camping themed birthday party

Birthday parties.  I'm not typically a big fan.  This year, though, Claire is turning 10.  Ten seems like a pretty big deal, so I decided to actually do something special for Claire for her 10th birthday.  

I asked on facebook several months ago for some ideas for a 10th birthday party.  My friend, Heather, linked me to Dramatic Fanatic.  For $35, I purchased a mystery party that can be used for 8-16 girls.  Claire chose the Summer Camp Mystery, and we invited 16 girls to our house.

So we had a party. :)  And it wasn't nearly as crazy as you might think!

Of course, Pinterest came to my rescue.  I found a fabulous invitation online {although I can't find the link to it at the moment}, and I used the image from it to make the invites.  It was a free download, and I was able to plug in our info.  It had a large fingerprint as well as the silhouette of a detective lady with a magnifying glass.  

I fed the envelopes through the printer as well and put the image on the back of the envelopes with a tagline that said, "Help us catch the criminal, unless of course, it's you..."

So fun.  

So, 16 girls arrived at our house at 6:15 tonight.  And, as far as I could tell, the entire party was a hit.  The best part was that a couple of Claire's friends are a bit older {and fabulous actresses}, and they ran the majority of the party for me.  Most of the moms stayed and chatted it up outside on the deck, so I pretty much owe these girls for letting us have a mom's night out! :)  

Like I said, the theme of the party was a Summer Camp Mystery, so we decorated with camping food/decor.  It was super easy and fairly inexpensive!  

Here are some pics:

 

 

The Menu:

-caterpillars: grapes on kabob sticks with little eyes attached with frosting {I didn't have those attached when I took the pictures}

-bananas: cut into chunks and served in an aluminum pie plate

-cupcakes and individual ice cream cups {the only way to go for a party!!}

-fruit cups: strawberries, frozen blueberries, mandarin oranges

-mud pies: gluten free chocolate cookies {made by my good friend, Amanda}

-s'mores on a stick: large marshmallows on popsicle sticks, dipped in chocolate and rolled in crushed graham crackers

-wild animals: animal crackers served in an aluminum pie plate

-firewood: cream wafer rolls cut into chunks and stacked like firewood

-dirt pudding: served in cups

-water bottles: covered with fun duct tape and camp critters hot-glued to the side

I purchased almost all of my supplies at the Dollar Tree.  There I purchased the tablecloth, plates, napkins, popsicle sticks, critters for the water, brown bags, and pie plates.  Seriously, I only spent $10 for the supplies for this party!!  I really wanted the pie plates for the girls for their serving dishes, but they were 2 for $1.  I just couldn't justify paying $8 for 16 plates when I could buy 28 checkered ones for $2.

I used regular cans from this week's dinner for spoon holders.  I cut a napkin and wrapped it around the cans to make them a bit cuter.  

I used marshmallows to hold all of the food labels as well as to add a few more pieces of decor.  I found all of the printable camping pictures from the camping preschool unit from 2 Teaching Mommies.     Those ladies have a ton of themes...I knew I could find what I was looking for! 

My mother-in-law brought over a lantern as well as some big old binoculars and their holder.  Like I said, super simple decor in this house!!  I'm all about the simple.  

For favors, we put together some s'more packs for the girls to take home.  They included enough supplies to make two s'mores.  I found these fun s'more printables from The TomKat Studio.  

I fed some brown paper bags through my printer to put a message on the favor bags.  I didn't know if the bags would go through, but they did!  Total score.  Claire was impressed. 

We had a great time, and overall, this was a really easy party to put together.  It was my first kid birthday party ever, and I'm thankful to have a two year break before the next one.  I don't think I could do this 4 times a year!  I'm pretty sure that we'll probably go the same route for child #2.  Looking forward to it!