2 Cool, ergonomically designed creation. Just push the button and the Deluxe Misting Fan emits a chilled, cool breeze that reduces the temperature of the air by 30°. Releasing an ice-cold mist from its large mouth, you’ll be instantaneously cooled.

Filling this fan with ice is easy and it produces up to 1,000 mists per fill. Made with powerful, yet safe, and flexible fan blades, the O2 Cool Deluxe Water Misting Fan is a summer camp delight! It runs on 2 AA batteries—which are not included. Have fun at camp and stay cool! As always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Tea Drinkers!

Of course, there’s nothing like a hot cup of tea on a rainy day or the dead of a chilling winter, but what do you do for all those summer scorchers? You might want to try a cooler beverage. Chill your hot drink and throw some ice in there to keep your drink refreshingly COLD! If it’s a hot day in your neighborhood, then today’s perfect to celebrate Iced Tea Day.

One amazing wonder about tea is that it’s such a versatile drink. You can prepare it so many different ways. Hot or cold—the temperature of this beverage is just the tip of the versatiliTEA iceberg. In honor of Iced Tea Day today, I’ll just talk about all the different ways to make ICED Tea.

Served with or without ice, there are many different styles to iced tea:

1.) Some iced tea is sweetened. Lipton offers their iced tea powder—just add water and stir; and you can find Iced Tea in a can from brands like Peace Tea. These popular, packaged cold drinks are typically sweetened with syrup flavors like raspberry, lemon, strawberry, etc., and are usually available in unsweetened versions as well.

2.) Some tea is made infused with loose tea leaves while most chilled, herbal tea makes for good iced tea. This type of iced tea is made by steeping your tea in boiling water for somewhere around five minutes (depending on the type of tea you’re using and how hot your water is) and then chilling it.

3.) Another way to prepare iced tea is called ‘Sun Tea’. While the result is essentially the same as #2, it prolongs the steeping process as water at a cooler temperature shows some resistance to infusion of tea leaves or bags. Leaving a pitcher out for an hour in the sun gives the tea enough time to permeate the pitcher. Fill a glass full of ice and pour the contents of your pitcher for yourself. This takes the longest, but it’s pretty simple. It’s my preferred method.

Always a great way to cool off on a hot day, enjoy Iced Tea Day and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John