When I was in elementary/middle school, my family decided that the younger cousins didn’t see enough of each other. We had a large group of family that lived about an hour away. It was not always easy to plan time to visit and just gather. As a solution to this problem, Cousin Campouts were created.
The Cousin Campout was an annual event that rotated from house to house, depending on who hosted the event the year before. I remember participating in 3-4 of them.
Scavenger Hunts
Some variation of a Scavenger Hunt seemed to be a ‘Must Do’ for the weekend event.
I remember an early ‘Cousin Campout’ when we were all gathering at our house. We placed tents all over the yard and assembled a ton of food. Aunts and cousins were all over the place. It was great.
We were divided into a couple of teams, there were approximately 7 or 8 kids at the time, and we were given a list of items that we needed to try to find either at our house, or by walking the country roads and asking some of the neighbors. (Nowadays, this seems like it would be frowned upon, but back then we didn’t even think twice about it.)
I remember walking up Mr. Peck’s driveway about half a mile down the road, and finding him out working on one of his cars.
“Mr. Peck! We are doing a Scavenger Hunt! Do you have a hard-boiled egg, a dead mouse, or last Sunday’s newspaper?”
Mr. Peck rolled himself out from under his vehicle, scratched his head and smiled. “Let me go check the mousetrap. You may be in luck.”
In the end, we got our mouse and I’m thinking we also got the newspaper. We collected other items along the way as we walked up and down the dirt roads near my home. I can’t remember if we won or not, but I do remember the adventure.
Other years, Scavenger Hunts were conducted in vehicles, driven by one of the various aunts. I distinctly remember having to sing ‘Jingle Bells’ at a drive thru fast food place. Another item that year was to create an etching of a tombstone from a specific cemetery. Aunty Myra was in charge of the list that year. She definitely had a sense of humor with that type of thing.
Designing T-Shirts
Another ‘Must Do’ for Cousin Campout weekends was the designing of a T-Shirt. Usually the supplies would be arranged on tables and there would be a contest for best t-shirt design.
It would be mandatory to wear the t-shirts at some point in the weekend and the obligatory picture would be taken. I remember keeping the t-shirts in the bottom of my dresser and just collecting one from each year. They were not shirts that my sister or I wore to school, but they did hold special meaning for us.
From One Generation to the Next
At a certain point, the older cousins started to begin families of their own. We drifted away from having the initial group together and the tradition was continued with the next generation of children.
While I sometimes find myself missing those days, I can say with complete certainty that I’m also glad to be at the stage in my life where I am at now.
Goals for Today:
- Wipe Down the Cabinets in the Bathroom
- Work on Pinterest for an Hour
- Cook Tacos