Hey, Story Lovers!

People have been telling stories ever since we developed sufficient communication skills. Who doesn’t love to hear a well-spun yarn? Just about everybody enjoys hearing a good story which is why there’s a whole day dedicated to the art of oral story telling. April 27 is Tell a Story Day.

So—how come we’re telling you about this twenty-three days in advance? Well, because telling stories around a campfire is such an essential part of summer camp, it only seems natural that we here at Everything Summer Camp create a contest shaped after this national day.

But we don’t want just any kind of story—we want scary summer camp stories—spooky stories that you share while everyone’s sitting around a campfire. The kind that send shivers down spines and put goose bumps on skin. These should be tales that you’ve come up with from your own warped imagination.

After you’ve crafted your story, we want you to make a video recording of yourself telling your chilling tale. Your video may be as simple as holding a flashlight underneath your chin or as grandiose as involving a small cast and props to make your own mini-movie! Then upload your spooky video to YouTube.

Video entries should be no longer than 10 minutes long and, of course, the content of this video should be appropriate for all ages. Make sure to keep your stories clean! If you couldn’t tell it at summer camp, then we don’t want you telling it here.

Submit your video and contest entry information on our customer sign up page by April 27 and enter for your chance to be a winner. Two winners will be chosen—each will win a $100 gift certificate to Everything Summer Camp.

One winner will be chosen by public votes. How many people can you get to vote for your video? The more people you know, the better your odds are of winning. The other winner will be chosen by us—our esteemed judges within Everything Summer Camp.

Here’s the beginning of a little story I’m working on along with you guys–enjoy!

Fire Pit

Sid was the first kid that Angie met at summer camp. When he first approached her he confessed that he was a rather shy boy. But being on the shy side herself, this sat well with Angie and the two became quick friends. They sat with each other throughout mealtimes and during conversation times with the counselors. On hikes they would walk together. They’d even sit and read together on the ledge of the camp’s fire pit. It seemed they were side-by-side the entire time and before either one of them realized it, their camp stay was coming to a close.

They found themselves eating the last dinner they would have at summer camp this season. Angie couldn’t help but to feel a little sad about the fast-approaching end. She’d had so much fun in the last few weeks! But Sid reminded Angie to cheer up—“We still have a whole night left at camp,” he told her.

The campers of O-Phaz-Ma would end their camp stay with the traditional campfire on the last night. And, of course, Sid and Angie sat next to each other.

Everybody joked around for a while, roasting marshmallows by the roaring fire and enjoying each other’s company one last time for the summer. But it didn’t take long for Craig, the primary counselor to flip on a flashlight and pass it off to Daniel, sitting next to him.

“Let’s get some stories, going, huh?” said Craig.

“Oh, um, okay,” said Daniel, unprepared. He went on with a humorous story about a monster with a hook, not for a hand, but for a foot. It got a lot of laughs, but Craig was unsatisfied.

“C’mon, Danny! SCARE US!” he said.

“Well, if you want a scary story so bad why don’t YOU tell one?” Daniel proposed giving the flashlight back to Craig.

“Oh, I don’t know if you guys could handle a scary story from ME!” Craig warned as he turned off the flashlight. But this was received with a band of sarcastic laughing and much jeering. The kids all continued with their discordant chatter in unison until Craig turned the flashlight back on and held it underneath his chin and everyone grew silent again.

The crisp crackling of the burning logs inside the brick fire pit filled the silence for a moment until Craig broke it saying, “Well, OKAY, then. If you insist…”

***Tune in for the second half of this story on April 27th, National Tell a Story Day.***

Hey, Hard Workers!

Today is Don’t Go To Work Unless It’s Fun Day. The point of this day isn’t so much to get employees to play hooky from their jobs but more so to remind bosses that a fun atmosphere in the workplace is beneficial not just to employees but to their work performance and thus the company as well.

As any computer software company will reveal, a loose, fun work environment produces happy employees yielding better results in efficient and creative work. Unlike a computer software company—our jobs may not provide a loose enough setting for, say, a foosball table in the break room. But despite that, any job can offer its employees a fun environment.

Maybe not everybody’s workplace can be fun, but everybody is here at Everything Summer Camp today because our company is a fun place to work.

Everything Summer Camp offers a good assortment of jobs: we have our production department where our camp trunks are manufactured, our graphics production, our screen printing shop for camp clothing, our call center, the offices, and the shipping department. The people in each department are typically in a good mood.

It’s never unlikely to find a harmless prank in action around the office or to see a group taking a quick break with some Mad Libs. Having characters around the office and people who are happy to be there is great for morale and good day of solid work!

We may play hard but we work hard as well. And playing hard actually helps us to work hard! It’s not just us at Everything Summer Camp either. It’s people in general. A happy brain makes for a hard worker. It’s as simple as that. So make sure that your employees are enjoying their jobs—especially today (or else they may not show up)!

Thanks for reading, Camp Folks! Till next time.

