Hey, Fans of Everything Summer Camp!

Introducing Throwback Thursdays! On these days, we’ll be linking back to an old Blog post that we feel is so helpful in summer camp prepping that we want to get it in front of our readers again. Throwback Thursdays are all about reviewing the extremely valuable information in specific old posts (not to mention, giving ME a break!).

So ‘throwback’ with us today and take a good look at our post from one year ago by Dr. Christopher Thurber to help you determine how long of a camp stay is appropriate for your camper!

- John

Hey, Scouts!

Tomorrow is National Girl Scout Day! This organization’s popularity has skyrocketed since its small beginnings a little over a century ago and has become an essential part of summer to many little girls all across the country. First Lady, Michelle Obama, was a Girl Scout when she was little and, not that long ago, childhood star, Dakota Fanning earned her badges in the Scouts.

HECK! I’ve got a niece who’s in Scouts right now—HI, Tess!

Just to give you an idea of how large this organization has become, here are just a couple numbers: currently, there are over 3 million members of the American Girl Scouts Organization. Over the years, the Girl Scouts have amassed 59 million alumnae and counting. They’re EVERYWHERE!—which is a good thing because their cookies are amazing!

But what’s even more impressive than their current numbers, is just how small the Girl Scouts were back in 1912 when the first Girl Scout meeting was assembled. The entrepreneurial-spirited Juliette Gordon Low (or ‘Daisy’ as all the Scouts called her) gathered 18—only 18 girls in Georgia.

Daisy’s purpose in gathering these original 18 Scouts was to give them an experience that would get them out of the house and away from the routine of a domestic lifestyle. In doing so, Daisy knew that the girls would develop into their own selves. She knew how good the great outdoors are for a girl’s mind, body, and soul.

Daisy got these girls to embrace their community by giving back to it. They went hiking and camping. They would play basketball, learn to tell the time by looking at the sky, and study first aid.

By 1915, the American Girls Scouts Organization was officially formed and it didn’t take very long for Daisy’s idea to takeoff. Soon, girls all over the country would become Scouts! Maybe it’s time for you to join the millions and understand just how great the Scout experience is.

Happy, Girl Scout Day, Scouts!

Hey, Silent Sleepers!

Unfortunately, while you’re sound asleep every night, bed bugs are making their claim on the same mattress where you catch your zzz’s. Is there no way to stop the little buggers? Well, there is Bed Bug 911. Available here at Everything Summer Camp is the Hybrid Mattress Encasement as well as the Vinyl Mattress Cover from Bed Bug 911.

What is Bed Bug 911? They’re a leading manufacturer of products concerning bed bugs. But their services don’t end there. Bed Bug 911 also offers their services as bed bug exterminators. What they do is they offer everything you need (be it product or service) in order to get rid of your bed bugs forever!

Founded in 2005, when New York began to panic over their epidemic of bed bugs. Before its existence, president of Bed Bug 911, Nicole Levine was the owner of a different company called Home Clean Home (HCH)—catchy name, huh? Well, this company was soon overwhelmed with customer requests for bed bug treatment. Customers of HCH—residential and commercial—were seeing bed bug infestation like no one had since the 1950’s.

Nicole Levine was aware of the side effects people had to the chemicals and insecticides used for bed bug extermination, causing bad allergic reactions and, in some much more extreme cases, cancer and neurotoxicity. Nicole went straight to work developing an organic line of bed bug sprays and other means of preventing bed bug infestation.

Three years ago, she was celebrated as the Businesswoman of the Year by the New Independent Democrats. She credits her company’s unprecedented success to the importance it places on customer service. We here at Everything Summer Camp are proud to offer products from Bed Bug 911 to make your kid’s summer safe and bed bug-free.

Hey, Facebook Fans!

Offering a connection to friends and family that you don’t get to see very often or a fix to your addiction to Farmville, Facebook has become one popular medium. Nowadays, everybody’s a fan of Facebook. And you know what else everybody’s a fan of? Fridays! Put them together and it’s a match made in heaven. That’s why we at Everything Summer Camp have brought back Facebook Fridays!

Facebook Fridays, if you don’t know how it used to go, worked like this: we picked a random winner from the names of people that ‘liked’ us on Facebook. The winner received a $25 Gift Certificate to use at Everything Summer Camp.

If Facebook Fridays were so cool, then why did you stop doing them, you might ask?

Well, it turns out that (without our knowing, of course) Facebook Fridays were illegal within the rules and guidelines of Facebook. But we’ve brought them back now and operate within full compliance of Facebook regulations.

Here’s how they work now: At 1:00 p.m. CST on Fridays we’ll post a link that will allow you to sign up to win a $25 Gift Certificate. Simply give us your name, email address, and Facebook username. You will have until 1:30 p.m. CST to sign up for that week’s drawing. After 1:30 p.m. CST we will no longer accept entry forms.

Next, using randomizer software we’ll pick a new winner at about 1:45 p.m. CST.  The winner will be notified via the email address they provided. At 2:00 p.m. CST, we’ll post that week’s winner on Facebook.

If you get picked as a winner of Facebook Friday, then you can’t win again in 2014. Sorry!  You are, however, still eligible for other sweepstakes and contests here at Everything Summer Camp such as our Camp’s On Us Contest in which we’re giving away $1000 to go toward your summer camp tuition.

But for now, enjoy your Fridays and visit us on Facebook for your chance to win a $25 Gift Certificate for Everything Summer Camp. Thanks for reading, Folks!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

One essential piece of camping gear for any camper is a sleeping bag. At Everything Summer Camp, we keep a wide assortment of sleeping bag styles and temperature ratings because we know how much of a variable a sleeping bag can be.

The type of sleeping bag that’s right for your camper depends on so much: the location of the camp, the length of your camper’s stay, the intensity of your camper’s camp stay….

In order to provide for so many different needs, it’s necessary that we have the wide selection. And we just added four more quilt-through construction sleeping bags from Wenzel. They all have outer shells of 190T Polyester filled with Insul-Therm insulation.

First is the Rectangle style Wenzel Summer Camp Bag. When the 26” x 66” bag is fully unzipped, it converts to a 52” x 66” blanket. With a 40° F temperature rating, this polyester bag is filled with 2.5 lbs. of insulation. Few bags say summer camp quite like this one!

We also added the Wenzel Mummy style Backyard Bag to our collection. This bag features a drawstring hood for extra warmth. It measures 26” x 66” and has a temperature rating of 30 ° F. Filled with 2 lbs. of Insul-Therm, this bag is made for someone who’s really roughin’ it.

The third bag that we now offer, the Wenzel Sunward, is another Rectangle style bag that also converts to a blanket when fully unzipped. It measures 33” x 78” and has a temperature rating of 30 ° F. Stuffed with 4 lbs. of Insul-Therm Fill inside. This bag isn’t kiddin’ around.

And our fourth installment, the Wenzel Lakeside is yet another Rectangle style sleeping bag. It’s made of Rubber Ring and also converts to a blanket when unzipped. Given a temperature rating of 40 ° F, this bag is filled with 3 lbs. of insulation. This bag is better for slightly cool nights or indoor use.

Good luck finding the best sleeping bag for your camper!