Every year I throw a just for fun kids party. It is in the summer after school has let out. It lets my kids get together with their friends and just have some fun and let loose. This year's theme to our party was Camp Out Adventure.
Now I am not one of those people who has the money available that I can just blow hundreds upon hundreds of dollars on kids parties. No, my parties have to fit into a budget. So here is my budget camping party. Enjoy!
We had the party in a city park, which was free. They have an awesome pavilion available and so we had it underneath it. The tables were decorated in green plastic table covers. I bought pine-trees and pine-cones to go with the camping theme. Campground pictures dotted the area for a rustic feel.
Plates, napkins, table covers, and decorations were all from Oriental Trading Co. Allowing me to throw a fun party, at a more affordable price. These items are from their camping adventure theme.
On the food table I had a "make your own trail mix" station. I used my awesome wooden bowls that we got as a wedding gift way back when... and little plastic baggies. The goodies we had were almonds, coconut chips, peanuts, sunflower seeds, raisins, pumpkin seeds, and pretzels.
Of course we had to have one treat - and this year it was s'mores in a cup. Pretty simple really. This was the easiest recipe I could find. You make a graham cracker crust using graham crackers, butter, and sugar. Crush them all together and bake them in the oven to a nice golden glow. Mix up chocolate pudding. Buy some marshmallow fluff. Add in layers: Graham mix, chocolate pudding, fluff. Continue to the top. You can also add mini marshmallows on top, but I thought what we had was enough junk food.
And what is a camping party without fish bait?
Here is our food table in full view.
Games! The kids and I had so much fun making the camping fishing game. We cut out felt fish and put them into a plastic tub. Then for the fishing poles we used burlap string and tied it onto a pencil (really wanted to use real sticks here - but sadly ran out of time.). At the end of the string we hung a washer and attached velcro to it. Tada! Fishing game!
The other games we had were a scavenger hunt game. I purchased mini insect erasers from Oriental Trading Co. While the kids were playing on the playground I hid all 144 erasers all over the place. On the ground, by the grill, in trees, in bushes, etc. Before the party I had counted how many kids we had and how many of the different types of bugs they could find. Then I made up little sheets of paper and put pictures of what they needed to find. 2 Butterflies, 1 Dragonfly, 1 Bee, 2 Ladybugs. Then they went wild! Even the littlest searchers got into the chase. It was a lot of fun.
We also played Run, Squirrel, Run! A really fun game where each player found a tree to touch. We had two "grabbers." When I yelled "RUN, SQUIRREL, RUN!" The squirrels had to run from tree to tree and avoid getting tagged. When someone got tagged they had to become a "grabber" until only 1 squirrel was left. That person became the new "grabber."
Another fun game was the Water Brigade. We had a line of kids and they each were handed tiny little plastic cups. We had two buckets. A full bucket of water at one end, and an empty bucket on the other end. They had to pass the water using the little plastic cups from one end to the other. The first team to transport all their water won!
Last, I also purchased fun camping sticker sheets for the "campers" to create their very own camping adventure picture.
I also had goody bags for the kiddos. Inside they found a camping pencil, a compass, and a raccoon picture frame craft to do. They also got to keep all the erasers they found.
All in all it was a really fun party! Can't wait to do it all again next year!
Sneak peek theme: Sharks!
