Summer camp brings to mind images of wilderness, being on the lake, campfires and, maybe even, fishing. For others, it might be Lindsay Lohan. 

But for Hasa, we thought of s’mores and friendship bracelets. These are the staples of our summer camp memories. So Hasa decided to try them out.

We browsed the internet looking for different ways we could eat s’mores and what people like to pair it with. We picked the most popular responses including the classic s’more of Hershey’s chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers as a baseline. But we also tried nutella and marshmallows

, bananas and chocolate, and mint, chocolate and marshemellows.

We didn’t have a campfire or stove to use but we had a microwave in the back so we used that. Apparently, you’re supposed to microwave the marshmallow for 15 seconds, but it expanded so much that we could barely eat it. We were all getting messy.

Each staff member got the chance to try each of the s’more combinations. We started with the classic s’more. You can’t go wrong with that one, everyone liked it. 10/10, no notes.

Then we had the mint chocolate one. This was a classic s’more with an Andes mint substituted for the Hershey’s chocolate. We were worried about this one because it had mint in it, but it was actually the most favored one at the end. 9/10, almost as good as the original. I also only microwaved the marshmallow for about seven to 10 seconds with this one and it turned out perfect. I guess it all just depends on how big the actual marshmallow is because we got the jumbo ones.

We also had a nutella s’more, it was a solid 8/10. There was a little too much chocolate, and the hasa girls aren’t big fans of very sweet stuff. 

Lastly we had banana s’mores. S’mores are unhealthy, bananas are healthy, so that cancels out. It was good but the banana was a bit warm because of the microwaved marshmallows and that threw us off. It was 8/10. 

While I made s’mores for everyone, they began to make their friendship bracelets. They began by choosing the colors of the embroidery floss. We used a rainbow pack with 136 different colors from Wal-Mart for under $11. I chose pink and green. The pack came with directions for different patterns and suggestions for color choices. 

There are many ways to start a friendship bracelet, depending on what pattern you’re doing. You begin by making a knot to secure it at the top. I barely make bracelets, so the easiest pattern for me is probably a braid. 

I had six strings to braid because three like a normal braid on hair would be too small. I struggled with six strands so it took me quite a while to finish it. 

There are people like Claire and Izzy who are just naturals at making bracelets. Unfortunately that’s not me.

This was a nice way to end the 2024-2025 school year. We had a lot of fun bonding with each other and getting to know each other a little better based on our tastebuds and also our creativity.