Hey, Camp Fans!

Half the fun of owning a trunk can be dressing it up. Your camp trunk can speak volumes about you when you decorate it in your style. Just by trimming your trunk, you can tell people what your favorite color is, what kind of music you listen to, or where you go to summer camp—if you have trunk decals of your summer camp’s logo.

Everything Summer Camp is happy to say that our camp logos are back! Unfortunately we had to get rid of them due to issues with our Web site.

See, we launched a new Web site nearly one year ago. We were well aware that it’s very normal to receive some issues with a new Web site—we had a lot! Hopefully, you didn’t encounter too many of them. Everything Summer Camp offers its most sincere apologies for any and all inconveniences that our Web site problems may have caused you.

Trust me, we weren’t unaware of the issues our site had, but allow me to reassure you that we’ve been very hard at work to remedy the problems. One of the problems occurred with our camp logo decals which was the reason for their hiatus.

But now they’re back in all their glory! Your chances have been revisited to have a Longhorn logo adorn the top of your camp trunk, to show your camp pride for Camp Prude Ranch, or decorate your trunk with a Camp Dudley logo.

We need permission from each summer camp to use their logo, thus they can’t all be available. What we recommend is you try to find your camp on our Web site: click ‘Select this Camp’ and visit ‘Trunk Decorating’ found under the main category. If your camp’s logo is available, you’ll see it there.

If you didn’t find your camp’s logo, contact your camp and ask them if they would send the artwork for their camp logo to our Sales Director at Everything Summer Camp using this address—matt@cnmfg.com.

Till next time, Campers!

Hey, Water Bottle Lovers!

We carry a lot of great water bottles here at Everything Summer Camp. Names like Bobble, Vapur, CamelBak, Klean Kanteen, and more can all be found right here on our Web site. While you can expect all of our water bottles to be convenient, safe to drink out of, and of a certain manufacturing standard.

In other words, any choice from our collection a great choice, but some water bottles just really go the extra mile. Also available at Everything Summer Camp is the Wells AUTOSPOUT Hydration Bottle from Avex. Introducing extreme innovation in the design and functionality, the Wells AUTOSPOUT Hydration Bottle goes the extra mile.

It’s important to keep your eyes on the task you have at hand. That’s why Avex came up with the Wells AUTOSPOUT Hydration Bottle. Perfect for hiking, the AUTOSPOUT pops open with the simple press of a conveniently-placed button. Drink up and release the button for the spout to close back down.

It’s as easy as that to stop any chance of leaks, spills, or contamination.

Quench your thirst without any hassle or the need of both hands! The Wells AUTOSPOUT makes it not just possible, but so incredibly convenient; it’s easy use and spill-proof design makes this water bottle a clear choice for summer camp.

The Avex Wells AUTOSPOUT is a 32 oz., BPA-free water bottle so that you’re sure to have enough water with you on a longer hike. The bottle is easy to handle and easy to move with a clip-on handle that will attach to a backpack or any other gear you have on your person.

Very durable and safe for dishwasher use on the top rack, the Avex Wells AUTOSPOUT Hydration Water Bottle is clearly a must at summer camp. Drink up!

Happy St. Patty’s Day!

There’s a little Irish in everybody on St. Patty’s Day! While people in the United States (along with many other places like Canada, Britain, New Zealand, and more) prove year after year that you don’t HAVE TO be Irish in order to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, it’s likely that much of the purpose behind today’s celebration is a complete mystery to most of the world (including the Irish).

Feast your eyes on these informational tidbits that you probably aren’t aware of concerning St. Patrick’s Day!

First, let’s start with the basic history behind today. A Christian holiday, St. Patty’s was created not only to celebrate Irish culture, but to memorialize St. Patrick who brought the teachings of Christianity to Ireland. St. Patrick died over 1500 years ago, sometime in the early 6th century. By the 7th century, he was recognized as the patron saint of Ireland!

Most people would probably say that green was Ireland’s color since…ALWAYS, right?

But that’s actually wrong! Ancient flags have shown us that a light shade of blue used to be the national Irish color. Good ol’ green didn’t come around for the Irish until the very end of the 18th century! So what was it that made Ireland see their own, true color?

