This past weekend we celebrated Sawyer’s 5th birthday with a Summer Camp themed celebration. It was an absolute blast! The theme lent itself so well to so many age appropriate games, activities and foods for the little campers.
This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.
THE FOOD
From the very beginning of thinking about this party theme we knew we wanted to have s’mores. But I just wasn’t sure about 13 young children roasting marshmallows in the middle of the afternoon. So we decided to get really creative with Sawyer’s birthday cake and make it a s’mores cake. Bella Christie and Lil Z’s Sweet Boutique knocked it out of the park, once again! They are absolutely incredible! They have made so many cakes for me over the years, like Easton’s Farmers Market cake, Sawyer’s dinosaur cake, and more recently my mom’s retirement party book cake. They have all been simply amazing…and so very delicious! Bella Christie also made custom cookies for the party. I sent them the designs that I made for the merit badges and they matched them perfectly!
We kept the rest of the food really simple…but also fun! We had a DIY Trail Mix Bar with mini marshmallows, Goldfish, Teddy Grahams, M&Ms and raisins. I also gave some of the foods creative names like Rice Krispie rafts, firewood pretzel rods, archery arrows fruit kabobs. The bug juice was also a big hit!
THE CAMP ACTIVITIES
What would summer camp be without merit badges?! I designed and created merit badges as a way that the kids could do all the different activities and games to work towards earning the badges. The camp itinerary started as sort of a joke but it ended up being the perfect way of adding a bit of structure to the party.
First, all of the campers worked on earning their Nature Study merit badge. The first activity was a nature scavenger hunt. Then we played a nature mystery box game and ended with a “Don’t Feed and Bears” game. For this game I put bear faces on a bunch of balloons and spread a bunch of plastic play food on a picnic blanket. Then all of the campers got a pool noodle and had to keep tapping the balloons to keep them from landing on a food…so the bears couldn’t get any of the food. This one was a hit (no pun intended)!
Next, all of the campers worked on earning their Arts and Crafts merit badge. This one involved painting a birdhouse or wooden snake.
The Bug Study merit badge was next. First we did a bug toss game with large toy bugs and butterfly nets. Then all the campers did a bug spray game. They were each given a can of silly string “bug spray” and they had to spray as many toy plastic bugs as they could. This game was so much fun!! The kids loved it! It was a definite favorite.
For a break in the action, earning the Best Buddy badge was next. This one involved singing Happy Birthday, eating cake and all the other goodies, story time with the book “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” and helping Sawyer open his gifts.
The final badge of the party was Water Sports. The campers had a lot of fun with the water squirters on a string game and water balloon toss.
Sawyer sent all of his camper buddies home with even more “sur-five-al” essentials for their next adventures!
All customizable printables from this celebration can be found in my Etsy shop, here.
FREE printable of the merit badges can be found, here.
Giant thank you to my amazing and talented friend, Jen of Rose Photography. Jen, I can’t thank you enough for your incredible photos as well as your unwavering support and help along the way. I am so grateful for your friendship.
Happy Birthday, Sawyer! You are an amazing little boy. You and your little brother are my greatest adventure! Love you always!
This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.
PIN FOR LATER
SHOP THE ENTIRE PARTY
This is adorable! I love the sashes and badges! How did you get the badges to stick?
Hi Sarah,
Thank you so much for your kind words about my Summer Camp party! For the badges, I glued pin backs to the back of each badge so that we could easily attach them to the sashes at the party. Another tip is to laminate the badges! That way they will stay protected if you do any type of water activities, water balloons, etc.
Thanks again! Have a great day!
Alison
What a darling fun party!!!! We’re so excited to do this party!
Could you please explain what the water squirters on the line game was?
Where did you find the assortment of bugs 🐛?
What was inside the green box for the take home favor?
Was there a time limit in the bug spray game?
Thanks so much for the wonderful party ideas!!!😊
Hi Paula!
Thanks so much for your kind words! I really appreciate it! This party was so much fun! All the little campers had a blast. The water squirter game was a race type game. We had a red plastic cup hanging on each line and each camper had to squirt water into the cup (propelling it forward) to race against their friends. The first camper to get their cup to the end of the rope first won. The assortment of bugs were from Oriental Trading as well as others that we already had in the house for play. The favors at the party were little compass keychains, magnifying glasses, and camp notebooks. There really wasn’t a time limit for the silly string bug spray game. The kids loved this activity so much — so we just let them spray the bugs until they ran out of silly string! 🙂 I hope this helps with your party planning!
Thanks again so very much!
Alison
Everyone looks so engaged. What a jam-packed party of treats and activities! Very cool 🙂
Hi Evie,
Thank you so much for your kind words! I really appreciate it! This party was such a blast…I think I had just as much fun as the “camp counselor” as the kids did as the campers! 🙂 Thanks again!
Alison
What a fantastic party! And that cake, WOW! Please tell me you didn’t also make that yourself?!
Hi Griffen,
Thank you so much for your kind words about the summer camp party. You are so sweet! I really appreciate it. No, I didn’t make the s’mores cake myself. I ordered it from our favorite bakery! 🙂
Thanks again,
Alison