Balcones Blog

All of the lastest news from camp during the summer and beyond.

How to Send Packages to Campers

It’s true campers love getting mail, but getting packages is another level. If you are able, please try and send at least one care package. It doesn’t need to be big, but it’s always received by your camper as a big, “I love you.” Boring important stuff out of the way first - Yes, camp receives packages from all major carriers. Camp Balcones Springs may be far from a strong cell signal, but FM 1431 is well-traveled by the FedEx, UPS, and the US Postal Service. You can send packages from Amazon. They will arrive, but a package is always... Read more.

How to Send Email to Camp (and what to write)

By Jimmy Miller CBS Alumni & Parent Read more.

Summer 2026 Theme Nights

One of the greatest parts of camp are our THEME NIGHTS!!! Start planning your costume for the theme nights below. Read more.

Why Kids Need to Unplug

In his book, The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt theorizes that we are “overprotecting children in the real world and underprotecting them online.” With anxiety and mental illness on the rise, Haidt recommends children need “a play-based childhood in the real world” to thrive. In short, parents are stunting their kids’ maturation by mistaking the physical safety of schedules and devices for immunity from harm. There. Article over. If you’re like me, this book was lobbed at you from every article, podcast, and social post (ironic) until I read it. Haidt’s work took me on an emotional journey from... Read more.

Camp Traditions: The Rituals That Make CBS, CBS Part 2

For about two thousand years, the global Church has followed the Liturgical Calendar, a structure for worship devised around the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter. While technically rooted in specific church traditions, the word “liturgical” works well in a broader sense to mean a “sacred” or “ritualized” calendar that governs daily life and worship. In that spirit, Camp Balcones Springs is structured around its own liturgical calendar, framed around PHUN. Campers anticipate camp traditions like Mission: Impossible and Rodeo Roundup, as if they were Easter or Christmas (and just like Easter, I am always surprised how Mission:Impossible floats... Read more.