Hey there, Camp Fans!

Let me tell you about a great employee and a good man whom I have the pleasure of working with here at Everything Summer Camp. His name is Art. It’s sort of hard to hang a name on Art as far as what you might call his job. He’s been our handyman and the maintenance guy at Everything Summer Camp for the last four years. Ask Art to build you something—anything—and he’ll come back with a piece of equipment that drops your jaw.

So what does a man of his qualities fancy at a summer camp store for kids?

Well, he’s actually a giant fan of the Everywhere Camp Chair from Crazy Creek. With this brilliantly convenient chair, you can feel free to take a seat here, there, and everywhere! Obviously, this chair is great for camp. You can take it on a trail for a snack break or use it by the campfire while you tell ghost stories.

Art doesn’t use it much for camping, though. He’s got plenty of other uses for it. “I use my Everywhere Camp Chair at all the sporting events that I go to like Auto Racing, High School Football games, and NFL games,” says Art.

Bring it along wherever; the Everywhere Camp Chair has all the features and convenience of the Original Crazy Creek Chair and it’s considerably less expensive. This chair provides you with thick foam padding, a mesh zippered pocket, and a water bottle holder on the back. There’s also a four-pocket fold down flap that can hold bug spray, sunglasses, binoculars, or whatever else you need it for.

Just fold this chair flat and secure it with its Velcro strap closures and convenient handle. Bring it along and take it everywhere! “It works great!” says Art with a smile.

Till next time, Camp Fans!

Hey, Costumed Creatures!

It’s fun to dress up like something you’re not, isn’t it? Especially when you go around showing your costume off to your neighbors around the block in exchange for some tasty treats! I hope you all scored big while Trick or Treating and gave all your neighbors something to scream about (I know I had a few good scares when I opened my door on Halloween night!)

It wasn’t just Trick or Treaters in my own neighborhood that I saw either. There were lots of great, creative costumes for the Everything Summer Camp SPOOKtacular Halloween Costume Contest as well! It was a great fright—er sight to see so many crafty costumes that you guys dressed in for Halloween!

Submitted by: Alice C.

Everything Summer Camp’s SPOOKtacular Halloween Costume Contest yielded two 1st Place Winners who will each receive a $100 Everything Summer Camp Gift Card as well as two 2nd Place Winners who will each receive a $50 Everything Summer Camp Gift Card. Our winners were randomly chosen.

Our first, first place winner dressed up as the valiant elf, Link from the popular video game–Zelda. She’s ready for battle holding Link’s shield for her protection and his sword as her weapon.

Submitted by: Claire B.

Our other 1st Place Winner, on the other hand, traveled not nearly so far back in time to a decade called the 60’s. In her Hippie costume, she looks like she would fit right in at Woodstock.

Submitted by: Caroline E.

As for our 2nd Place Winners, first we have a favorite witch, Hermione. Watch what you say while she’s dressed in Hermione’s black robes, scarf, and crooked wand. She may turn you into something unnatural.

Submitted by: Addison K.

And lastly, we have Mr. Jack Sparrow! A convincing Jack Sparrow at that! This costume has the hat, the hair, the eye makeup—everything!

Nice costumes, Kids! And congratulations to all of our winners! Happy Halloween! Thanks for participating and thanks for reading!

- John

Hey there, Sweet Tooths! (Or is it Sweet Teeth?)

Either way, there’s no getting around it. Candy is one tasty side of life! I love it. You love it. Everything Summer Camp loves it. And there’s no better day to celebrate your love for candy than today—National Candy Day!

When we saw that National Candy Day was coming up, everyone here at Everything Summer Camp started talking about our favorite kinds of candy. We all found that our favorites happened to be the old stuff, the stuff you don’t see in the corner convenient store anymore. I’m talking vintage.

Most candy is already pretty old. In fact, the majority of it is actually old enough to be considered “vintage.” See, the rules of how old something has to be in order to be considered a vintage piece are a little blurry. I’d say a fair age for something would be 50 years before you could safely call it vintage. By those rules, any candy that was made before 1954 counts as vintage candy.

