It's so hard to have birthday parties in the winter and both my boys are January babies so we have had to get creative every year. This past winter we did an indoor camp themed birthday and it was a blast!
A camp themed indoor party turned out to be the perfect party for these nine year olds mid-winter. We didn't have to spend much on decorating because we just exchanged our furniture for our camping gear and set up the small tent right there in the living room. The kids got a big kick out of that.
Tip: use your camp coolers to display the drinks or bottled water, not only is it practical but it adds to the whole camp theme.
To kick off the party we started out with these super cute camp themed invites to get the kids excited for my sons up coming party.
This welcome sign was on the front door so the kids knew they had come to the right place plus it seconds as a gentle reminder to the parent when to pick up their kids.
Printables are a great way to keep down cost. This Birthday Banner is a nice touch with its trendy chalkboard style and can easily be printed out right at home.
When it comes to birthday cakes I like them simple and delicious but still special. Also I hate fondant, its disgusting. So no fondant. This is a simple and cute campfire cake. The flames are made with melted jolly ranchers, crushed Oreo's, and pirouettes
To make the flames, just melt crushed jolly ranchers on parchment paper in the microwave for a few seconds. Then put them in the freezer till firmed up. Then you can just break the pieces into shards of flames.
We had three activities planned for the party. The first two were games, The Salmon Racing Game and Camp Bingo
The Salmon Racing Game is fun, interactive and you can have the kids decorate their fish while waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive.
Once the fish are cut out and decorated on both sides, fold the fish in half over half a straw. Then glue the fish sides to each other with the straw in the middle and top for the string to run through it. Do not glue the tails together. Fold open the tails. The tails will be used to catch the wind that you blow when racing. Now they are ready for racing
Set up two long but equal strings for two racers to race their fish at a time. You can tie the ends to something or just have another person hold them. String the fish onto the lines through the straw.
On your mark get set... blow! First fish to the end wins!
Next activity was a special Camp Bingo.
I designed these personalized camp bingo cards just for my son and his silly friends. There are sixteen variations to the cards filled with fun camp themed words like "fish guts, sun burned, star gazing, and stinky socks." The fun camp themed words added a whole other level of fun and giggles to the game. The kids played the game using goldfish crackers and enjoyed snacking on them as well.
After eating cake and opening presents, we ended the night by telling campfire stories by the fire place and making s'mores till the parents came for pickup.
You can personalize your camp themed party with no hassle, let me do all the design work for you! All the printables you see in this post are available at my etsy shop Pixel Dust Design Studio
