Winnetka family keeps kids busy with creative Fun Camp in a Box

Growing up, Juliana Bozzo and her younger sisters were never bored. For that, they thank their mother.

“My mom's a family fun expert,” said Juliana Bozzo, 20, of her mother, Donna Bozzo, author of “What the Fun?!: 427 Simple Ways to Have Fantastic Family Fun” and “Fidget Busters: 50 Ways to Keep Kids Busy While You Get Things Done.”

“Every day we had a new activity or were going on a new adventure. She was creative with the activities she would plan,” Juliana Bozzo said.

Now, with summer camps either curtailed or canceled entirely in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Donna Bozzo is doing her best to help keep other kids entertained with her new venture, Fun Camp in a Box.

A kind of summer survival kit containing materials and instructions for about a dozen activities that range from games and crafts to science projects (including tips on how to make your own slime), the boxes “fill a need for those families looking for a way to keep kids happily busy,” Bozzo said.

Each $45 box contains materials and instructions for about a dozen activities that range from games and crafts to science projects, she said. Coming this month is a create-your-own board game.

Parents can use the activities to gauge their child's interests.

“Watch and see what they gravitate toward,” Donna Bozzo said. “If they can't put down the science experiment, that's great to know.”

“We're still trying to figure out how to send live tadpoles so kids can raise their own frogs,” said Bozzo, whose oldest daughters Juliana and Grace, 19, business and accounting majors at the University of South Carolina, are partners in the venture. The youngest, 17-year-old Ava, is a junior at New Trier Township High School in Winnetka.

“We immediately thought it was a good idea and wanted to hop on board ... It meets a demand that wasn't here before,” said Juliana Bozzo of the business, which took 48 hours from Donna Bozzo proposing the project until the website was up and the family was taking orders.

“The more things you have to keep kids entertained the better,” Juliana Bozzo said, adding, “I can't imagine how difficult to would be to have little ones during this time and keep them entertained.”

Content and activities change weekly, and there are separate boxes for ages 3 to 6 and ages 6 to 10. Orders placed by Wednesday are shipped on Friday so customers can get them by Monday, Donna Bozzo said.

Within weeks of the June 12 launch, production demands overwhelmed the living room of the family's Winnetka home. Currently, they run the business from a makeshift factory they've set up in the basement.

The real-world experience of starting and running a business has been invaluable, said Juliana Bozzo, who says it's given her insight into production and pricing.

“Right now we're doing the work ourselves,” she said. “We hope if the business grows we can hire out for making boxes and delivering packages.”

Whatever wrinkles arise, Bozzo and her girls are confident they can smooth them out.

“We can hone it as the process goes on,” Bozzo said.