The Campout Party

My son turned 7 on Monday.  I’m not sure when or how 7 years just passed, but somehow they have. And, the pictures of that baby beside the doorway above have evolved into a really handsome, clever, and spunky young boy.

I’ve had some “moments” this week…he’s 7, this year we’ll celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary, and I’ll also turn 35. Suddenly I’m settled into my 30’s, my parents are getting into their 60’s, and life is very much not ruled by my own youth anymore.  Interesting…maybe I’ll leave it at that and just sashay back over towards denial.

Anyhow, the boy wants to have a campout party.  I decided last year that after age 5, we’ll just do birthday parties every other year.  Mostly I think last April I was exhausted after just having lost a baby.  The truth is that I really like having parties.

So I got to work thinking about what makes a campout great and of course, without much time pondering, I realized that no campout is complete without…

S’mores

I thought that a fun and easy favor would be s’mores kits.  So I snagged some boxes and bags from Hobby Lobby, used an old tent stamp that I had, and got to work stamping!  They turned out pretty cute! Each box has 2 graham crackers, 4 marshmallows, and a full sized Hershey bar.

I realize that 7 year old boys don’t care one iota about pretty packaging or tent stamps, but I do, and I’m throwing this party for my kid, so by golly, I’ll have fun doing it.

I created the boxes for the boys, and since we’re having a cookout before the campout and families will be invited, I made bags with the same contents for the siblings.  It doesnt’ show in the picture because I couldn’t figure out how to get a decent picture of it, but each s’mores kit also includes a roasting fork (which I found in packages of 4 for $1.60 at Walmart.)

And since the number of kids coming is pretty small, I created really fun additional bags for his buddies.

Each bag includes a camping mug, a flashlight, a fork/spoon combo, a mini slim jim, a box of raisins, a chinese finger game (mostly because they were cheap and cute), and a toy snake or insect.

I’d been keeping an eye out for a neat lantern for a long time but didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg. I finally found a cool one on sale for 50% off so I scooped it up and used it as a centerpiece in the dining room where we’ll have all of the food.

Between some moss, old boy scout books, a giant army man and some other random boy toys and figures I found, I created the centerpiece.  The candle was just a cream one that I wrapped in a piece of bark we found hiking in Montana a couple of summers ago.  Most of the time when I’m creating centerpieces, I just start wandering around my entire house looking for little items that could be included that make sense.  My mom affectionately refers to this as “robbing Peter to pay Paul.”  And for boy stuff…check your yard! Rocks, sticks, sweet gum balls, whatever seems interesting.

I brought out baskets and bowls that are mostly wood and more natural looking to create the entire set up too.

Just happened to luck out and find camo napkins too!

So, that’s what we’ve got going on so far!  Hopefully the rain will hold off and my little man and his friends will actually be able to camp out!  Thought you might all enjoy seeing a few pictures in the meantime though!

I’m off to make a carrot cake ( And, I’ll definitely have to share the recipe for that with you! It’s amazing!)