100 Years of Experience: Packing & Labeling
This summer we are eager to welcome campers and staff back to Lake Delton! In addition to this awesome homecoming, we are also going to be celebrating our 100th summer! We publish a series of blogs annually to help our families prepare for camp. We understand that getting ready for camp can be stressful and at times overwhelming. But we have 100 years of experience to offer and want to share with you all the tips, tricks, and secrets to making getting ready for camp exciting and fun. In our blog series “100 Years of Experience ” we will be sharing our strategies and advice with you.
The topics vary year to year, but this one is always featured: labeling & packing. It’s the end of another spectacular session at Camp Chi. You’re back home, reminiscing on all the friends you made and new activities you tried. It truly was an unforgettable summer. Unforgettable … unforgettable … OH NO! Your favorite shirt! The red one with the blue stripes! You left it at camp! And where are your lucky socks? The mismatching striped ones with a hole in the big toe that you wore to all the big events! Oh no!
Camp memories may be unforgettable, but clothing is not. Sadly, when a session is ending and it’s busy at camp, they are easily forgotten. As seasoned staff, we’ve seen it happen too many times, and admittedly been there ourselves. But through all our experience at camp, we are now Certified Packing Pros, and we have some great tips on Packing and Labeling to help you avoid misplacing any belongings at camp.
Labeling
It may sound crazy, but you can never have too many labels! Labeling EVERY item you send to camp with your camper’s FIRST AND LAST NAME is the best way to help your camper keep track of their belongings. It’s also the easiest way to help ensure that any lost items are able to be identified and returned back to you. And when we say label every item, we mean label every item. All clothing (even socks, shoes, and underwear), accessories, bedding, water bottles, toiletries, towels, goggles, books, and anything else that you want to come back home at the end of the summer should be labelled.
Camp Chi is proud to partner with two different label companies, Mabel’s Labels & Label Daddy, to make sure that you get all the labels that you need. Both companies generously give back to help support Camp Chi. As an added bonus, Label Daddy even offers label with the Camp Chi logo on it!
Packing
Another great way to avoid any lost items at camp is to pack with your camper. When you do this, your camper can see what exactly is coming to camp with them, and will help them know where everything is when unpacking at camp. A great piece of advice we have is to send your camper with a list of everything you’ve packed. At the end of the session, your camper can reference the list to make sure they’re not forgetting anything. Over the years we’ve updated our packing list, which you can use as a reference and it may help you think of anything you’ve forgotten in the packing process.
We have a couple more tips for you with packing. This one may surprise all the campers out there, but folding your clothes actually makes packing easier! When clothes are folded, they fit into the duffle bags more easily, are more organized, and thus are easier to find. This saves you space and reduces clutter in your duffel bags, and the same goes for the shelves at camp! Once at camp, your camper can take the neat, folded piles of clothes and transfer them directly to their personal shelves. Looking for more ways to stay organized? May campers bring their belongings in large Ziploc bags or plastic bins, packed directly into the duffel bags (for example, putting all pairs of socks into a plastic bin). Once at camp, these bins can be put onto their shelves and keep their items organized all summer long. Each camper gets 3 shelves, and they each measure approximately 26″ wide, 11″ deep and 11.5” tall.
Hopefully you find our 100 Years of Experience: Packing & Labeling Tips useful. We just want to make sure that all those favorite t-shirts and lucky socks make it back home from camp. As always, we advise against packing anything expensive or cherished. If there is an item that would devastate you or your camper it were lost, it probably should not come to camp. By reading this, we deem you Packing Experts as well. Happy packing!