T-Shirts are a great promotional tool. When kids wear them throughout the year (which they will - because they love camp so much) they'll tell their friends about camp and then their friends will want to come to camp and we all know word of mouth is the greatest promotional tool.
Camp shirts are also a protection thing. On off site trips shirts help you see all your campers easier and it helps them see you. You have no idea how crazy the zoo, the science center, the water park etc can be unless you've been there. And from one Ditzy Day Camp Director to another having shirts will make your life 100x easier.
Camp shirts also show the parents you care....it's a tangible way to see the money they pay for camp in action.
So how do you go about making these shirts? Well, I'm glad you asked! I've done camp shirts in three different ways. Although this post may be long, I hope it might be helpful in helping you get the best camp shirts ever!
1. So the cheapest and probably easiest way to have camp shirts if you have a small camp is iron ons. Go to Walmart or Staples or some office supply store and they probably have Iron On sheets. You create the design on your computer, print it off on the sheet, and then iron on the image to the shirt. Benefits: it's cheaper, easier, and completely in your control. Downfalls: it looks cheeper, it's a lot of work if you have a large camp (anything 20 plus), and the iron on's don't usually last as long.
2. So here is the second T-Shirt solution I've tried...find someone in your church or a friend who does graphic design and have them design the shirt, and then send it to one of the 1000 t-shirt companies out there to have them print them off. Now if you know someone who is a designer it will look amazing and they probably have photo shop and can do it in photo shop and save it like that - which is most likely the format the printers want it on. If you don't have experience and try to do it...it usually doesn't end up looking that professional and can take a lot of your time. Benefits: it looks better then iron ons, you have a designer who will hopefully do a good job, and you have a t-shirt company that makes them for you and they probably have more selection. Downfalls: If you don't have a designer this option is harder and you don't get to see what the shirt looks like until it's done.
3. And although both of the options above are great solutions this is by far the greatest solution I've found to the Camp T-Shirt dilemma.... customink.com. Custom ink is this great website/company where you design the t-shirts online on their custom designer, send it to them and they print it off. The outcome always looks great! Benefits: it looks great, it's super easy to use, they are dependable (myself and many of my friends have used it with great results), they are helpful and friendly, and you get to see the t-shirts before they come. Downfalls: I actually can't think of any. :)
So tomorrow I'll post a how to on customink.com/canada or customink.com.
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