Hey Egg Counters!

There’s lots of fun things you can do with colorful, plastic eggs. Fill them with treats, hide them for others to find. Just last week, everyone here at Everything Summer Camp held a rather intense Egg Hunt.

So much fun was had that we just couldn’t stop there so we thought we’d play another game with eggs, but this time we wanted to involve all of you!

And so the Everything Summer Camp ‘Egg Count Contest’ was born. Reminiscent of the ‘Candy Corn Contest’ we held nearly six months ago in which we asked our readers to guess how many pieces of Candy Corn were in our glass jar, this year we want you to guess at how many eggs are filling one of our camp trunks.

The winner will receive a $100 gift certificate for Everything Summer Camp. You definitely want to take your time in answering—give a good, educated guess; but don’t take too long, the contest will close at noon on April 22. The winner of our Egg Count Contest will be announced on the following day. 

As any proud owner of a C&N Footlocker will tell you, there’s a lot that can fit inside one of our camp trunks! I wonder just how many eggs one of our trunks will hold! I can’t wait to find out! Till next time, Camp Fans!

- John

Hey, Egg Hunters!

Like you, we here at Everything Summer Camp can’t help ourselves this time of year. Whenever springtime rolls around bringing green grass, we always get antsy to go looking for some hidden eggs around the workplace.

We held a pretty intense Hunt here yesterday in anticipation of the coming holiday. With so much action happening all at once, hardly anyone can give me an accurate account of the day’s actual events. Good thing I was there, in the middle of all the action.

Most people put a couple jelly beans or some other fun treats inside the eggs they hide, but yesterday, we were given a little more incentive to find our eggs. We had a good handful of candy prizes, but we also had ticket prizes to movies and other events, certificates for hours of Paid Time Off, and cold, hard cash (ranging from two dollars to 50 bucks)!

If no one found the $50 egg, the prize was to be given to a random winner among all participants.

The eggs were placed in the hallways of the offices, the Call Center, the bathrooms, our large Production Workshop where our footlockers are made, and—of course—the break room. All the eggs were readily available and visually hidden—in other words, you didn’t need to “go through” anything to find an egg.

Also, each participant was limited to finding just two eggs so you really had to choose wisely. In some cases, it might have been smarter to pass on collecting a found egg if it doesn’t look like a really good one.

If I had just one word to describe yesterday’s Egg Hunt, I think my best choice would be ‘melee’! Everyone had been gathered into the break room where the rules and boundaries of the hunt were given. And after that it was simply—“GO!”

With that, the majority of the 20 participants made a mad dash exiting through the front and back doors in desperate search of the “Golden Egg” that held the grand prize of $50. But a few wise ones hung back in the break room. Their strategy was more composed. I was one of them.

I spotted a small purple egg sitting on a purple flyswatter on top of the refrigerator but it didn’t look all that special.

Bill, a seasonal hand in our shipping department, made the comment that probably no one would find the Golden Egg and the prize would end up going to some random winner. This seemed like smart reasoning to me so I took the purple egg and left the break room.

I then walked out into the production area. It was all abuzz of speedily moving, efficiently searching, rampantly rummaging egg hunters. While I was out there I saw Ryan, Manager of our Shipping Department, as he spotted his only find cleverly hidden underneath a spray sink.

The Production area began to clear out when I discovered my second egg—a bigger, more special-looking egg. Could this be the $50 prize? I thought. It was green (which wasn’t a good sign), but I thought I’d better take what I could get. With both my eggs, I thought I’d scope the pandemonium that had moved to the offices. I’d never seen the place look THAT busy before.

Our president, Ed, was quietly tucked away in his office.

“Did you already find both your eggs?” I asked. He had grabbed a small egg on a production palette and another bigger one that he said he found behind our receptionist, Missy’s desk.

“I just want to stay safe in here until it’s over out there,” he said with a smile.

As I continued my way down our office’s corridor, I saw Pam, our seasonal help in the Graphic Arts Department, spot her egg between a storage rack and a wall. That egg awarded her an hour of Paid Time Off!

It was right after that when I heard the announcement from Shirley, our Production Supervisor, that the Golden Egg had been discovered. I rushed passed everyone in the Call Center, back to the break room where Myron, one of our guy’s in Production, sat with the Golden Egg and a big grin.

“Where was it?” I asked him. He said it was placed in between hanging coats on a rack against the wall.

“I never even left the room,” he said.

Well, Myron may have taken home the grand prize, but everyone won SOMETHING and I’m pretty sure fun was had by all. I, for instance, had a great time and took home five dollars as well as a tasty bag of candy that I’m enjoying right now.