Well, the shamrock was used by St. Patrick while he was spreading Christianity across the land. He used the three leaves of the clover to symbolize the Holy Trinity. During the Irish Rebellion in 1798, it was used again as a symbol of patriotism. They called it the “wearing of the green” and it slowly developed into a regular custom.

It didn’t take long for the green to catch on, covering whole uniforms in the color of the clover. Not to mention that the verdant, green fields of Ireland already brought the color to mind. It seemed like an obvious switch to be made.

So whether you make some corned beef and cabbage or dress up entirely in green, it’s good to feel a little Irish today—even if you’re not!

Hey, Incredible People!

Today is Absolutely Incredible Kids Day. Celebrated annually on the third Thursday in March, this day is intended to make kids feel as special as they actually are to us. If you’re reading this post, chances are that you’ve got at least one kid in your life. And typically, when there’s a kid in your life, that kid is just absolutely incredible to you, right?

I don’t have kids, myself, but I’m the delighted uncle of three amazing little ladies! And that’s one of the great things about today. Whether you’re a parent, an older sibling or cousin, an uncle or aunt, a grandparent, or family friend, Absolutely Incredible Kids Day is a great day to celebrate the little ones in your life.

Established by a youth development organization called Camp Fire, this day is meant to boost and inspire the kids that we have in our lives. It’s extremely important that kids hear encouragement from the people they look up to. And an act as simple as telling a kid how great they are and what they mean to you can go a very long way for him or her.

While telling a kid face-to-face how absolutely incredible he or she is as well as communicating the message through some form of social media are perfectly good methods, there is another way that’s recommended before any other—writing a letter.

Letters are best because they are a hard copy of your written words. They’re personal and more-or-less permanent. Writing your thoughts down usually allows you to organize your words and say everything that you really want to say—things that you might hold back to say in conversation. And sometimes, a conversation of this sort, is enough to kind of embarrass a kid.

However you know the kids in your life, be sure to tell them what they mean to you and just how absolutely incredible they are! Happy Absolutely Incredible Kids Day!

Hey, Fans of Everything Summer Camp!

Perhaps you remember meeting our esteemed Vice President here at Everything Summer Camp, Mark, about a year ago with the Blog post from March 2013. And now that you’ve virtually shook his hand, let’s dig a little deeper and learn just what Mark’s life looks like.

First of all, Mark lives in Eau Claire, WI though he grew up in Milwaukee (nearly 250 miles away). He was in college when he met a girl who had lived in northern Wisconsin and when she wanted to move back closer to home, Mark followed her to Eau Claire. Things didn’t work out with the girl, but Mark found a new home in Eau Claire.

Even though, he missed his family, his friends, and the Milwaukee Brewers, he fell in love with the warm atmosphere of the small town (in comparison to Milwaukee).

Mark is now married. He and his wife, Mandy, have two daughters, Maddy, 13, and Ally, 9. Maddy enjoys playing volleyball and basketball. “She also spends a lot of time connecting with friends through social media,” says Mark. Ally, on the other hand, has her interests a little more narrowed. “She loves gymnastics, gymnastics, and gymnastics,” says Mark.

Back in his Milwaukee days, Mark grew up with four siblings—two brothers and two sisters. Both of his brothers and one of his sisters have moved to Eau Claire while his parents and other sister are still in Milwaukee. “We are still a very close family and we spend a lot of time together,” he says.

As for his fun times now, he and his family make lots of small trips on the weekends. They like going to the Mall of America or the waterparks at Wisconsin Dells and always make it into Milwaukee a handful of times throughout the year.

Mark’s favorite family vacation was about one year ago in Orlando. They saw Cocoa Beach, went to Sea World and Disney World, and ate a bunch of tasty seafood. “I think the best part was getting away from our cold Wisconsin winter and spending some time in the Florida sun!”

“Outside of trips we try to eat dinners as a family most nights and we all enjoy lying around, watching movies together.”

Just a year and a half ago Mark and Mandy added two more additions to their family. They fit right in as they enjoy lying around and watching movies! Charlie and Henry are their pet Shih Tzus—brothers from the same litter. “We only planned to get Charlie,” said Mark. “But when we went to pick him up, we fell in love with Henry too. We just couldn’t separate them. It was a great decision because together they are very entertaining!”

Keep coming back to hear more about us here at Everything Summer Camp!