Today on the Camp Balcones Springs blog, we’re highlighting Friday night’s Men’s Dinner event and the corresponding Girls’ Cookout & Paint Wars!
After activities ended on Friday, boy campers gathered at the front of camp for one of our most epic camp traditions – Men’s Dinner! Boys camp began the evening by eating sausage, turkey legs, and crusty bread according to the following three rules: 1) No utensils, 2) Shirts optional, and 3) Most importantly, no girls allowed! After clearing the tables and having a small food fight, the night was continued with a full-camp capture the flag game. The boys were divided into their team comp teams, Rough Riders versus Texas Rangers to compete. After cleaning up, boy campers came together to watch a movie and enjoyed snacks of chicken wings and mozzarella sticks – if they had any room leftover from dinner!
Just as boy campers partake in Boys’ Cookout and Paint Wars during Women’s Dinner, girl campers do the same on the evening of Men’s Dinner, so Friday was an epic evening of sorts, beginning with** Girl’s Paint Wars!** Girl campers and counselors gathered at the paintball site in our camp woods to play a paint-filled rendition of Capture the Flag. Work Crew girl campers (high school girls) played a special role and got to tag competitors with noodles of paint, while all of the girls were equipped with paint-filled sponges they could use to defend their respective team flags. After an exhilarating battle, the Silver Spurs, led by Avery McElvaney of Jordan cabin, captured the Lonestar flag to bring home the win!
All staff and campers, now themselves covered in paint, jumped into Lake Ted for a refreshing evening swim. Girl campers then prepared hotdogs, pizza pita pockets, and S’mores. After swimming and dinner had come to a close, we held our famous Chili Cook-Off event. During this annual tradition, each cabin competes to prepare the best chili (put to a peer-review test conducted by our Leadership and full-time staff members). Cabins are given the basics for a chili dish and are also able to select up to seven ingredients to add uniqueness and flavor to their recipes. Extra ingredients range from diced garlic and onion to Skittles and Dr. Pepper – and you’d be surprised just how well some of the stranger ingredients work out! Finally, as the chili is simmering, each cabin creates and presents their own skit to the Leadership review panel to introduce their unique chili recipe before tasting. The Chili Cook-Off is just one of the many Camp Balcones Springs traditions that makes us one of the most beloved summer camps for girls near Austin, Texas!