Riding the Wave of Decorations

So I know I've been posting a lot of decoration tips lately but I figured, I'd just ride the wave and keep giving you as many ideas as possible.

A few weeks ago I posted about this great website Oriental Trading and I wanted to share one of the things we purchased from their site to decorate our building. One of the things we got were these great Design Your Own Surfboards.

I thought it would be a great idea to have all the staff and kids design their own surf board, and then we could post them up on the walls. For $20 I was able to get 48 of them...which in my books is a great price per kid.

So I had all of the counsellors create a surf board with their camp name. They had a blast creating their own.

When we posted them on the wall they looked great! The certainly added to our beach theme and added colour to our white walls.

Later this week, I will post a picture of all the kids surfboards. They were so creative and had a blast making them.

So instead of signing off today as the Ditzy Day Camp Director, I thought I'd use my camp name...

See you later,

Freckles

Lunch Room Decor

Hello DCDs,

Today I thought I'd just post a quick blog on how to decorate your lunch room and some ideas to share with you on how you can do that. Posting friendly reminders and etiquette signs are one way to let the kids know what's expected. Also posting recycling/garbage disposal directions will help you create environmentally friendly campers and help you to have a happy janitor. You can create these signs with the Staff or have the campers make them. So without further a-du here are our lunch room signs.

A happy and full ditzy day camp director.

Making Your Own Decorations

So last week I posted some great ideas for decorating well on a budget and today I wanted to share some more DIY tips for decorating....making your own signs.

All you need to make these signs is

• Different colours of spray paint
• Large pieces of cardboard
• Letter stickers (which can be picked up at Staples) or black paint so you can paint your own letters
• Hot Glue Gun
• Scissors
• Left over, unwanted leis.

In order to make these signs I first started by spray painting the large pieces of cardboard. I just bursted the spray paint all over the board to create a quick design. It's okay if the colours bleed into each other or overlap...this will actually look better.

After the spray paint had finished drying I placed the large black stickers on for the letters. I got creative with the sizes and direction of the letters to make it more interesting.

After placing the letters I grabbed some left over leis and cut them apart so I would just have the flowers. Then I hot glued the flowers onto the cardboard in varying designs.

And there you have it. A simple but great looking (if I don't say so myself) way of decorating. And depending on how you do it, what colours you use, what words you write, and what you glue on it can really fit with your theme.

The colourful cardboard and leis worked perfectly for our beach bash theme.

Have fun....You'll begin to feel like a real artist in no time...even if you only become a graffiti artist....

The Graffiti Artist and Ditzy Day Camp Director

Saving Money Through Couponing

Have you ever seen that show on TLC called 'Extreme Couponing'? Well, yesterday I felt like the people on that show...even though my couponing wasn't nearly as extreme as theirs.

Just wanted to check in quickly and share another money saving tip: couponing.

A great way to save money on items you need is to look for coupons in the newspaper or even in store.

Well, yesterday David (Assistant Director) and I headed to the grocery store to pick up some items for our upcoming fundraiser this Sunday (info to come). Well in store we found some of that some of the items we needed were on sale - bonus right! Then we found coupons for a dollar off of those items too! It was awesome!

So yeah, we might only have saved 20 bucks with those coupons but it's still sweet.

Anywho, the ditzy day camp director here...encouraging you to go xtreme and go couponing....trust me, it's a rush!

Painted Decorations

So, I decided over the next two weeks to share some decorating tips with you. The tip I wanted to share with you today is that it's okay to go simple and old school with your decorations too.

One great way to save money on your decorations is to make some of them your self...or have your counsellors make them.

Today, I thought I'd share some painted decorations that we are using this year.

Just grab some bristle board and some tempera paint and create child friendly, colourful designs for your walls.

As I've mentioned in other posts, our theme this year is Beach Bash so I tried to create some beach summer friendly designs.

I know they are super simple but they are kid friendly and add a pop of colour to our white walls. Plus creating some of our designs will help us save money ... which can be used else where.

So grab a paint brush my fellow day camp directors and let inspiration hit you. Get in touch with your inner child and make simple painted designs to add to your walls.

