5.) Space is limited at camp! While your child may have their own room, closet and bathroom at home, at camp they are going to have to share these spaces. Your child will be living in a bunk with several other campers, as well as  several counselors.

4.) Required Items vs. Optional Items! There are going to be some items that are absolutely required, and you don’t want to be leaving those out of your child’s trunks. Uniformed Camp logoed T-shirts for specific events during camp are usually required. Optional items are generally items that are provided by camp, but some campers prefer to bring their own equipment such as lacrosse helmets.

3.) You don’t want to over pack! You know how when you go on vacation, you always seem to have more things to put fit in your suitcase than when you arrived. Well the same thing happens at camp! You want to be sure to leave a little room in those camp trunks for the end of the summer, so all of their projects & souvenirs from trips can make it home safely.

2.) Labels, Labels, Labels! There are A LOT of kids at camp, and a lot kids bring very similar, if not the same items. This is why everything brought to camp MUST be labeled. We know that you don’t want your child to lose anything at camp and this is the best way to prevent that from happening.

1.) Check what items are not permitted in camp! You want to be sure your camper doesn’t bring any items that are not allowed in camp. Along with what to pack, your packing list normally will have a list of prohibited items that should not come to camp with your child.

The post Top 5 Reasons to Pack According to the Packing List appeared first on Camp Weequahic.

Parents may be a bit mystified, for example, when they’re handed a pillowcase, blanket, towel, etc. that campers have conveniently kept out of the laundry basket for the past several months because it “smells like camp.” For campers, this is just the release of one summer as part of the final preparation stages for the next. For parents, it’s a good reason not to send the good pillowcases to camp.

The amount of times the word camp finds its words into a conversation—and sometimes even a single sentence—steadily starts to rise again.  Maybe there is justsomething about seeing green, or maybe it’s the warmer days. Whatever the motivating factor, after a graduating dipping off during the coldest winter months, with the arrival of spring comes the re-integration of camp lingo into everyday speech. Parents need not become frustrated, children are usually happy to translate until someone gets around to writing that all important Camp Dictionary for Parents Who Want to Know What Their Campers Are Saying.

Some campers measure the time left until camp by the amount of episodes remaining before the season finale of their favorite television shows and then the number of weeknights they have to endure with nothing on television but reruns to watch until camp starts. Still, others prefer the exam approach and countdown their time until camp by the number of tests remaining in the school year. (Note: Some counselors use both of these approaches as well.)

Clever Apple users countdown with SIRI and hold daily conversations with her about camp. Others like to plan ahead even further into the summer by making out their Visiting Day snack lists, just in case they get too busy to do so after they get to camp. Countdowns are rarely a matter of just plain counting down when it comes to camp. Like camp itself, they’re full of ritual and meaning.

The post Countdowns and Stuff appeared first on Camp Weequahic.

Even though we’ve been here for a few weeks now, making a few tweaks to the campus as well as meeting and getting to know our staff while preparing them to meet our campers, the time has flown…until now.  Now that we’re down to those last TWO DAYS before the start of camp, it seems like the clock has stopped again.  We’re ready.  The staff is ready.  The campus is ready.  Now all we need is our campers!  And so we wait…We wish we had a magic button that we could  press that would speed up time to Saturday and then press it again to slow the summer down once all of our campers have arrived.

TWO. MORE. DAYS!

The post TWO. MORE. DAYS! appeared first on Camp Weequahic.

The Basics:
1. Have you reviewed the packing list and placed your order from Cloz? While it may still seem like a long time from now, the start of camp will be here before you know it and thousands of families will be ordering from them over the coming weeks. Please make sure to get your order in soon.
2. Have you scheduled your baggage pickup with Camp Trucking yet? They provide a fantastic service the picks up your camper’s bags from your home and delivers them to camp so that we can unpack them to make that first day so much more fun. Please go to their website to register today.

3. Have you scheduled your child’s pre-camp health check up yet? We must have an up to date health form signed by your child’s doctor before she or he can join camp.
4. Finally, have you had a chance to look through our parent handbook and completed the requested forms? The majority are due on May 7th. Thank you for working on them promptly. You can find the forms in your My Camp Manager account.

OK, so those are the basics. Let’s get into more weighty matters:

I know many campers (and their parents) are getting really excited and slightly nervous about the first day of camp. Both feelings are completely normal and expected! While it is a big deal to go to camp, we will do everything we can to provide both of you with an incredible experience from start to finish.

If you have a question, please call us and ask! Whether its about the size of the sheets you should send or the difference between wakeboarding and water skiing, please call. We want to help and are happy to do so at any time.

Should children be getting a little nervous about missing home, I suggest parents acknowledge the feeling and then remind them of all the fun they are going to have at camp this summer. With over sixty activities, an incredibly fun (and safe) staff, and so many like minded campers, your child will not only make a bunch of new friends but come home feeling it was the best summer ever!

We will continue to be in touch over the coming weeks with more information about camp to help you and your family prepare for an incredible summer. Please keep an eye out for emails as well as notices on our blog and Facebook page.

Can’t wait for camp,

Cole Kelly
Director

The post Preparing for Camp appeared first on Camp Weequahic.