That’s A LOT of candy!

M&Ms, for instance, started being manufactured by the Mars company in 1941. And the extremely popular Snickers bar is 11 years older than M&Ms—introduced in 1930. But that’s just the tip of the vintage candy iceberg.

Now don’t get me wrong. Snickers and M&Ms are definitely old candies. I’m just saying there’s other candy that’s REALLY old. One easy example would be the Tootsie Roll, manufactured by the company Tootsie Roll Industries. In 1896, this became the first penny candy (candy that cost only a penny) to be individually wrapped. Tootsie Rolls predate M&Ms by almost 60 years.

But if you think that’s old, get a load of (my personal favorite) Ribbon Candy! This stuff makes M&Ms look brand new! Ribbon Candy is ancient in the candy business. Nearly a hundred years older than M&Ms, this candy was being manufactured as early as 1856—maybe even earlier.

What’s your favorite candy and how old do you think it is?

Hey, Halloween Lovers!

The time of year has come again to celebrate Halloween, to dress up like scary creatures we’ve only seen in our wildest dreams, and to gorge ourselves on hard-earned candy! But aside from carving pumpkins and eating lots of good treats, what are we really celebrating on this spooky holiday?

It turns out that Halloween dates back over two thousand years ago and was originally a Celtic celebration called Samhain (pronounced sow-ain). It started on October 31 and lasted until November first, sort of like the modern day New Year’s Eve celebration.

In fact that’s exactly what it was for the Celts—it marked the end of the summer season and the beginning of winter, so they made it their New Year’s. They just didn’t have champagne, noisemakers, or Dick Clark. Their celebration looked a little more like what we call Halloween.

They lit bonfires, wore costumes, and carved out different types of gourds and pumpkins to set outside their doors as a welcome to friendly ghosts or to ward off the mean ones. Sound familiar?

Trick or treating isn’t really a new custom either. Back in the day, it was called guising—the phrase “trick or treat” wasn’t coined until sometime around the 1940’s. But little kids still dressed up in costumes to go door to door for coins and treats.

Records of people making this tradition date back all the way to 1895! They may not have been singing “Trick or treat, smell my feet,” but they still walked around collecting cakes, fruit, and money from neighbors.

I think one of the most interesting parts about Halloween is that any and all traditions that got their start before the 20th century are still being carried out today! Just think—the traditions we all know were being celebrated by folks from the late 1800’s! Cool, huh?

So from everybody at Everything Summer Camp, Happy Halloween! And thanks for reading!

Hey, Camp Fans!

Today I’m talking about a man who’s already been introduced on the Everything Summer Camp Blog. The manager of our Shipping Department, and longtime employee of ten years, Ryan is a big sports fan. It’s pretty regular to walk over to Ryan’s desk back in shipping and find him listening to sports radio as he’s working away.

From basketball to baseball and, of course, who could forget football—Ryan’s the biggest fan of all three.

And while you’ll never hear him toot his own horn—I’ll toot it for him to tell you—he can golf like you wouldn’t believe! I’ve played with this guy before and he puts me to that one step lower than shame: humiliation!

But I digress, Ryan really likes the Fatheads you can find at Everything Summer Camp. “Being a big sports fan, these are the best,” he says. “The ability to move them from place to place is awesome!” That’s right, our NFL, MLB, and NBA Teammates team logos from Fathead are movable, reusable, and just bout indestructible. Change your mind a million times on where you want this decal and it won’t lose its stick.

So were you born with basketball in your blood? Do you have baseball on the brain. Or maybe you want your footlocker to say football. Showcase the team you favor most right on your trunk or pretty much any other smooth, clean, and dry surface like your bedroom door, windows, and walls (as long as your parents say it’s okay).

“They always give me the chance to show my team pride,” Ryan says. Our Teammates team decal packages come with one to three team logo decals about one square foot in size. If you’re a big sports fan like Ryan—get your game face on with these Teammates team logo decals from Fathead!