Sincerely,

Your fellow terrible artist and ditzy day camp director

Buying in Bulk for the Tuck Shop

One of the things that has been a regular fixture of our camp for the past few years has been the tuck shop. Every week the kids can bring up to $2 to spend at the tuck shop on Friday. They love having an opportunity to decide what they want and spend their own money.

Plus its great for us because it's one less snack we have to plan.

Any who, last weekend my Assistant Director (David) and I needed to go buy the things for tuck shop.

So we headed over to the local Costco, filled up two shopping carts with sugar, and spend over $350 dollars on candy.

Now that might seem like a lot of money to spend on something like tuck but it isn't really....When you think about that, that is spread over 6 weeks of camp. So really we only spent about $58 dollars a week. Which isn't a lot when you think about it.

I think sometimes people are afraid to buy a lot of stuff in bulk but the truth is that it saves you money. And since being thrifty is a great trait for a day camp director to have....buying in bulk is a great tool for you. It's hard though...shelling out $350 all at one time but if you can afford it, it's the better way to buy things.

Plus, depending on how much you sell the items in your tuck shop for you might end up making a profit. Now I'm not suggesting you hike up the prices and charge kids 200% for things but for example...if you buy pop in bulk it might only cost you 70 cents per can. If you sold it in your shop for 75 cents you can find some extra money for camp that you can spend else where. And finding money is always fun!

So good luck saving money, buying in bulk, and getting weird looks at people who see you fill up two shopping carts all on candy....

The Ditzy Day Camp Director

One Stop Decoration Shop: Oriental Trading

So if there's one thing you need to be as a Day Camp Director...that's thrify. Quickly, you'll learn how there is never enough money for what you need to do, especially if you are a camp where you have a low camper registration fee or if you give out scholarships or bursaries to low income families (like we do).

So, since I know how important it is to be thrifty, I thought I'd share some of my tricks for saving money when it comes to decorating. You want your decorations to be epic but you want your budget on them to stay low....

Well I found this great website a while ago orientaltrading.com and they are the perfect one stop decoration shop for you! Their prices are great and they seem to have everything you could think of. Not only are they good for decorations but they are great for craft supplies and any other camp thing you need. This isn't an advertisement...it's me just honestly excited to share this gem with you.

I have ordered with them tons of times and I've loved my experience with them every time. On their website you can see customer review and ratings for each item, so you know exactly what you are getting and they have a great return policy if something you buy doesn't work or if you don't end up using it - and that's another way to save money (return it if you don't use it).

But back to decorations....

On their website they have a party themes and events section where you can find all your party essentials from party supplies and favours, tableware, decorations and even candy.

If you are looking for decorations they have everything from hanging decorations, wall decorations, and even banners. And a lot of their banners can come in pre designed ones or you can customize them!

When you are shopping for your decorations you can shop by category (party supplies and favours, party tableware or personalized products), shop by occasion and event (birthday party, baby shower, wedding, or popular occasions), or you can shop by theme.

They have tons of different themes too. Like: pirates, sports, western, animal, fiesta, luau, princess, bugs and butterflies, dinosaurs, monkeys, movie awards, safari, and MUCH MORE!

Not to mention, that they usually have some of the popular VBS or Sunday School themes if you are from a christian day camp or VBS. Like this year they have the Panda theme and the New York theme.

So head over to their site and enjoy their help and wonderful products.

Yours.

A very happy and productive feeling ditzy day camp director.

Theme Signs

So this week I've been crazy busy planning for camp, and staff training, and decorations and everything else there is to do but I wanted to continue posting some helpful day camp hints. So this week I thought I'd help with some decorating.

A cheep but great way to add to your overall decor, is room signs. You can either create them by hand (if your creative) or you can make them on your computer. I made mine on the computer...just because it was easier and quicker.

It's a great way to help people know what rooms are for what, add to your decorations, and let kids know which rooms they shouldn't go in. Also, it can be super fun to have cool names that are theme related to your theme for each room. Way cooler then craft room or chapel.

So here are our Beach Bash themed signs...enjoy.

