My best friends daughter (aka a little girl I love like my own and my daughter’s BFF) is quite shy and reserved. This year she attended Kindergarten and definitely came out of her shell a bit as she gained new friends and experiences. She also started Sparks, which is the equivalent to Girl Scouts in Canada. The girl lights up when she talks about camping and all the activities she does at the weekly sessions. She often reminisces about times we have spent around the campfire roasting s’mores together during shared vacations. Thus, it was a no brainer what theme to do for her 6th birthday. This animal loving, outdoorsy little lady deserved a “s’more fun” camping party with her new classmates and bestie.
We are so lucky to live near one of the most beautiful park spaces in the world, Stanley Park. My friend booked one of the city’s picnic areas for the party and it couldn’t have been a more perfect day to be in the wooded area, just steps to the beach. Set in an under-covered area amongst beautiful trees, there were ample tables to setup the food, drinks and activities on. It was also a great spot to pitch a tent (or rather a cute play tent) and play camping tic tac toe.
For the food, we kept the spread pretty simple as we had to pack it all up and bring it along to the location. We stuck to a meat and cheese platter alongside plain and cheese croissants, veggie tray and veggie chips. Jars of trail mix, Bits and Bites and white chocolate covered pretzels brought the theme to the food table. And how cute are these trays I found at Michaels? I am working towards producing less waste at parties (and in life really) and I loved these could be used for this celebration, as well as, so many other events/activities. Along the same lines, I made personalized mason jars with using my Cricut Joy. Guest were able to fill these up while at the party and bring them home as their party favor after.
Of course, no camping birthday party would be complete without s’mores everything. I grabbed some s’mores mix from Walmart, made some s’mores rice krispies and had a s’mores bar, complete with all the fixings. My friend is the master baker behind most of the sugar cookies you see on my posts. I think I say it after every party, but she nailed these cookies. The campfire and bear cookies were just way too cute to eat (but weird partygoers had no problem gobbling them up).
To keep a bunch of 5 and 6 year olds amused, my friend found a couple great activities that were well suited for the kids. She printed out a Camping Scavenger Hunt and added them to the front of brown paper bags. Children loved this activity of collecting the nature items and many even brought their bag of findings home with them. My friend also found and printed Camping Bingo. As you know from my previous parties, bingo is a go to for me. Usually for any party where guests are 5 years or older, the game is always a hit. This was no different, as kids loved searching for called items and dabbing the squares.
Before the cake was served, guests were also able to “roast” marshmallows. While our province had a campfire ban, we made due with DIY mini campfires. I simply melted wax into a tin with a wick in the middle. While it by no means gave off substantial heat, the kids were able to heat up their mini marshmallows. This was actually something the birthday girl taught us about after a recent Sparks camp and it great as it was age appropriate.
It turned out to be the perfect summer day to celebrate a very special 6 year old in our lives. I think it is safe to say, our birthday girl was a happy camper.
