My older son had his first experience at sleepaway camp last week—5 nights, at a camp I visited for over ten years in a row myself. I know the witchiest take on camp would have been to send him off and enjoy having 50% less kid in the house for a few days and not think of him at all, but I wanted to send him a care package. I remembered the excitement of hearing you had mail at camp—the anticipation of getting the package after lunch, of opening it, looking through the new stuff, and the satisfying feeling of getting things your camp friends also wanted to look at (my witchy friend Kate and I, still friends, bonded over Archie comics my mom sent me.)
Stickers and a deck of cards, 100%. I was such a little cardshark at camp. And maybe still have a foot locker covered in awesome stickers. But also, maybe an address book? That is such an old fashioned thing but writing letters to camp friends was one of the best things ever in the 90s, and honestly I don’t want my kid giving out my phone number to randos.
Also, clear rules about sharing. So your kid doesn’t get a power trip like my bunk mate and decide that the way to get one of her Lion King trading cards was to kiss the outhouse seat. 8 year olds are the worst.
Oh man my time at sleepaway camp as a tween camper and then counselor constitutes some of my all time favorite memories. Maybe the only thing I have FOMO about by not having kids is not getting to send them to camp. And we weren't supposed to get candy either but one girl in my cabin's mom sent her a huge cardboard box of Hostess goodies (Swiss cake rolls, starcrunches, etc) and it was the fuckin' best.
I know this is a long shot but if there’s any witches in Italy or even in the close to Italy parts of Austria, Slovenia or Croatia I’d love to get in touch.
The perfect care package by the perfect mother
Stickers and a deck of cards, 100%. I was such a little cardshark at camp. And maybe still have a foot locker covered in awesome stickers. But also, maybe an address book? That is such an old fashioned thing but writing letters to camp friends was one of the best things ever in the 90s, and honestly I don’t want my kid giving out my phone number to randos.
Also, clear rules about sharing. So your kid doesn’t get a power trip like my bunk mate and decide that the way to get one of her Lion King trading cards was to kiss the outhouse seat. 8 year olds are the worst.
Oh man my time at sleepaway camp as a tween camper and then counselor constitutes some of my all time favorite memories. Maybe the only thing I have FOMO about by not having kids is not getting to send them to camp. And we weren't supposed to get candy either but one girl in my cabin's mom sent her a huge cardboard box of Hostess goodies (Swiss cake rolls, starcrunches, etc) and it was the fuckin' best.
I know this is a long shot but if there’s any witches in Italy or even in the close to Italy parts of Austria, Slovenia or Croatia I’d love to get in touch.