I'll be honest, I sometimes experience palpable pangs of envy when my friends' children share their summer camp stories with me. You mean to tell me that while us grownups were toiling away at our day jobs and paying bills, you kiddos were learning handicrafts, huddling beneath the night sky with a glow-in-the-dark star map, and playing Capture the Flag?! No fair!
Apparently, I'm not the only one who feels this way. Adult summer camps are popping up all over the country...AND they serve beer! However, like most summer camps, they tend to be prohibitively expensive.
But fear not! You don't need to shell out $700 for a weekend of nostalgic summer fun. With the books below, a few good friends, and maybe even some adult beverages, you've got everything you need for a grownup summer camp in your own backyard!
Friendship Bracelets All Grown up
I remember being so in awe of this super cool older girl at camp who could crank out 2 or 3 gorgeous, ornate friendship bracelets in a single afternoon. My skills were restricted to the most basic of braids, and even those turned out a hopelessly tangled mess. But not anymore! With this book, you too can hone your bracelet prowess and finally be the coolest kid at camp.
Whenever I hear the words "tie-dye", I just picture the XXL men's t-shirt that I haphazardly wrapped in twine and tossed into a red dye bath for Arts & Crafts hour at Camp Arnold. The final product was a humongous monstrosity covered in irregular streaks of bright crimson, giving me the appearance of a teeny tiny Dexter, opens a new window. Hopefully, this book will help you avoid making the same mistakes, and you'll end up with a whole wardrobe of exquisite psychedelic garments instead of a gory-looking nightshirt.
There are very few occasions when one can bust out an acoustic guitar and start crooning old folk songs without being laughed out of a room, and this is one of them! Just looking over the list of songs in this book is getting me so excited: "House of the Rising Sun," "American Pie," "Scarborough Fair," and so many more. If your neighbors complain about the noise, just disarm them with the heavenly intonations of "Kumbaya" and invite them to join in!
Once night falls, it's time to turn your gaze to the cosmos and marvel at the wacky cast of characters brought to you by the ancient Greeks. Sidle up next to your crush and woo them with your impressive knowledge of constellations like Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and Hydra!
And what better way to end a busy day at camp than with a good old-fashioned round of spine-tingling ghost stories? Gather 'round a crackling fire (or play a video of one on your laptop, opens a new window) and try to outdo each other with your best Vincent Price impersonation!
Don't forget to save me a stovetop s'more!
