Behind the Scenes: Designing Camp T-shirts (plus a survey!)

It’s time for another Behind the Scenes look at how the magic of camp gets made, and today’s topic is one we bet you’re invested in - camp t-shirts!

Over the last decade, we’ve grown to love giving away shirts for different events and occasions at all of our sessions. Not only is it a fun surprise in the moment (and brings guaranteed cheers!), but it gives our community a cool and comfy way to represent camp wherever they go. Many Greystone Girls will tell you their camp t-shirts are the first things they grab in their drawers all year long!

But how do we decide which t-shirts to make? That’s what we’re taking you behind the scenes of today!

Before we even get there though, one thing that is so important to us is making shirts that you will LOVE - and we need your feedback to do that! Fill out our quick survey to tell us about all of your t-shirt dreams - it will help us as we’re making shirt decisions for this summer.

1. Gather inspiration. Though camp keeps us young at heart, we’re feeling older and less cool every year, so paying attention to what our campers and staff are loving that year is HUGE. Starting right after the last summer ends, we keep our eyes peeled for designs we love, and that we see you wearing. It all goes into a big folder for us to look through when it comes time to start!
2. Narrow down which shirts we want to design. Because we usually do t-shirt giveaways around our big events, shirt designing and EP planning for the summer go hand in hand. We ask, “which Evening Programs this summer would be made THAT much more special if we gave out a shirt?” and plan our designs around those events. Of course, the thing that makes t-shirt giveaways so great is that we don’t do them for every event - only the biggest and the best get a shirt, and you never know when one is coming!
3. Work with our designers to edit, edit, and edit some more! Once we know the shirts we want to make, we send all of our ideas to our t-shirt company, and the fun part begins. We do LOTS (and lots!) of edits on each shirt, refining the fonts, colors, and designs until they’re just right - our designers are very patient! Lots of eyes on our team see each shirt to make sure they are perfect for YOU, our campers.
4. Order the final shirts and give them away to you! Once we know the designs are perfect, we compile a huge list of our campers’ shirt sizes (that’s why filling that t-shirt size form out is so important in the spring!), and put our big order in. From there we just wait for the BIG boxes of shirts to start to arrive. It feels like Christmas morning holding them for the first time and knowing how excited our campers will be!

At the end of the day, we love designing t-shirts because it’s not really about the shirts! It’s about the memories and moments that happen when you’re wearing them.

As silly as it might sound, these simple t-shirts provide the backdrop for the meaningful stuff at camp. They’re the first spark of surprise and delight that leads to an incredible event, and an even better session - one where you grow in the 4 Fold Way and make friendships that will last forever. THAT is why we care about t-shirts - that is the good stuff!

Now it’s your chance to tell us your hopes and dreams for t-shirts this summer - don’t hold back! Fill out this quick form to tell us your shirt preferences. You just might see them represented in a shirt or two this summer!