Camping Birthday Party Ideas

Here are some Camping Birthday Party Ideas

While it's assumed that girls dream of pajama parties and boys dream of camp outs, the truth is that a camping theme party works for girls, boys and actually kids of all ages.  No matter what their age, there is something fascinating about sleeping in the great outdoors and a camping theme party is a great way to do this...even if the great out doors goes no further than your own back yard.

Trail Ride/Summer Camp Theme - A favorite theme among those holding camping birthday parties is that of a trail ride. With this you can bring your gear along with you, ride horses, cook, eat, and sleep under the stars. If you don't have a trail ride, horses, or long trails in the wilderness nearby don't despair. With a Dutch oven, an open fire, a few sticks, and little bit of imagination you can have your very own cowboy camp out birthday bash celebration.

Quick and Easy?  Find lots of ideas for trail ride / summer camp Western Party Supplies

Invitations- A fun invitation can be in the form of a "Camp" Newsletter.  Just jot down some different things going on in the area and then highlight the big festive day that's coming up.  Make sure you tell the campers what to bring to your event. 

Or you might send your invitation on a "Tent".  Just make a tent shape using construction paper and put all the details inside your two front tent flaps.

Decorations for your campout can be pretty simple.  Tents, a campfire, and lights hung here and there on tree branches are really all you need for an exciting event.  Of course, if campers are older and you'll be telling ghost stories, you might want some scary "ghostly" music playing in the area. "Glow in the Dark" bugs & others figures are a lot of fun too.   Especially if you want to have an eerie night time scavenger hunt.

If you want to add a more festive look to your area, then decorate the tents with streamers or balloons.  You can decorate the inside of the tents too.

Have a sign in your front yard with an arrow pointing towards your camp.  Something like "Camprunamuk this way".  And you can build an entrance in the back with a few boards and with your camp name written at the top.   Don't forget other signage, like "Camp Rules" & "Toilets".

Decorate your food tables with green plastic covers and use plastic utensils.  Tin cups are a great addition too.  Especially the kind that shrink small enought to fit in a pocket.

Food is easy for a camp theme party.  Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Barbecue are all staples.  And a campfire ALWAYS needs marshmallows close by.  You can offer "Bug Juice" for an extra treat.  Just make koolaid or punch and add ice cubes with plastic bugs or gummy worms frozen inside.  If it's really warm outside, making your own ice cream can be a really fun project.  Us the old kind of ice cream maker that you need to stir...and let all the kids help make the big desert.

Activities- are SO easy.  Relay Races, pie eating contests, scavenger hunts, story telling (a fun way to do this is to start a story and have each person add to it until you get to the end)

Don't forget the fixin's for some s'mores while you're making plans and be sure to have a camera handy as you create an unforgettably fun birthday bash and camping party for that special person in your life.

A military camping birthday party is another great camping party idea. Right now kids need good solid heroes and the military is a great place to find them. If you have friends or family that are serving over seas this might be a great way to  bring them closer to home for an evening. 

Invitations can be shaped like humvees or pup tents.  Tell the kids they're invited to attend bootcamp at "Camp ???" and give them all the details. OR, if you want to get the kids really excited, send them an invitation telling them to report for a "top secret mission" with the army rangers.

For some really cool invitations and military supplies -  Camo Deluxe Party Kit

Decorations  Since a military camp is fairly basic, your decorations don't have to be too elaborate.  Signs pointing to "chow hall", barracks, chapel and other locations can be posted on a large post.  Pup tents will be necessary for sleeping.  And of course, you need to stage some type of obstacle course because no military camp would be fun without one!  Just plan your obstacles with things you might have around your house or neighborhood.  Swimming pool rights as tires, bales of hay to climb over, board over boards for a balance beam, etc.  Use your imagination andyou can come up with some great ideas.

Here's a great photo op piece ...  3-d Tank Photos

Activities- Of course, before the kids start the obstacle course they will need their faces painted.  Green & black face paints work really well for this.  The easiest way to do a great face painting job is to use the    Camouflage Makeup Kit     

Since the obstacle course is a big activity you won't need alot of other ones.  You can always schedule relays, or have the kids make up their own version of the cadence song "I don't know but I've been told".......

Of course if you want something extra special, try a Tank Pull String Pinata

Food- Hit up a military supply store to find MRE's (meals ready to eat)...but you'll also want to serve hot dogs and other outdoor foods.  And even soldiers like s'mores!

