Cool Camping Party

So my son turned 6 this past week.
CRAZY, I know!
I wanted to come up with a party that would involve lots of fun activities but without having a bunch of rambunctious little boys all cooped up in a stuffy house. Well, what a better activity than having a camp out?! It was still fairly warm outside so we took it all outdoors and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows on our grill and in our fire pit.

Nice blazing inferno for the children, dad!

*cough* What fun it is *cough* roasting hot dogs. *cough, cough*

Ashley and me. I think we enjoyed the s'mores more than the kids did.

Roasting marshmallows was fun. Few wanted to eat them, they just wanted to roast them and then throw them in the pit and watch them blow up. lol. It was kind of entertaining.

Coloring our camp out backpacks.

Props to a husband who helped to make it all happen by doing such manly things as lighting the fire, operating the grill and handling crowd control.

I was going to make my own camp cake but my oven conveniently went kaput the day before so I had to settle for a Wal-mart clearance cake, (buttercream icing. ICK!). The cake was originally an army theme. So, I took all the army toys off and added the graham cracker tent, the iced sugar cone trees and the pretzel campfire encircled with yogurt covered raisin stones. It was a big hit! 6 candles made the campfire roar!

My little superhero making his big wish. *sniff*

You know momma has to get her birthday kiss in.

Opening the gifts.

This was a gift from his bestest cousin Liam. A picture of the 2 showing their HUGE muscles. It was too cute!

And this was the display of brotherly love afterward. Too cute! (It looks like Liam is choking Garrett but I promise, they were hugging.)

Making homemade trail mix. I lined up leftover pretzels, raisins, gummy worms, coconut, sunflower seeds, nuts, etc. and gave them each a bag to fill with their individualized trail mix snack bag.

This picture just happens to show all girls which I find ironic. All week long Garrett had been asking me, "My party is just for boys, right?" I would reply, "Well, your sisters will be there."
He'd say, "Oh, ok. That's ok, I guess. They can have cake. And you too, Mom. But no other girls, right?" I said, "Well the boys you have invited all have sisters that I'm sure will have to come, buddy." He sighed and reluctantly agreed to their potential presence but not without first proclaiming, "Well, ok. But only the boys will get to play in the tent, right?" I guess when you're surrounded by estrogen on all sides of you at all times and you're as masculine as he is, you beg for some manly birthday time with your bros. lol!

LOL! I thought this was soooo funny!

Everyone with their backpacks and favors. They each got a puppet to make at home, and a little basket filled with a wooden snake, rock bouncy balls, a plastic container with holes on top for catching bugs, a mini flashlight and pop rocks.
Overall, it was probably one of the most successful parties we've thrown. The cake was a hit, the gifts were a hit, and everyone enjoyed themselves to the point of not wanting to leave, adults included!
2 thumbs up!!!