The Summer Camp Essentials!

Hey y'all! Welcome to my first official blog post! I am so excited to have you here to follow my travel experience this summer!

This first blog post is for all you summer camp counsellors - I know how stressful it is trying to pack, especially when its your first summer - so here I've created a Summer Camp Essentials Guide to help lighten the load of your stress (but not your suitcase - haha wow great joke)!

WATER BOTTLE:

As I always say "a hydrated counsellor is a happy counsellor"! Of course for your health we should be drinking 8 cups of water a day - but at camp this is FOR SURE heightened. At my camp, it is important that counsellors and campers all carry around a water bottle due to the insane 100 degree heat we reach in Ohio. We even created a game where a counsellor will shout "H2" and the campers shout back "O YEAH!" and everyone around HAS to take a drink of their water.

I never quite understood how important staying hydrated was until I ended up in the health cabin due to dehydration and heat exhaustion (so take it from me, you'll be needing to take a water bottle to camp)!

The best water bottle I have found has to be this chillys one. Not only does it have the best print on it - but the bottle itself keeps cold liquid cold for up to 24 hours and hot liquid warm for up to 12 hours.

Perfect! Even when you're sitting out in the sun with your water bottle, it'll still be refreshingly icy cold!

Check out https://www.chillysbottles.com/bottles/ to see if there is a water bottle for you!

BUMBAG

Now you might be thinking, "why a bumbag Amz? Why not an actual backpack?" These are good questions to ask, but personally I prefer clipping my bumbag around my waist as opposed to heaving around a backpack all day.

The bumbag is perfect size to store all of the essentials like:

- Suncream

- Bugspray

- Chapstick

- Weekly Schedule

Yes, the bumbag looks small, but don't underestimate the power of what you can fit into it. Also notice how I utilised the strap for my camp walkie and the zips for my unfinished friendship bracelets!

100% would recommend taking yourself a bumbag this summer and saving yourself the backache :)!

CROCS

Ugh lame!! Did she say crocs? YES, YES I DID. I am crocs enthusiast especially come camp time. All you have to do is wake up in the morning and stick your feet into those CLOUDS OF COMFORT! No need to worry about socks getting wet on the grasses morning dew. Now, I know its not fashion, but don't doubt the power of the camp croc - you'll be top tier fashion expert at camp with these!

WATCH

We're all so used to having our phones available to us throughout the year, so when you come to camp naturally you'd assume that you'll have it with you, however you are mistaken. Most camp directors prefer that you didn't have your phone out in front of campers - so getting a sturdy little watch should be on your list.

I picked up a Casio watch from Argos in Summer 2017 and it is still running to this day and it has not been treated lightly - its survived colour wars, me being flung into the pool and getting accidentally hit off the floor. I'd highly recommend picking up a basic watch you can wear throughout the summer.

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9073320 <-- this is the link to the watch I bought for camp, check it out and we can be matching!

NAIL CLIPPERS

GROOOOOOOOOSS! But, I bet you never thought about including those bad boys in your toiletries list! Don't worry, I got you covered - head down to your local B&M or Home Bargains to pick up a pair, so that any raggedy nails can be dealt with quickly and efficiently at camp!

(I promise this is the only gross thing I am including in the blog)

FLANNEL

Girl Scout Camp is NOTORIOUS for flannel wearing counsellors. Yes, I have bought into the hype and now own 6 of them. Most days at camp you want to dress comfortably because of all the activities you'll be getting up to, well let me tell you something!! There is nothing more comfortable than shoving a flannel on over top of what you're wearing - don't believe me? Buy one and see for yourself!

Goodwill and any thrift shops in America are the key for finding the best flannels

FLAG OF YOUR COUNTRY

I for one am proud to be Scottish and I'm not afraid to flaunt my flag. American campers LOVE hearing where you come from and they also LOVE seeing your flag, your money and any other things that are native to your country. I'd recommend buying a flag - you can wear it as a cape, you can hang it in your cabin or you can even sneakily put it up the flagpole, but show your nationality off! Be proud to show the campers who you are and where you come from :)

Thanks for tuning into my Summer Camp Essentials Guide - I hope this help you with packing for the summer! I had a lot of fun making this post and would love to make more like it - let me know what you want to see and i'll be happy to help out!

Have a fun, fresh and amazing summer

xo Amz