 JULY 30 • 2020 | 21

them camp fun at home this 
summer?’
” 
Leeb was actually involved in 
the business even before there 
was a business. “I have four 
grandchildren and since March 
I have created ‘
theme’
 boxes for 
them to enjoy,
” she said. “These 
boxes were dropped off each 
week so they could have fresh 
and new activities to do while 
quarantined inside their home. 
When the weather improved, I 
brought over the boxes and we 
had more interactive activities I 
created for us to enjoy together 
— socially distanced, outside.
” 
In May, Leeb and Landau 
blended their ideas and founded 
Camp In-A-Box.
Now that the official boxes 
are in play, Leeb’
s grandchildren 
have received the completed 
version but enjoyed being the 
‘
test kids.
’
“My mom and my aunt are 
so creative, and playing with 
kids and making something 
fun out of nothing is so natural 
for them,
” said Leeb’
s daughter, 
Jessica Triest of Oak Park. 
“When they come over to 
visit, I have to tell them when 
it’
s time to leave,
” she joked. “My 
mom’
s house is the best outing 
for my kids. It is half filled with 

toys from when I was a kid 
and she is constantly adding 
to them. She plays with kids 
for her job and knows how to 
engage them in different ways.
” 

UNEXPECTED BUSINESS
Debbie Steinberg’
s three 
boxes were purchased for her 
great-nieces in two different 
states. She shipped one to the 
5-year-old in Texas but made an 
in-person delivery to 6-year-old 
Haylie and 4-year-old Brooklyn 
Elson in Birmingham. 
“I knew the girls were home 
for the summer, not going to 
camp because of the corona-
virus, and I wanted to be able 
to bring them something fun 
and educational that they could 
spend their time on as an alter-
native to camp,
” said Steinberg 
of Huntington Woods.
“I actually went there just to 
drop them off, but I ended up 
staying for two hours. When 
they opened the boxes, they 
were so excited about finding 
so many creative things inside. 
They took out an arts and crafts 
project with crayons and glue 
and feathers first, and I ended 
up doing it with them.
” 
Steinberg was impressed that 
the boxes’
 activities were chosen 

Haylie and 
Brooklyn Elson are 
engrossed in an 
art activity.

to be enjoyed, at different levels, 
by children of various ages. “My 
nieces can do some of them by 
themselves, which is a bonus, 
and some with the help of an 
adult, which is a great connec-
tion for all of them.
”
Camp In-A-Box is headquar-
tered in Leeb’
s Orchard Lake 
home, with “offices” in her din-
ing room, living room and kitch-
en. “
At first we did all our prep 
work and assembly outside on 
the porch and patio as we kept 
our social distance,
” Leeb said. 
“
At night we would each type up 
ideas that we were brainstorming 
and come back together the next 
day to share our visions. We then 
‘
Shark Tanked’
 our individual 
ideas to my husband, Fred, our 
volunteer assembler.
”
The sisters now work both 
inside Leeb’
s house, in face 
masks, as well as individually in 
each of their homes.
“This is our first business 
together,
” said Leeb, who refers 
to the June 29 launch date as “the 
first day of camp.
”
“We share a common interest 
in children. We love to be cre-
ative and always thought it would 
be fun to do something together. 
We never imagined COVID 
would give us the opportunity 
to come up with this idea. But 
it did.
“Both of us have been working 
with children for decades,
” she 

said. “We have grown children 
and grandchildren. Debbie has 
endless camp ideas and I adapted 
some ideas from the COVID 
boxes I made for my grandchil-
dren.
”
The two will continue to work 
together, selling Camp In-A-Box 
as long as stock lasts, with a plan 
to debut a new and different box 
of fun in the fall. 
For the Chappells, the boxes 
they purchased are a jumping-off 
point for expanded activities, 
with many new ideas coming 
from Chad, a former camp direc-
tor, who coincidentally worked 
with Landau at Tamarack. In 
addition to taking guidance from 
suggestions in the boxes, they 
added a dining hall, theme days 
and camp away from home days, 
like on a lakefront visit.
“We are totally using this for 
everyday camp,
” Amanda said. 

“Our girls loved making treasure 
boxes and finding treasures in 
scavenger hunts. There is this 
sponge game that allows the girls 
to have fun in the water on hot 
days.
“Camp In-A-Box truly helped 
us make a great summer for 
our girls. We don’
t know what 
we would have done if it didn’
t 
arrive just when we needed it. 
Sending them to camp wasn’
t in 
the cards this summer. Bringing 
camp to them at home was a 
huge hit.
” 

Rosie and Issabella Chappell create a Tic-Tac-Toe game with Camp In-A-Box 
instructions and materials.

