This might be a little overboard for a first birthday party but I really enjoyed planning it. I am going to write an exorbitant amount of details because I am not very good at winging it, so if someone else wants to plan a camping party, here's what I did.
This party was on March 24, 2012, which is funny to me because it was exactly one year after Edison was expected to be born. But he decided to be a stinker and come late.
I was probably the most proud of the invitations. They were cute! I would love to be invited to a party with invitations like this!
I started growing the wheat grass 10 days before the party. I think that may have been a little early though because it was starting to get moldy.
All you do is soak the wheat in a bowl of water overnight. Then sprinkle over the top of dirt. I watered twice a day at first, and then once every other day after it was a couple of inches tall.
This was the table outside of our front door. Everyone got a name tag and the adults could guess how many marshmallows were in the jar and then there was a prize for the closest guess.
I woke up two hours after my alarm went off on the morning of the party. Thanks to that, I was running behind and didn't take pictures until after guests had arrived. Luckily Catherine arrived a little early and she made the wraps while I took some pictures. All of the food labels, the banner, and the signs on the invitations were made from paper grocery sacks.
The s'mores on a stick were a hit. I only made 20 and they were gone in less than five minutes. These are so easy. I put semi-sweet chocolate (I combined chips and bars, because that's what I had) in a glass bowl and set it over a pan of simmering water until it melted smooth. Then I put the marshmallow on the dull end of a wooden skewer. Dip into the chocolate as much as you want, then allow the excess chocolate to drip off. Dip into crushed graham cracker and stick in the "fire." I do wish I had used sucker sticks instead of wooden skewers. Little kids were carrying them around and I thought for sure someone was going to lose an eye.
The cups for the dirt and firewood were prepared a few days ahead. I tied twine around the cup and then used a hot glue gun to make it stay where I wanted it to be.
The dirt cups are chocolate pudding with crushed Oreos and gummy worms.
I put the dip in the bottom of the cups so there wouldn't be kids digging into a bowl and making a mess. It required more ingredients, but I think it saved a lot of trouble.
Ants on a log. Classic kid food. Celery sticks, peanut butter, and raisins.
Happy Camper Crunch was an idea I got from pictures of another party. I have a bad habit of overestimating how much food to buy. This jar has one box of Golden Grahams, one bag of mini marshmallows, and one pound of milk chocolate chips. I bought
twelve boxes of cereal for this. Luckily I really like Golden Grahams!
Basic trail mix. I bought three huge bags of trail mix and people ate 1/4 of one bag. I bought the small foil pans online
here.
These wraps are the most delicious things ever. Spread cream cheese on a flour tortilla. Sprinkle with dry Ranch seasoning. Add sliced deli meat and cheese (we used swiss and a spicy cheese). Roll up and slice.
I bought camoflauge duct tape to cover the waterbottles and then decided I didn't really want to introduce camo into the party theme. So I returned the duct tape and instead made my own water bottle wrappers. I peeled off the one that came on it, then stuck mine on. They stayed right where I put them because it was still sticky from the original wrapper. Then I wrapped it with tape. I was worried that they would start running from the condensation, but that did not happen during the two hours they were out.
Everyone kept talking about the cute bears and their sign. This solidified in my mind the importance of details in a themed party.
Sam was a big help. He hung all of the Christmas lights, he set up the tent, and he built two fires! He has to use his Eagle Scout skills somewhere! The fires just use regular fire wood and red, orange, and yellow tissue paper.
We decided to not mow the grass in the backyard because it was an indoor party. But of course, that is where all the kids chose to play. It was a fun to visit with the adults. Since it was a party for a one-year-old, it gave us plenty of time to talk to each other.
A few of Sam's friends from the MILR program at Cornell now live in Houston and they were able to come as well. It was great to see them.
Alex thought it was a party for him.
I made a cupcake for each person which meant tripling the recipe. Only 12 cupcakes were eaten even though there were 37 people there. I need to remember that not everyone likes cake. I dyed three bowls of frosting - one yellow, one red, and one orange. Then I put them in three separate piping bags. I put those bags into a large bag with a icing tip on it and then frosted the cupcakes. The red looked kind of pink though.
The party favors were very fun to make. I started with making the s'more kits in cellophane bags.
Then I put other things into a lunch sack with a Red Cross symbol bearing the words "Camp Survival Kit."
They were a big hit.
The aftermath of the party.
All that mattered was that Edison had fun. Which he did. So it was a success.
It was a very exciting and fun day. That night, Sam and I watched a movie and then slept in the tent.
Sam also deserves another special mention for being amazing. He never cared how much I had spent on the party, and he just went along with everything because he knew it made me happy to plan it. Someone at the party asked how long it took me to get ready for the party and I responded, "One month." It's true. Sam went along with all of it. He is a pretty good one.
