Hey there, Campers!

Did you know that well over a hundred of our favorite celebrities have spent at least a summer or two at summer camp? I’ll bet you’re just about ready to camp out all night and party every day! Well, Gene Simmons was when he was your age!

That’s right! Today I’ll be telling you about the amazing Gene Simmons from Kiss who went to Surprise Lake Camp in Cold Spring, New York. Surprise Lake Camp (SLC) was founded in 1902 and seems to have frozen time in that spot since it first started. The site is beautiful, the people are good, and the program is great!

Look what it did for Gene Simmons—the popular rock star from the hairband era! Along with Kiss, Gene Simmons has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide! Few people know that Gene was actually born Chaim (pronounced Hi-um) Witz in 1949, Israel.

It wasn’t until he was eight-years-old that he, along with his mother, Florence, immigrated to Queens in New York City. As they both began to blend into the United States, Chaim had his name changed to Eugene Klein which later became Gene Simmons.

Before beginning his musical career, Gene went to summer camp (obviously) and had a number of jobs throughout the New York City area as assistant to an editor for Vogue Magazine as well as a sixth-grade instructor on the Upper West Side.

When Gene did get involved with his first band, he got very into it. Lynx, then renamed The Missing Links was Gene’s first band. It didn’t last very long. After that he formed The Long Island Sounds. In Community College, Gene joined a new band—Bullfrog Bheer. The band recorded a demo but never got much further than that.

In the early 70’s, Gene formed the rock band Wicked Lester with Paul Stanley which produced one album that never got released. Still unhappy with their band, Wicked Lester did not survive. But after that Gene and Paul Stanley set out to form the ultimate rock band.

After finding Peter Criss and Ace, Kiss was formed. A true rags to riches story, Gene was never afraid of a little hard work and persistence which ultimately led to one of the most popular rock bands of all time.

Thanks for reading, Campers! Till next time.

Hey there, Boys and Girls!

Today I want to talk to you about one of Everything Summer Camp’s coolest and, personally, my favorite product—LidSkinz. We like the idea of kids creatively expressing themselves as much as they can, so we’ve recently improved our LidSkinz designer tool so that when you personalize your own LidSkinz cover exclusive to your own camp trunk, the possibilities are limitless.

When it comes to trunk decorating LidSkinz from Everything Summer Camp are by far one of the coolest ways to get your trunk all dressed up for the summer camp season. We print the full color vinyl decal here in our graphics shop and then roll protective laminate over the LidSkinz. By the time we’re done with it the top of your camp trunk is more durable than paint!

So get excited about it! Sit down with our new and improved designer tool and express yourself! This is your chance to top your footlocker with our abundant collection of cool colors, fancy fonts, illustrious icons, big backgrounds, and personalized text. The possibilities are limitless!

Our shipping department then undoes the top hardware of your camp trunk and peels the non-stick backing of our LidSkinz material to carefully place it on the top lid of your camp trunk. We then ship you your camp trunk in the mail as usual but with a stunning graphic for a face!

Remember, if you’ve already purchased a C&N Footlocker from Everything Summer Camp last year—it’s okay! We’ll ship you your LidSkinz safely in the mail along with easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions so that you can apply the LidSkinz to your camp trunk by yourself (or maybe with your Mom and Dad).

So, slap some skin on your trunk this summer!

Hey, Summer Camp Fans!

As modest as we remain at Everything Summer Camp, it’s hard not to talk about what excellence we show in terms of our concept, production, and customer service. Today I want to talk specifically about the no drop shipping policy we have here at Everything Summer Camp.

Why don’t we do Drop Shipping? Because Everything Summer Camp cares about you sending your kid to camp on time. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

First of all, let me explain what Drop Shipping even is. Drop shipping is when a retailer (unlike Everything Summer Camp) sells an item that they don’t produce or keep in stock. The retailer instead transfers the customer’s order and shipment details to another company that actually produces and/or ships the goods directly to that customer then.

So I would imagine then, that it makes you feel much better to know that there’s companies out there who you can trust who don’t Drop Ship and hand over your order to someone else to finish off the job. We respect our customers too much to do that to them.

Everything Summer Camp NEVER Drop Ships. When you place an order at Everything Summer Camp, we either have it in stock or we make it ourselves. Your business with us stays between us—we never involve a “middle man” to complete your order!