Want More Military Ideas?  Theme Parties (scroll to the bottom of the page and click on MASH party)

A safari camping theme is one more great theme for a terrific camping birthday party. Begin by having everyone dress appropriately for a day underneath the hot African sun, khakis, and an appropriate hat work well. Create a safari pack (goody bag) for all the kids including really chip binoculars, a net for catching stray bugs (really great for lightening bugs at night), safari themed stickers, and a picture frame that is worthy of a fearless safari adventurer (you'll definitely want to send them home with photos of their safari attire). Set up camp for the evening and serve animal crackers for dessert. You can populate the tent with stuffed animals of favorite safari animals and supplement the adventure with a trip to the zoo for even grander effect and more fun.

Short on Time:  Get most of what you need in our  Safari Deluxe Party Kit

Safari Camping Invitations - Cut out shapes of wild animals or a safari vehicle and invite all your guests to come on a safari with you!  Make sure to tell them they'll need sleeping bags, etc.

Safari Camping Decorations

Decorating is a blast when you're doing a Safari Party.  Just think "Disney World Animal Kingdom" type of items.  You can build signs with arrows pointing all different directions and the miles to each spot...like Kenya 2500 km, Tanzania 4000 km, etc. 

The color scheme should be green, tan & yellow and you can set up a couple of small tents with cooking pots for your refreshments right outside the entrances.

If your party is in the evening - Tiki Torches are a great way to decorate as long as you have plenty of adult supervision.

Kids LOVE These...and you will too!  Wild Animals Photo Prop Banner

You can also decorate with balloons, animal theme gossamer drapes, (gossamer is a cheap way to decorate EVERYTHING) inflatable animals, votive cups and animal shaped pinatas. 

And since no party is complete without background music, pick up (or download) some jungle music complete with animal sounds.  You can find these easily by searching online.

Costumes

If your party is for older kids, just mention in your invitation to come dressed for a Safari.  If younger kids are involved, get out the face paint and get someone to paint each child like their favorite jungle animal.

When the kids arrive at your safari theme party, take their "passports" and send them to the Med booth where they receive a malaria pill (jelly bean in a glass bottle with a big red cross sticker on it - and explain to them what malaria is) and a typhoid shot (a toy needle) and can be warned about yellow fever, don't drink the water, etc.

Here are some of the fun safari theme party activities you can start the kids off with:

Safari Charades - Prepare by finding pictures of animals and gluing them to cards.  Start the game using pictures of animals instead of the regular charade items.

A Scavenger hunt is great for all ages.  For the smaller kids, find jungle related items and hide them in your backyard.  Of course, for older kids you can get much more elaborate.  A safari scavenger hunt will be a huge success and will make the party one they'll remember for a long time.

Treats for your Safari party can be as simple or as complex as you would like. 

• Chicken or Turkey Legs can be fun
• Barbecue or Ribs
• Beans or Stew
• Trail Mix
• Animal shaped cookies
• Jungle juice (gatorade in cups with pop rocks added at the last minute)
• gummy bears
• animal crackers
• And of course pizza...which isn't really a safari treat...but all kids love pizza!

Need more Ideas and help with the Safari Theme?  Theme Parties   (just scroll to the bottom of the page and click on jungle parties)

Rocky Mountain Camping Theme  If none of these are getting you very excited you could always go with a Rocky Mountain sort of theme for your camping birthday party. Be sure to have plenty of stuffed black bears and have everyone wear red flannel and denim. This is a great and fun sort of adventure for the kids in your life and a great fun party idea. It also presents a few wonderful photo ops for souvenirs and your very own memory book. Have the tents pitched in the backyard and the grill should be set up to feed your hungry mountaineers.

The decorations, food and invitations can all be something along the lines of the above themes but the best part of a Rocky Mountain Camping Trip is panning for gold or gemstones.    You can mix sand and clay together with gemstones or small pieces or gold colored stones and give each of the kids a bag.  Build a small frame with fine mesh screening at the bottom.  The kids will dump their bag into the box and rinse the sand with running water to find their fortune!  You can also use a small swimming pool and just have them dip their box into the pool water.  Another variation of this is a diamond dig.   Seed a sandpile with quartz stones.  Put a sign up above saying "diamond mine"  and let the kids dig for their own rocks.

If you're still looking for some great camp activities, you can find them here:  Camp Activities    Just type in "camp" in the search box.

A camping birthday party presents endless opportunities to put your imagination to work creating a new and wonderful theme. Even if the weather, for some odd reason, doesn't want to cooperate you can bring your great outdoor adventure inside and still have a grand time. If you live in an apartment or an area in which you are uncomfortable having a camp out, there's no reason you can't have a wonderful camp "in".