Forever,

The Ditzy Day Camp Director

For our library, where the kids can just sit back, relax and read a book.

For the center of all activity, the gym, we called it the Marina.

Every Friday we hold a movie, so we decided to call it the drive in. I found this cute picture on google.

The Cook Out is our kitchen...the hub of snack making and baking time.

Instead of having a craft and activity room, we called it the sand castle.

Our staff room is known as the life guard station, because no swimmers (kids) can come in.

Our chapel is known as the Beach.

The lunch room...the Wave Cafe.

And the restricted rooms are known as 'No Life Guard on Duty' areas.

I'd love to see what signs and room names you come up with!

T-Shirt Tie Dye

So I've been posting about t-shirts for the past few days and I thought I'd give you one more fun idea to make unique camper shirts - tie dye.

Yep, I said it...tie dye. As funny as it sounds, tie dye looks awesome for camper shirts and it's super fun and easy.

Why not just get plain white shirts with black printing for all your campers...trust me it will save you a ton of money! Then let the kids have a tie dye party!

I saw one camp last summer who had done this and it was an awesome idea! Firstly their kids looked incredibly adorable and they stood out like crazy! No need to fight against other camps who all have the same colour shirts as you...now you can be unique and have fun doing it.

The kids have a blast making their own shirt and they each get to be different!

Plus this works for any age!

So have fun my hippie day camp directors. Make camp shirts or just do some tie dye arts and crafts this summer.

Yours,

The hippie ditzy day camp director ME

Camp T-Shirts

So one thing I highly suggest you do for you day camp is to get t-shirts. Not only is it a good take away for the kids at the end of the week it's super helpful in other ways too!

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.

Promotion: OLD SCHOOL Sandwich Board

So, like I said earlier, promotion is a key element of any day camp director's job. It's super important to tell people who you are and where you are.

And although there are many super high tech methods of advertising and promoting your camp there is a simpler, cheaper method that is a nice addition to your promotional program - the Sandwich Board. Yep, I said it! Two pieces of wood stuck together with details about your camp. And no, you don't have to have someone wear it .... you can just have it sitting on the corner of your block. It's great for the cars driving by to know that there is a day camp in that area and if you are in a high trafficked area that sign can get a lot of looks. It's really just one more reminder that your camp is there.

NOTE: I definitely don't suggest that this is your only promotional tool. The sandwich board should for sure be done in conjunction with other tools!

Now to having the right kind of sandwich board. This year I went into storage to pull out the board they've been using for years, and this is what I found....

Gross isn't it? It's boring. It's blah. There is nothing eye catching about it...let's be honest it stinks. Now the guys around here thought it looked fine and I should just put it up...but being the awesome ditzy day camp director that I am I knew that there was something I could do to brighten this thing up.

So pull off all the stickers, clean it off, give it a fresh coat of paint, cut out some stencils, add some spray paint and some fresh stickers and what you're left with is....

Now doesn't that look 100% better! I love what we ended up with, and I think it looks great. Adding colour helps to make it more eye catching. I think we will get a lot more looks now.

So I hope you can find someone who can hinge together two boards for you and then add some bling and you'll have yourself a delightfully 'old school' but new sandwich board.

The Ditzy Day Camp Director

How to: Create a Website (if you don't have iWeb)

So don't fret dears without a Mac, I didn't forget about you. If you have a PC and you're interested in creating your own day camp website by yourself here is a website that could help.

http://www.weebly.com/

I have used this one before and it is super easy and free. It's not as easy as say iWeb on the Mac but it the same premise of drag and drop. There are many templates and content elements that you can easily re-arange. One of the great features is that it all done online so you can use a Mac or a PC and you can do it at any computer anywhere. Another great thing about it is that hosting is included (you won't have to pay for a domain host).

Now the one downfall of weebly is if you use their hosting services you're email will end with .weebly.com. So for example it would be campfun.weebly.com. If you don't care about that, then it's no problem. If you don't want it to end with the .weebly part you can use your own domain hosting but I'm pretty sure you'd have to pay for that.

But it really is a great source and super easy to use. Head over to weebly.com and check it out.