Camp S'more

This weekend we celebrated Hunter's 7th birthday with a campout! 

We invited 5 of his friends to stay the night in our backyard where we set up a makeshift campsite. Now, I realize that this was a very bold choice for us. We had lots of help (thank goodness, because we needed it!) I'm afraid we would have been in over our heads without a few extra people on hand to help set up, corral and entertain 6 boys under 8.

We started out the evening at  Camp S'more

(Grammy & Papa's)

 with the fire pit and campfire snacks.

We served up Bug Juice & Grasshopper Guts shooters-with only the bravest boys & girls trying the thick, sludgy green grasshopper guts.

I made Mississippi Mud Pies (didn't get a great picture though) in lieu of a cake or cupcakes.

And, I made some cute little "Happy Campers", pigs in a blanket made to look like kids in a sleeping bag.

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Happy Birthday to our handsome boy!

We can't believe that you're 7!

We also had a make your own s'mores bar.

Roasting the marshmallow, just right.

The kids gettin' after it at the s'mores bar

Burning off some energy with a good old fashioned tug of war!

About halfway through the evening I headed over to the food table to find someone had been messing with my "happy campers" food display. Taking the smiley faces and making them sad. Then, there was a plug in the ketchup hole resulting in a disastrous looking massacre after the bottle exploded... I have some funny family members. :o)

After Hunter opened his awesome presents I handed out knapsacks for each of the campers. We filled them with binoculars, a compass whistle, tattoos, glow sticks and a map on how to get to their campsite. They gathered their things and off they went on a hike with Jared as their leader to find their tent.

The boys were so pumped full of sugar and adrenaline it was hard to contain their excitement!

 
But, eventually they made it to their campsite, tiki torches lit and tents awaiting. Jared & Eric built a fire in the fire pit and the kids stayed up late telling stories around the fire. (By the way, ghost stories sound good in theory until you're getting ready to put the boys to bed, then those stories aren't so funny to them anymore.)

Everything was going great, I had just headed into the house to make some popcorn and pretzels to bring out for the boys with water for a late night snack before bed when one of the boys tried to "crack" his glow stick to make it glow. Unfortunately, something went terribly wrong and the plastic tube popped open flinging phosphorus goo into his eyes. Yikes! It was a very scary moment as Jared came running into the house with a screaming child in his arms. (I immediately had flashbacks to earlier that day when I suggested to Jared we have the parents fill out forms saying we weren't to be held liable for anything that may happen while they were in our care- to which he replied, "nothing's going to happen".) Luckily, after a good eye wash, he calmed down & the burning subsided. Note to self, leave anything that could be potentially hazardous to children out of the goodie bags!

We got the rest of the boys tucked in to their sleeping bags and let the little guy nursing his eye wound sleep on the couch inside with me. It's funny how things work out, because about an hour later that same poor kid began the onset of a serious stomach flu. :( Had he been out in the tent with the other boys it would have been a disaster and we would have had to send all the kids home. I felt horrible, this poor guy had been through the wringer, we called his parents and they picked him up just after midnight. I was worried sick about him, and the other campers. At that point we just figured he'd had too much sugar and that s'mores bar was looking like a grave mistake! (Especially leaving it mildly unattended or supervised by parents.)

I'm relieved to say that no one else was sick that night. The next morning the rest of the campers were up at the crack of dawn. The chaperones were sleepy but the campers were in great spirits. We made them Belgian waffles, scrambled eggs, sausage and cereal and then they played out in the yard until their parents picked them up with the last guest leaving around noon. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't stressed out, I worried until the last one left. Boys will be boys and they seem to find trouble whether they look for it or not. Of course, there were a few verbal disagreements and tears shed now and then from hurt feelings, but over all the boys played great together and formed some new friendships. I consider the party a success and I think {hope} everyone will remember the highlights reel. :o)

Thank you to all the happy campers for coming & their parents for letting them attend Hunter's party. We enjoyed having your boys as guests and they were all on their best behavior!

 Hunter had a party he's sure to never forget. ♥

 Credits

This party was made possible by:

Venue: Ron & Gretchen's yard and Ours

Grounds keeping/Lawn maintenance: Paul & Maxine and Ron & Gretchen

Housekeeping: Maxine & Luke

Party Props: Paul & Maxine, Ron & Gretchen, Stan & Luke, Joe & Emily

Food Prep: Becca & Gretchen

Additional Chaperone's: Stan, Luke, Ron, Gretchen, Becca & Eric

Party Ideas: Various Blogs but mostly Kara's Party Ideas

to anyone I may have overlooked THANK YOU!