Heading off to Camp? You’ll need these 5 summer camp supplies.

Are your kids heading off to summer camp this year?  We know it’s hard to organize your kids summer camp supplies, but we have a few items that will help you (and keep you sane!).

Summer Camp Packing List Must Haves

1. Name Tags — the number one rule of summer camps? Label everything your kid owns. My mom labeled my underwear. Use Iron On Laundry Marking Tape for a quick solution, and Blank Sew In Labels that you can write your child’s name on if you’re feeling really possessive of that underwear.

2. Laundry Bags — these are a must-have for sleepover campers.  Manhattan Wardrobe Supply’s Roughneck Heavyweight Laundry bag will stand up to rough conditions, but consider something a bit cooler, like the beautiful and bold recycled rice bag laundry bins; you can help save the planet and support a charity (plus, they’re great for totes for groceries and other things if they make it home from camp).

2. RIT Dye:  What is your camp color?  Growing up, mine was purple, and everything had to be purple: T-shirts, socks, the aforementioned underwear.  The easiest way to make everything purple without scouring every shop in town?  RIT dye.  Most of what you’ll be packing for your kids will be cotton, which makes it even easier.  Find out your camp color, follow the directions — you can even do it in the washer— and you’re set with pounds of camp color t-shirts and socks, for just a few cents more than plain white and will save a ton over buying from the camp shop. Don’t forget to add labels after you dye the fabric., unless you like your labels to be purple too.

3. Shoe Laces: Though these often aren’t on summer camp packing lists, colored laces give your camper an extra bit of cool. We sell them in your camp’s colors– buy several extra pairs, so that when your child gets them muddy, or breaks them while hiking, or uses them to fish (or ties up their roommate, or whatever trouble they get into).

4. Stain sticks: these are essential for making sure that grass, mud, or I’m-not-sure-what (please let it be dirt) doesn’t stain any of your camper’s stuff.  Try Resolve Stain Stick— it’s big enough to last the whole summer and works on just about any stain your child could send home in the laundry bag. You might even put in two, and be sure to put a label (or write your kid’s name in Sharpie) on them so your child can keep track of this hot camp commodity.

5. Bug Spray: The ones made with weird chemicals are kind of scary, right?  Don’t worry — try Jao Patio Oil Moisture Mist instead of the chemicals.  It won’t irritate senstive kid skin, it smells good, and more than likely, fellow campers won’t steal it (since they won’t know what it is!).  It can be your kid’s secret.

What else do you need for camp? Tell us — and find it at Manhattan Wardrobe Supply!