Camp Luke part 2

I’m back to report on the camper activities at Luke’s 5th birthday bash. As kids arrived, they explored the camp tents, played on the swing set, and sampled bug juice and trail mix at the canteen. General mayhem of course.

Next we tackled a campfire craft. Before the party, I cut circles of stiff cardboard and squares of tissue paper, gathered rocks, and purchased a box of those battery-powered votive candles. Then the kids selected rocks and we hot-glued them around the edge of the cardboard circle, and they scrunched the tissue paper around their candles which sat in the middle of the rock ring (something like this). The kids did a great job, and at night they make slightly realistic-looking campfire nightlights!

Then engines were sufficiently revved for our second challenge, archery. I told the kids that just in case they encountered one of the mischievous bears who live nearby, they should be ready to fire tranq darts with speed and accuracy.

After my professional demonstration, the kids lined up and took their shots with gusto.

At kid parties I try to alternate between high and low energy activities, so next up was a quieter event: storytime around the pretend campfire (actual campfires are banned in our neighborhood). But my book was missing! Those bears had taken it and replaced it with A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee, which was perfect for our theme and the kids were enthralled. Such a fun story.

Then we tried to pass out the party favors but the bears played tricks again, hiding the treats and leaving a string of clues. I’ve never found scavenger hunts not to be a hit with a crowd of kids, and my experience planning hunts goes all the way back to when Uncle Jack and Uncle Sam were little boys!

The clues eventually led to a little hike through the arroyo which ended with the bucket of treats. I didn’t get a pic of those, but we just tied the treats up in red bandanas and lashed them onto long sticks hobo-style. Finally we topped them off with cute thank you tags from my printables set and they were ready for the campers.

After the hunt it was time to sing happy birthday and have dessert. I decided to forego a cake and served dirt worm cups instead, which were much easier for me to make and for the kids to eat while they were perched on chairs and stumps around the fire ring. Luke enjoyed helping make them and eating them too!

It was a happy little pow-wow for our nature-loving boy. We love you Luke and had such a great time celebrating with you and your friends!

{More pics here.}

Camp Luke comes to Wild Oak!

Back in April we had a 5th birthday bash for Luke, and I was delighted when the birthday boy requested a camping theme.

After the girly pinks of Eleanor’s butterfly party, it was fun to go all-outdoorsy in greens and oranges. My favorite piece of party décor were the hand-painted signs. Months before I’d spied a gallon of green paint on the oops markdown table at Home Depot and just knew we’d find a use for it (though Erik had his doubts). You can imagine my satisfaction when it was the perfect shade for the party! Erik cut some scrap wood pieces, Luke did a champion job coating them in green, and I did the lettering in white. There was a campfire arrow pointing up the hill to the fire ring we set up, an outhouse arrow pointing inside, and a canteen sign on the food table.

Erik skillfully cut a handsome arrow for the archery sign, plus a few more for the backyard, including a strict bear prohibition. Despite the no-nonsense signage, during the party we happened upon some pranks that we believe to have been performed by a mischievous bear. ;)

Other than the signs our decorations were pretty simple. We set up three tents around the campfire ring for the kids to play in and draped the food table in an oatmeal colored drop cloth. After that, Albuquerque’s rugged mountains set the stage pretty well on their own.

The swing set was a Craig’s List find that Erik repaired and set up just in time for the party. Somehow he managed to load the entire structure on our station wagon and carry it into the backyard with only Luke’s assistance – party adrenaline I tell you!

I bought this editable invitation/signage package on Etsy and printed the adorable tent invitations and some other tags and signs. They were easy to personalize and the immediate download was perfect for someone like me who leaves things to the last-minute. I hope to be back tomorrow with a rundown of the party activities and food, just in case baby #3 requests his own camp some day or any of you are thinking of hosting an afternoon camp-out this summer!

Butterfly extravaganza! Activities, décor & *magical guests*

I love our Eleanor’s zeal for a party! She had been so looking forward to her butterfly birthday bash that we started prepping the activities and decorations a few weeks in advance so as to best involve her in the pre-party fun. Then we kept the decorations up for a belated get-together with friends who couldn’t make the party date. As a result our home looked like butterfly central for a full month, and now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t keep a few things up to incorporate into our Easter décor?

There were butterflies, of course, to greet our friends on the porch.

Eleanor picked out the butterfly fabric for the craft station table cloth and we paired it with lanterns from last year’s bday.

A fancy butterfly table set for brunch. Erik and I made the butterfly garland using a butterfly punch, pretty papers, and ribbon. We cut the giant #3 out of cardboard and covered it in polka dot duct tape.

Another table view to show off the colorful linens, flowers, and a big cardstock butterfly at each place as a name card.

But more than the decorations, I deliberated over the party activity line-up, trying to come up with the best options for our mix of kiddos and ages. First up was butterfly wand painting. Erik had sanded dowel tips and wood-glued butterfly cut-outs on them, forming paint-ready butterfly wands.

The kids colored them with crayons, painted them with watercolors (for a resist effect with the crayon), and finally chose a few ribbons to finish them off. When paired with some wings, they make for the perfect butterfly photo-op!

Then we did the classic tulle in a clothespin butterfly craft. The kids colored the clothespins with markers and picked their tulle colors. They were cute and easy, and while some kids were finishing Erik vaulted them through the air with some sort of elastic band launcher for extra pizzazz.