- John

*NOTE* Everything Summer Camp does not actually recommend that anyone skip work today in order to celebrate the “holiday”. Just try to make work fun for yourself if it isn’t already.

Hey, Camp Fans!

Everything Summer Camp offers a whole lot of different things to take along to summer camp (hence our name). Some of our products are more fun than they are practical and some offer the comfort and convenience of home right there at camp. But some of our products go the extra mile.

Look for products tagged with the Smart Living icon as you shop our Web site online. What is Smart Living? It’s the label we give a product that actually offers health benefits. 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!

Clearly, water bottles are quite the convenient product to have with you at summer camp—but it’s not just a convenient product, it’s a Smart Living product too. Why are water bottles a Smart Living product? Because staying hydrated is healthy—especially when you’re out in the great outdoors on a sweltering day (when staying hydrated means the most!).

Our bodies are like machines. When they’re well-oiled their performance is optimal. Of course, in our case, the oil is water. Each cell in our body, our tissue, and our organs all require water in order to work properly. Our bodies NEED water in order to maintain good health.

Your body is losing water—literally—with every breath you take. It goes through its water supply even quicker when you’re active and the weather is hot (a.k.a.—at summer camp). Make sure you replace the water your body uses when you need it.

Your body does a good job at letting you know that it needs more water. If you ignore your own initial thirst, it results in a dry mouth, then a headache, feeling fatigued or even confused; you’ll eventually start to feel lightheaded and weak and then you’ll pass out.

While any good summer camp is supervising to be sure that their campers are staying hydrated, it’s still a good idea to sit down with your kids and talk to them about the importance of avoiding dehydration at summer camp with a trusty water bottle at their side! Drink up!

Hey, April Foolers.

I’m sure you all expected us to have a bunch of office pranks to post about for today, but I thought it might be more conducive to learning if I gave a light overview concerning the history of this auspicious day. So let’s take a journey back in time to discover the origin of this intriguing holiday and the reasons behind its strange celebrations.

To understand this holiday we must travel back all the way to the early medieval times, when dragons still weren’t real but very much so believed in. Originally a Christian Feast Day, April Fools’ or the Feast of Fools was not so widespread back then.

In fact its celebration was confined to the limits of the small English town of Chumpsterburg. This town’s April 1st celebrations can be traced all the way back to the year 200, when the townsfolk received their first king ever, King Jacob of Prankston, France.

During a time of such extremes in social status, worlds collided: the rich and the poor, the royalty and the commoners, the educated and the superstitious. Upon King Jacob’s arrival, the first day of April was declared April Fools’ Day, often referred to in ancient texts as Festivus Follis or Follis Diem.

The shenanigans that the upper class would pull over on the commoners were typically harmless, innocent jokes that never amounted to more than a laugh. Never—until one year in the sixth century, that is, in which a group of soldiers on night watch went door-to-door the morning of April 1st, telling the townspeople that a dragon had been spotted.

This sparked mass panic and lead to the unexpected evacuation of the townsfolk. Thus the celebration of April Fools’ Day was spread across the land. Meanwhile, in Chumpsterburg, the holiday was banned and replaced as March 32nd instead until the villages’ prompt collapse.

Click here to read more information about this interesting holiday and Happy April Fools’ Day!

Hey, Everything Summer Camp Fans!

As a few faithful readers may recall, a little over a year ago, Everything Summer Camp posted its first Employee Spotlight post about our Lead Buyer, Kristy. As Lead Buyer, Kristy goes to tradeshows and finds other ways to stay hip to the current trends. Once we have our new products in stock, she puts them on the Web site so you can browse around and shop online.

She lives in Thorp with her better half, Ryan and her adorable daughter, Kaelyn. They found Thorp was a great middle ground between their two hometowns and offered great schools and a great community. “It’s a very small town, but we love it!” Kristy says.

Their daughter, Kaelyn Mae just turned three which brings a wave of both excitement and sadness for Kristy. “They grow up WAY too fast,” she comments.

But for now, Kaelyn remains a very funny, smart, and spunky little girl. “She’s what makes our world go round,” says Kristy. And Lucky is the six-year-old, chow and yellow lab mix around which Kaelyn’s world revolves. Always fascinated by the family dog, Kaelyn loves having her around. “She’s absolutely sweet as pie and Kaelyn’s best bud.” Kristy smiles.

“Family is the most important thing in my life and I’m very blessed to have so many people in mine,” says Kristy. Aside from her small family with Ryan, Kristy is the youngest of four. She’s got two nieces and two nephews. She’s got quite a lot of family on her dad’s side and everyone is very close. They all go on an annual camping trip to see each other and catch up.

The annual camping trip has been a tradition since before Kristy’s time even! Her favorite part about the camp trips is watching Kaelyn who’s experiencing so many things for the first time. It reminds Kristy of what the world was like back then! “I love watching her grandparents teach her the same things that their parents taught me,” Kristy says. She loves the outdoors so they do lots of fishing. And, of course, Kaelyn always catches the most.

Come back again to hear more about us at Everything Summer Camp.