For my daughter’s 9th birthday she decided to do a campout- which is great if your birthday is in the summer- but her birthday is in March and we live in Michigan! Which means it actually snowed for her campout! But that didnt matter- we still did all the camping games and campfire stories in the SNOW- which ended up making it even more fun!
For the invitations I wanted them to look like a tent. I did this by stacking taking two pieces of paper and cutting it out in the shape of a tent. I then cut up the center for the tent flaps- and folded them open and creased it. I then glued the sides down- making sure the tent flaps were not glued so they would open correctly. My daughter then decorated the front of them with hearts. I think they turned out pretty cute! The party was from 5:30-9:00pm with an optional campout. I let my daughter invite 13 girls, thinking that since my daughter has not done many slumber parties- most of the girls would leave by 9:00pm and boy, was I wrong! Only 4 decided to leave at 9:00- which meant 10 girls including my daughter spent the night. The more the merrier, right!?
For this party, my daughter wanted to play all the typical camping games (potato sack races, archery, etc) so I thought it would be a fun component to print out sticker badges for the girls to earn after each activity- if they did it! Everyone was given a certificate that I typed up that said so and so earned these badges at Daughter’s campout and then my daughter signed and dated each one. For the labels, I just the Avery template and stock images for each badge. The girls LOVED this idea and were excited throughout the party to earn a badge!
When the girls arrived, my husband had a campfire going and they all were able to roast hot dogs for their dinner. I was surprised that many of them had never done this! I bought these roasting sticks so I would have enough.
After the girls had some dinner in them- it was time for the games! Luckily there were an even number of girls so I randomly divided them into teams and gave each team a scrap of fabric to indicate their team. They decided to tie these around their arms/legs/or heads as a headband! But, to make sure things were fair and everyone got to be with the birthday girl- every game I switched up the teams!
The first game was archery! I purchased a two bow set from Amazon, drew some targets on the window with a points system and each team member was able to shoot 3x. They kept track of their own score and the winning team got to pick out a prize! After each activity- the winning girls were able to get a prize! I brought my daughter to the store to pick out different prizes, or grab a prize box from Amazon!
The next game- we switched up teams and did a relay race by simply balancing a plastic egg on the spoon and walking around the house!
Then it was time for snowpants and playing tug-of-war in the snow! Because the girls loved playing this one- we played best out of 3!
The next game was RED ROVER! Who remembers this from their childhood?? I think only 1 girl actually knew how to play! Following Red Rover they did potato sack races and a three-legged-race!
Then finally it was time for CAKE, presents, roasting marshmallows, and swimming in the “pond”. Did I have to add a gazillion chemicals after all the girls were in it? of course I did- but they loved getting in and out and running in the snow!
Fingers crossed I wore the girls out- it was finally time to get read for bed! Since so many girls decided to spend the night- I couldn’t have them sleep in our 8-person tent like I wanted. Instead, I had my husband buy some furring strips and dowel rods and set up a “tent” for each girl to sleep under. To make it feel like a separate tent for each I just wrapped yarn around the outside- which actually the girls loved- because I gave them clothespins and they hung up notes to each other! And to really make it feel like they were camping I hung up stars for the night sky!
And lets not forget the gift bags! Each girl received a flashlight, notebook, wooden pencil, compass, and a granola bar! Those granola bars came in handy for a late night snack!
and thats a wrap!
Oh! And for other decorations we did a lot of DIY by just using old cardboard boxes. I had my daughter make way signs, (or grab these) and I used a picnic tablecloth we use for camping (but this also would have been festive!)
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PLAN WITH LEANNE 
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