Then we headed into the playroom for a butterfly hunt! Eleanor says this was her favorite part. Pre-party, I punched butterflies out of various papers and half-hid them throughout the room. Then we sent in the kids with party bags to collect them easter-egg style.

After that we trooped outside to make butterfly nectar. I told the kids that some extra-specially beautiful butterflies come through ABQ once a year, and today was the day that they should be passing through! So we mixed up some nectar with food coloring, water, sprinkles, and glitter to leave out in hopes of providing a special treat for the butterflies’ long journey. Here the kids are mixing,

And then pouring it into nectar pans!

Next, I read a story (Ella the Elegant Elephant) while the kids did butterfly scratch art around the playroom table and Erik whipped up brunch. Then the kids donned their flower hair bands (which doubled as dainty napkin rings in the table setting) and feasted on french toast.

As they finished up eating I checked on the butterfly nectar pans and what do you know?!? They were covered with the magical once-a-year butterflies!

I called for the kids and told them that we’d have to be quiet and not get too close so as not to scare the thirsty butterfly friends. They were spellbound! (And this was Luke’s favorite party happening.)

Then we brought the kids back inside for cake – a carrot cake with sprinkle butterfly stencils on top.

 

Eleanor approved.

Then we went back outside to check on the magical butterflies. They were gone, but they kindly left some sparkly butterfly charms for the kids to gather. They must have really liked that nectar they made.  

Then the kids jumped, climbed and slid on a little butterfly gymnastics course on the patio.

We finished off with presents and hugs for the lucky birthday girl.

I do think our girlie-pie was pleased with her day and it was such a joy to see all the kids have fun together! We love you Ellabelle, or Ella-turtle as you like to be called these days! You fill our hearts with joy with your silly, spunky, sweetest ways. 

{More pics here.}

Pirate party: The grub

Perhaps to my family’s detriment, I can be inclined to prioritize premium décor over premium food. Shop for deals on special grocery items or look for deep discounts on table linens? I’d probably opt for the latter and you’d find us eating mac and cheese or pasta marinara yet again that night. So when it came to Luke’s pirate party, we rigged the food table as a gallant pirate ship first and then started working on its edible cargo.

Below is a post-party shot of our snacks – the remains of Cap’n Hook’s Hummus with carrots and celery, as well as a few types of goldfish, er, Shark Bait.

There was a pirate-y jug of water, and a cooler for sodas and juices.

For dessert I made my family’s standby birthday treat, chocolate cake with cream cheese icing, and served it as cupcakes with pirate themed sticker flags.

As a dairy-free alternative, we served orange ships atop a blue Jello ocean. These were so easy to make, we might have them again soon for a game night. You just pour the blue Jello into a plastic cup, let it set, and then stick an orange wedge with a toothpick sail on top.  The crew relished sinking their ‘ships’ into the ‘sea’ and then pulling them back up again.

That was it for our very simple pirate spread! Each time I ask Luke what he liked best at the party he has a different answer. Today he told Nika and Papi that the cupcakes were his favorite, but I think that was because there’s just a few of them left now and he was hoping to have one for snack. We love you scallywag sunshine boy (who demanded tiger whiskers with his pirate costume)!

{Looking for the full party scoop? Check out all our pirate photos here, the invitation here, the decorations here, and the activities here.}

Pirate party: Activities

After Luke’s pirate crew picked up their new names, it was time to look the part!

We had all manner of pirate garb… bandanas, eye patches, face paints, tattoos, and two kinds of hats. Plus a basket of one-piece pirate suits to fit the 4 and under kids.

With all those cutie-pirates and Erik’s photo-zeal, of course we had to set up a station for Pirate Polaroids.

Most of the crew posed for a group shot.  They were supposed to be saying “Argggh” here, but it looks like Luke’s saying, “¡Arriba!”

For the first half of the party the kids moved between the costume and photo booths and a few other stations.

There was Treasure Dough, with gold coins and other play-doh accessories at a table,

A plank for walking,

Which we made by just setting some heavy old pieces of wood on garden pavers.

And the playroom offered Literary Pirates, a pirate/ocean themed book basket, as well as Ship Painting.

There, the kids used watercolors to paint paper sails that we threaded onto kebab skewers and stuck in jiffy pots filled with soil and grass seed. Here’s hoping they sprout!

Then we played Pin the Parrot on the Pirate and awarded prizes.

After refreshments, came another pirate standby: the treasure hunt! To keep it simple, the ‘clues’ used a little pirate lingo to state the next location rather than describing it. Because even that can be a little mystifying at four years old.

The kids loved racing to each location,

And searching for the next white card.

It surprised us how much looking it took to find rather plainly hidden items…

But at long last the treasure chest was found and opened. The box revealed… pirate swords! I hope no parents hated me for these. I must admit that they were Luke and Eleanor’s first swords, so we tried to use them for a non-violent purpose. The parents blew bubbles for the kids to pop with the swords. It took some vigilance to make sure no one got poked by mistake, but in the end the kids did a great job taking those bubbles down without any collateral damage. We got so many amazing photos of the bubble-popping, but this one was our favorite. Can you handle the intensity!?!

And that concluded our party activities! It seemed to work well to avoid competitive games (except for pin the parrot) and stick with more self-guided, cooperative activities for this age group. I think the crowd favorites were the temporary pirate tattoos, scavenger hunt, and bubble-popping!

Just one party post left now… rub-a-dub-dub, pirate grub!