Bring the outdoors in with a fun camping themed party. Winter can be a hard time of year to celebrate a birthday party especially for those who are outdoor-fanatics. For my nature-loving boy, we threw an indoor camping party. So grab your camping gear and prepare for a night they won’t soon forget.
TENT PARTY INVITE
Since the party was focused around a sleepover in a tent, I knew this invite shaped like a tent would be perfect. I purchased my printables from Valerie Pullam on Etsy. Just print and assemble. Super easy.
BACK TO NATURE DECORATIONS
When I envisioned this birthday party, I saw rustic decorations like trees, lanterns, tin cans, and other items found at a campsite. Most of the party supplies came from Birthday Express in the Let’s Go Camping theme. All the printables were made by Valerie Pullam. Here is a more complete list of party supplies.
- Personalized Birthday Banner – Birthday Express
- Woods Wall Decal – Oriental Trading
- Fake Pillow Fire – Crate & Kids
- Lightshow Projection String Lights – Lowe’s Seasonal
- Trees – Hobby Lobby Seasonal
- Lanterns – Walmart
- Birch Branch – Hobby Lobby
- Plates/Cups/Balloons – Birthday Express
- Canteens – Oriental Trading
- Burlap and Canvas Cloth- Joann’s
- Iron Skillet – Rural King
- Tackle Box – Amazon
- Wooden Crate – Michaels
CAMPING FOOD
What is a camping party without the right food? Everything from hotdogs to s’mores are all the must haves. So we put together the perfect menu for our party guests.
- Hotdogs
- Campfire Flames – Cheetos
- Dirt Cup – Dirt pudding with gummi worms
- Sticks N’ Dip – carrots and ranch dip
- Acorns – made from mini peanut butter ritz crackers and Hershey kisses
- Kindling – chocolate dipped pretzel rods
- Berry Pickins – Strawberries
- S’more Bites – skillet s’mores
- Fish Bait – Albansese gummi worms
- Camping Birthday Cake and Cupcakes – Halls Takes the Cake
CRAFTS AND ACTIVITIES
We created our own version of Fear Factor by setting up a taste testing. It included BBQ and Mexican flavored worms along with chocolate covered crickets. Let’s just say we had a lot left over. Our first craft was coloring their own canvas backpack that I found at oriental trading. Then the kids decorated wooden tags with markers and tattoos. My favorite activity was the glow in dark archery. I actually found a light up suction cup archery set on amazon and then projected a bullseye on the wall for target practice. How awesome is that?? Finally we finished off the night watching a movie. All this just makes me tired just thinking about it.
TRAIL MIX STATION
For the movie snack, we set up a trail mix station. Each kid got their own can to mix up their favorite combination. The cans were made from large tomato cans and the glass jars were found at TJ Maxx. We ate a lot of tomatoes that month! There are unlimited options for a trail mix station but here is what we included.
Mix-ins:
- Pretzel Sticks
- Golden Grahams Cereal
- Animal Crackers
- Cheese it’s
- Chocolate Teddy Grahams
- Bananas Chips
- Yogurt Raisins
- Reese’s Pieces
- Chocolate Chips
- M&M’s
- Cheerios
- Mini Marshmallows
HAPPY CAMPER PARTY FAVORS
Along with the canvas drawstring backpack and wooden tag that they made earlier, each kid also got a personalized flashlight, compass, binoculars, tattoos, s’mores crunch mix, and a cricket sucker (teachersource.com). Yes, it was a sucker with a real cricket on the inside. An interesting twist to how many licks does it take to get to the center.
DIY TENT FAVORS
For the sleep over that night each kid got to sleep in their own tent. I truly bit off more than I could chew with this one only because I was almost 8 months pregnant. Thankfully my hubby jumped in and helped me finish these. They were really easy to make. Here is the list of supplies.
What you will need:
- 1x2x8-ft Pine Wood (6 per tent)
- 48 inch x 1/2 inch diameter Wood Dowel Rod (1 per tent)
- 2.5 inch Wood Screws
- Fabric – 3.5 yards of wide fabric
- Ribbon – white
- Staple Gun
- Measuring tape
- Pencil
Once you got all the supplies, then start cutting the wood to size or have your home improvement store cut it before you leave. You will need 4- 60inch pieces for the front and back legs of tent. We cut a 45 degree angle on one side of each for the bottom of the tent to lay flat. Then we cut 2- 48 inch pieces for the sides of the tent. Next drill a hole 6 inch from the top of the 60 inch pieces for the dowel rod to pass through (opposite end of angled edge). Put one screw in each corner to secure the sides to the front and back. Then hem your fabric of choice to prevent fraying and add ribbon to the sides to tie to the tent frame. Once you have everything assembled, I attached the fabric with a staple gun. Velcro would be a good option too. I also made matching pillowcases with the left over fabric. You may want to explain the size of this tent to the parents before they come and pick up their kid. The tents didn’t fit in some of the cars, oops!
The goal of the party was a sleepover but I don’t think any of the kids actually slept. Maybe six year olds for a sleepover was a bit too young or maybe it was all the sugar that I loaded them up with. Who knows! Comment below with your favorite camping food?
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