Today’s Real Party is from my friend Dana at Talking in All Caps. Her son wanted a camping party for his birthday, but it was snowy, muddy, and miserable outside. The solution? An indoor camping party! Read on to see how she pulled it off!
My son really wanted an outdoor party at his house for his 5th birthday. But the weather in Calgary at the beginning of April is usually mucky at best and likely to be cold and snowy so we decided to have an indoor party instead.
As a compromise we gave the party an outdoor campout theme.
We set it up as an “almost sleepover” party from 4:30 – 6:30 and had the kids come in their pajamas. [Editor’s note: this was brilliant because we got home and my kids were ready for bed!!]
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| Balloon Tree! |
We fed the kids (and their parents) hot dogs for supper (cheap and easy!), set up a little play space in our basement, and let them watch a short movie at the end of the party.
As part of the goodie bags the kids each took home a little box of ‘camping’ cereal.
I realized a few days before the party that I didn’t have any decorations. I’m usually pretty minimalist with my party decorations but I knew my son was looking forward to having decorations for his party. With the help of some of my friends I managed to come up with some ideas that I could do almost entirely from things that were already in my house.
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| Wild Animals |
I started with this forest themed rug from Ikea and surrounded it with stuffed animals that you might find in a forest.
I had an Ikea tent for the kids to play in which is a little more circus-y than camp-y but it worked. I also had a tunnel, which I put out too because tunnels are fun. And a magnetic fishing set that I had bought on Etsy.
I also laid out a stack of blankets for the kids to use as sleeping bags, some dress up clothes and some plastic lunch boxes.
I made a balloon tree out of green and yellow balloons attached with string to the pole in our basement and little pipecleaner stars.
I wanted there to be a campfire too so I cut up some yellow and orange felt into curvy triangles, cut two small holes in them and ‘sewed’ them together with some yellow string and tied it to a hardwood floor sample.
Editor’s note: My kids went to this party, and I have to tell you – it was SUPER CUTE. The kids had a blast, and my daughter was really excited to wear her jammies. You should also see the No-Mess Indoor S’mores that Dana made as treats – they are super easy and delicious!