That’s how we know you’ll receive your full order on time—because we’re in charge of it. We take full responsibility over it. Many camp outfitters rely on other companies to fulfill your order—they don’t have full control. Why place your trust in multiple companies and have to wait for multiple packages?

Everything Summer Camp is your reliable one stop online shop for anything and everything you might need at camp this summer. Place an order with us and we will make sure you receive everything at the same time, on time.

Hey, Camp Aficionados!

Ya know, we think we’re pretty cool here at Everything Summer Camp. Not that we’ve got big heads or anything, but we are a one stop shop for everything you might want throughout your summer camp stay. However, as cool as we may be, we can’t take all the credit.

That’s why I like to post about other amazing companies whose products can be found here at Everything Summer Camp. Some of them have rich histories and amazing stories. Today, I’d like to tell you about another great company with whom we work—let’s hear three cheers for Three Cheers for Girls!

You can find great summer camp accessories from Three Cheers for Girls right here at Everything Summer Camp like their innovative Lap Desk and a Three Cheers Autograph Pillowcase.

The story of Three Cheers for Girls really sort of starts on Broadway where Cinthia Russiyan—the founder of Three Cheers for Girls—used to be a costume designer for such classic Broadway plays as Cats and Tap Dance Kid! That’s pretty impressive.

Cinthia and her husband, a former Broadway stage manager, started up a company called General Awards, Inc., which became rather successful in manufacturing medals and trophies. And by 1996, Cinthia started Three Cheers as an extension to General Awards.

Three Cheers was not Three Cheers for Girls just yet. It wasn’t until 2002 that the company shifted its focus to a narrower market. They noticed that their best-selling products were ones that said BFF and Friends Forever—that kind of stuff. Now Three Cheers for Girls is targeted toward 7 to 12-year-old girls as they seem to be the niche that’s most interested in those types of items.

Since 2002, Three Cheers for Girls has enjoyed the steady growth they see from helping younger girls embrace their creativity and self-expression.

Till next time, Camp Fans!

On Not Documenting Every Moment

I had a surreal moment last summer. I’d been attending camps for 39 years, working at the same camp for 30 years, and writing about camps for nearly 20 years when I finally got the chance to drop off my own son at camp. The summer of 2011 was Dacha’s first two-week stay at overnight camp. The moment I had been looking forward to since a decade before I even had children had finally arrived.

My camp director friends had made all kinds of predictions about that day. “Your kid’s gonna flip out,” some of them guessed, “because there’s been so much build-up to this moment.” “You’re gonna lose your junk,” others speculated, “because you’ll be over-analyzing every second of what Dacha does.” A few also suggested, “You and Dacha are going to be fine. It’s the cabin leader I’m worried about. It’s not every day that the author of The Summer Camp Handbook drops his son off at camp.” Sheesh.

In reality, none of that came true. Dacha was exited to be a camper, having grown up on the property but not having been allowed to participate in anything except waterfront activities. And I stepped through the entire day as if I’d done it a million times (which I kinda had, at least from the point of view of the cabin leader). Surprisingly (or perhaps not), we had remembered to pack everything. Heck, I didn’t even linger to chat up Dacha’s cabin leader. Why should I have? I trained the guy myself.

But I did make one huge mistake. I busted out my flash video recorder and tried to capture the whole experience with megapixel fidelity. The result: I was a step removed from actually savoring the moment. I knew what was going on, but I was so intent on memorializing that half hour from main-lodge check-in to our final goodbye hug that I missed the experience of dropping my son off at camp. And watching the video is completely unsatisfactory. It’s like trying to enjoy a sunset on Skype.

I realize that only a few parents reading this month’s column are youth development professionals who will be dropping off their own flesh and blood at camp this summer. And even fewer of you reading this have written advice columns for parents about creating a successful camp experience for your children. But that doesn’t matter. We all have one thing in common: We love our children and we enjoy being part of their lives. ‘Nuf said.

For this reason, I urge you to keep your smart phone and all other electronics at home on opening day. I’ll allow you one posed photo with the counselor in front of the cabin, but that’s it. Honestly. Plan to spend opening day breathing in the fresh air, listening carefully to your son or daughter’s tone, observing the subtleties in his or her behavior, and interacting face-to-face, not through a lens. The emotional memory you will create that day by being present in the moment will be higher def than any flash video. On opening day, be a parent, not a producer.

Have a wonderful summer!

Dr. Christopher Thurber