LITTLE FLOWER CAMP THEME – 2025!

Time to plan for Little Flower camp 2025!

My camp experience growing up, for the most part, was done with my family. I am the second youngest of 10, and grew up in the middle of the Finger Lakes area of New York State. My Dad loved camping though I’m not quite sure of my mother’s opinion. She went along and had fun but I’m not sure she loved it as my Dad did.

Most often, our camping would take place at Stony Brook, the New York State Park just few miles outside town. My father could drive into town for work during the day while my Mom held down the campsite. My siblings and I roamed, hiked and swam throughout both the upper and lower park. We read books, built dams in the rivers and found summer friends. My Dad returned each evening, we had dinner around the campfire and ended every evening singing our favorite camp songs. It was truly idyllic.

Other summers, we would pack up the station wagon, tie all of our gear to the top, and head out to explore the Adirondack Mountains. We would settle into one of the lakes for a few days and then pull up stakes and head out to another. Little Tupper Lake, Blue Mountain Lake, and Lake George come to mind.

I also have fond memories in elementary school of single day camps run either by 4H or the Girl Scouts when we piled into school buses for trips out of town to one of the many campgrounds. We made sit-upons, and plastic lanyard keychains, we learned new games and songs and ate around a daytime campfire. I also always got bad case of poison ivy but had a lot of fun with my friends.

In high school, I became a camp counselor for a sleep away camp run by 4H off Canandaigua Lake. Those were summers during college are full of memories that still make me laugh out loud.

More recently, I have really enjoyed our very own Little Flowers Camps! These have taken place in Maryland, Virginia, and Minnesota but most frequently in Kentucky. We have had themes focusing on our Blessed Mother, celebrating the Year for St. Joseph, the 100th anniversary of Fatima, Feminine Genius, God’s Little Artists and more.

Each of these camps have always given you the option to have a camp right in your back yard or parish. We have materials available including the badges, craft ideas, food suggestions and on and on.

This year? Well, there will be no sleep away camp this summer but we are still planning a camp for you!

Over the next few days, I will be posting blogs about our plans for this year’s camp theme. We hope you might consider this for your family, maybe with some friends or even with your club.

Our theme? We went back and forth. We are in the midst of the Year of Hope as announced by Pope Francis. And then, Pope Francis, who had been ill unexpectedly passed away. After his funeral, within a conclave watched by the world a new pope was announced. History was made as we now have Pope Leo XIV; our first American born Pope! Wow!

It became clear we would weave these wonderful moments in time together – a year of hope and a new pope. So, our theme this year?

LITTLE FLOWERS CAMP 2025!

HOPE FOR THE CHURCH!

We have four badge suggestions (you pick three) for Little Flower Camp 2025 to have the girls work on during the camp you plan. They can be woven into a camp experience as well as the Year of Hope and a celebration of our new Pope.

-Outdoor Adventure Badge
-American Catholic History Badge
-Computers – St. Isidore
-Missions – St. Francis Xavier.

The camp specifics will be decided on by you, your space, time and campers. Our Camp Manual will be provided giving you the information you need to plan a single day camp or a sleepover one.

We hope you will consider giving yourself and your children their own camp memories for Little Flower Camp 2025! We HOPE you give it a go!