Happy Hunting, Everybody!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

When you shop the Everything Summer Camp Web site online Look for products tagged with the Smart Living icon. What is Smart Living? It’s the label we give a product that actually offers health benefits to the consumer. Simply click the Smart Living icon on the product you’re looking at and you’ll pull up an information box that describes, in detail, the health benefits of that product!

A couple weeks ago I told you about the health benefits of water bottles. Today I’m telling you about fans.

Staying cool in the blazing heat of summer is just as important to your health as staying hydrated and wearing sunscreen! Heat exhaustion, like dehydration and directly exposing your skin to the sun, is something that you want to prevent this summer.

Heat exhaustion can be a consequence of sweltering temperatures, physical activities, or both. You’ll know you’re hitting the point of heat exhaustion when you get a headache and you’re sweating profusely, feeling weak, confused, dizzy, nauseous, and unquenchably thirsty.

In the case of heat exhaustion, rest with some fans blowing on you.  Your body regulates temperature using a few different methods. Fans help to regulate body temperature through a process known as convection. Convection is when air or water moves across your skin. Convection also aids in another temperature regulation process known as evaporation. As your body sweats during the process of evaporation it creates a humid layer on your skin. A fan will speed up evaporation by removing the sweat and replacing it with a dryer, and cooler, layer.

You should also drink lots and lots of water and other fluids but no drinks with caffeine like soda or energy drinks as these beverages are known to make matters worse. When you have the energy to, take a cool shower.

Everything Summer Camp carries a small collection of cool fans that you can use to prevent heat exhaustion from getting to you.

Our Funky Flexi-Fan is fun to bend, turn, snake, and loop to give yourself just the right angle you need for optimum comfort. With a convenient clip, you can attach the Funky Flexi-Fan to just about any of your surroundings: the car, your camp bunk, the beach!

Our Deluxe Fan/Light from Texsport is no ordinary fan. It doubles as a lantern so that you can give yourself some light in the same direction as the breeze!

And lastly, you can give our handheld, Water Misting Fan a squeeze for a refreshing blast of cool, cool H2O! Adding a splash to an enjoyable summer breeze will really keep you comfortable on those summer camp scorchers. Simply squeeze the fan to mist yourself or give your camp buddies a playful squirt.

The summer may get hot, but you don’t have to be. Check out our fun fans from Everything Summer Camp to help stay cool this summer.

Hey, Camp Preppers!

While you’re doing all this work in summer camp preparation, it should please you to know that the majority of the camp gear you’re getting isn’t restricted to use outside of summer camp. Enough of your child’s camp gear can be used year round for a large variety of activities.

Water bottles are great to have by your side pretty much everywhere you go. A standard backpack can be used for school after the camp season. And, of course, our C&N Footlockers at Everything Summer Camp make not just a great camp trunk, but a classy piece of bedroom furniture as well.

While these are great examples, the list certainly doesn’t end there and we’re adding to it all the time. Our latest addition is arriving soon—our cool, new cinch bags. Very popular with kids for gym as well as for after school sports and other extracurricular activities, use for your cinch bag extends well beyond summer camp.

Extremely easy to cinch shut, these bags are all you need to carry just the necessities. Given long, thin cinching straps, you can wear our cinch bags like you would a backpack. Or you can simply carry it by its straps like a duffel bag.

Ideal for your carrying convenience, they’ll be available in an array of bright, fun colors and you can get your choice of an icon on the bag. Very stylish, this nylon material is as shiny as it is sturdy.

That’s all for today, Campers! Till next time.

Hey, Readers!

If you’re reading this Blog post, it’s probably because you enjoy reading—that or it’s just written so well you simply can’t resist…but chances are you just like to read. Well, you’re not alone! People everywhere find great escape, great information, and great inspiration in the written word. It’s probably why libraries have technically been around since about 1200 B.C.

So what better time to celebrate your love for reading than all week long this week? After all, it IS National Library Week! Did you know that? Did you know that National Library Week even existed?—it’s okay if you didn’t, I didn’t and I LOVE to read!

But, believe it or not, it isn’t everybody that loves to read; research that was done in the 50’s showed that people were becoming interested in radio and television over reading. The American Library Association (ALA) grew concerned that with all their new media in entertainment, the American people were losing interest in reading.

That’s why, in 1958, the ALA sponsored not just a day but an entire week of national observance for National Library Week. The library is a really great place to go. You can find books on pretty much every thinkable topic so no matter what your interests, the library has got something for you.

Interested in summer camp? Look up a book about that and you can learn ways of optimizing your child’s summer camp experience! If you’re at the library then your kid should be too. Libraries excel in their youth section and kids tend to love their libraries. Make sure you’re getting the most out of your public library and brush up on your reading skills this National Library Week!

Reading is incredibly good for our brains and is often times a great way to spend your leisure time. So check out some interesting books this week at your library and have fun reading!