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October 2021: Spooky Season -Evening Activities, Themes, & Spirit at Camp

It’s October – pumpkin spice, changing leaves, and Halloween! Halloween is more than just dressing up, watching Hocus Pocus (or your favorite Halloween movie – mine is undoubtedly Hocus Pocus), and candy. Dressing up for Halloween is all about expressing yourself and creativity. Costumes can be home-made or store-bought; pop-culture relevance or classic costumes. Halloween allows anyone to be anyone else for one day.

Camp and Halloween are very similar – in that you can really be anyone you want. At Wekeela, the evening activity on every July 31st is Halloween, a chance for the Seniors to put on a Haunted House and for the campers and staff to dress up.  It’s always wonderful to see the campers and staff’s creativity. The costumes and make-up are always great, but the spirit is always off the charts. At Wekeela, Halloween is a great evening activity – but Wekeela Evening Activities are very different than other summer camps – the following list can be seen as some of the most popular activities with specific themes & their explanations:

Neon Dance

– The Neon Dance theme begins at Dinner, when all campers & staff who want to participate will wear their brightest Neon. Typically, the staff DJ the event and set up the Performing Arts building with lights and glow lamps to create a fun ambience. and make-up are always great, but the spirit is always off the charts.

July 4th Fireworks & Luau – Every Independence Day, campers and staff typically spend the day dressed up in Red, White, & Blue and come to Fireworks in a nicer outfit, but of course, that is optional.

Bear Hunt

One of the best activities at Wekeela, Bear Hunt is a camp-wide scavenger hunt in which staff will dress as

different “bears” and hide around camp. These bears may be classics like Black, Brown, Koala, & Grizzly which are harder to find, and the staff will wear the colors of those types of bears or may be fun allusions to bear references such as Teddy Roosevelt (USA Bear), The Chicago Bears (Football Challenge), Chicago Cubs (Baseball challenge),  Boston Bruins (Hockey Challenge), or Gummy Bears (Candy). Bear Hunt is simply amazing.

Gladiator – Another Wekeela Classic, Gladiator is a contest where the entire camp competes to “Conquer Camp”. This past summer, a new spin on Gladiator pitted the two warring nations of Athens & Sparta against one another. By doing this, the camp was divided into the two nations – and into Red or Blue. The ultimate competition was to overtake the other team.

Humans v. Zombies – Essentially, a giant game of tag, Humans v. Zombies begins with one camper who starts as a Zombie, face painted and ready to get all the humans (everyone else). As the zombies run around and tag the humans, more and more zombies suddenly outnumber the humans. The game ends after a certain amount of time and the remaining humans are winners.

Some other evening activities where there may be a theme or camper’s will dress up are: Marvel Contest of Champions, The White-out Dance, Casino Night, Lobster Bake/Big Chill, Olympics, Sandcastles, & Prom. 

Theme days, special events, and evening activities are a trio of unique experiences that Wekeela has to offer. Some of the following are the list of special theme days that Wekeela has during both Staff Training & the camp season:

Tie-Dye Tuesday – As the name implies, on Tuesdays, campers and staff are encouraged to wear their favorite tie-dye shirt.

Staff Week ‘School Spirit Day’ – Typically during our staff training, School Day gives the staff and opportunity to represent their college/university/high school and bring their own personalization to training.

USA v. World – our annual staff soccer game where staff from the United States take on staff from around the world, campers usually dress in their home countries’ colors

Theme Day Wekeela Day Activities like Pirate Day, Pokemon, or Harry Potter Day – Sometimes, Wekeela days will take on a special theme themselves. Fun day long days/competitions like Pirate Day or Harry Potter Day will transform Wekeela into different Pirate Clans, Harry Potter house or creatures, or Pokemon. These are great days that not only show the camp community’s incredible spirit, but also allows the campers & staff to be creative and find a make-shift costume for an entire day.  

Just like Halloween, on a theme day – or really any day at camp – no one is going to judge you for dressing a little bit differently. Camp Wekeela is proud to cultivate an environment where campers cheer each other on – not break each other day. Theme days and events like Halloween allow campers and staff to feel a strong sense of community and spirit. Also, theme days allow for campers to share and learn about giving to others – for example, if one camper doesn’t have the Tie-Dye shirt, another camper may lend them theirs. 

And of course, we cannot write about spirit and themes without touching on the big events of College Weekend & Color War! College Weekend, which takes place during our First Session, divides camp into 4 different teams (colleges/universities) that compete in a weekend’s long competition. Color War, which takes place in our Second Session, divides Wekeela into two teams (Green & White) and they compete in a four-day competition. Both events are incredible, fun, and full of spirit, just see the photos below!

You can also watch our videos on youtube for Color War 2021. 

We hope you have a wonderful October and a very happy Halloween – never be afraid to be yourself and have a great time!