Camping themed Birthday Party

 

The pressure of having these elaborate “Pinterest” birthday parties for kids is real. And I get it. And though I do go the extra mile with the small details, I truly ENJOY it. I always have enjoyed hosting parties ! And I really never spend a whole lot of money either. I work with what I have and try to buy everything else on sale or clearance. Do you have to have all these details? No. Does a four year old boy even notice them? No. But I do it for me. Because I just love it ! A simple store-bought cake, balloons and maybe a game would do just fine. But if you love hosting and you love those small details then do please read on.

The first weekend of January we had our sons fourth birthday party! I just cannot even believe that he is four. We say that every birthday! The party came and went so fast like any party I plan and I always forget to take more pictures.

The party was, you guessed it, camping themed! My mom was out to visit from Illinois for the week and we were busy setting up and cooking all day. I did forget to take some photos of the tent that I had set up. Which, of course, was the kids favorite part! I ended up leaving it  there for a week because Liam had so much fun with it ! The tent we used was from Amazon and you can order that here : 

I had set a small artificial christmas tree in front of the tent and had some cute little camping gear for the kids to play with. There was two enamel mugs, a fake campfire with roasting sticks, a notepad, binoculars.. (found here:      and here :

I ordered my sons adorable invitations from Etsy. (This was the first time that I hadn’t just bought them or made them myself, and I have to say, it was very convenient ! I could print off as many as I needed and I got to print an extra one for my memory box).

 

The Food 

Making or buying food to match the “theme” of parties is always my favorite part! For the main dish I made crescent roll-wrapped hot dogs. These were super easy and cheap to make and the kids seemed to really like them!

I also made “campfire beans” and lil’ smokies. I put the beans in my red cast iron dutch oven and the lil’ smokies in a cast iron skillet. The labels I bought from Target for $1 the day after Christmas ! I got a few things from that sale that were in the holiday section but worked perfectly for our camping party!

I had a veggie tray with ranch dip, and the best part of the food table… the TRAIL MIX BAR! I of course got this idea from {pinterest but it was such a hit that I will definitely be having a trail mix bar again this summer at one of our cookouts.

We used take-out style boxes I got from Michaels Craft Store and I printed out my own stickers with an image I just found on Google. The stickers were only $1 from the Dollar Tree ! I also made “happy camper” stickers I put on each kid’s shirt as they came.

In our trail mix bar we had:

1.goldfish crackers

2. pretzels

3. Cheez-its

4.Cheerios

5.peanuts

6. dried cranberries

7.M&Ms

8.Honey-Nut chex mix

 

Behind the trail mix bar I emptied and cleaned my tackle box and filled it with “fish bait” gummy worm candies and the M&Ms for the trail mix bar. That artificial tree was also a score from Target the day after christmas. I think I paid $5 for it ! And now it sits on my sons camping themed bedroom shelf ! (The lanterns we already had as decoration in my sons bedroom).

The cake was… well… my first attempt at making a tree stump cake. Did not turn out as well as I had imagined but it was so beyond rich and moist that I did not mind one bit. I will posting this recipe soon! 

The hot cocoa bar was very simple but I have yet to have a gathering of any kind in the winter months without a hot cocoa bar ! For toppings I had whipped cream, sprinkles, crushed candy canes, marshmallows, and caramel syrup.

For the cold beverages we had a cooler filled with pop and beer and some “bug juice” which was apple juice and “lake water”.

And because we just don’t have the strength to host a kids birthday party without some booze…  we had a few drink options for all the adult campers !

The S’Mores bar  was also a hit! I picked up a package of bamboo skewers for a couple bucks from Party City as well as the food warmers.  I had a wood tray that I lined with alumni foil and rocks before putting those food warmers in. be careful they get VERY hot !

 

For the favor bags I found these tiny burlap sacks at Michaels on clearance for just .50 for two bags ! I put some gummy bears (my sons favorite candy), a mini play dough, and a mini “smelly” pen (from Wal-mart).

I did not getting any photos of the kids playing games because I was too busy hosting them ! We played the traditional pin the tail on the donkey game (Wal-mart for only $1) and had ourselves a marshmallow race ! I had two or three kids line up to race while holding a plastic spoon with a marshmallow on it. The kids were all laughing hysterically as they tried to balance the spoon and run at the same time. It was great fun!

So I would say that it was another party success! And if I ever get to it, I will post about my son’s Toy Story themed birthday party from last year !