Ethan is ONE Happy Camper

We love to camp! We have two boys, Ethan who this 1st party was for and Rocco who will be 2 next month (yes you read that correctly). I knew immediately after our camping trip last summer that this was the theme I wanted for Ethan's 1st birthday party. Tents, fishing, nature, dirt, the mountains, bears, deer, and camp food! The weather was perfect for an outdoor camp themed 1st birthday last week end here in southern California. My parents agreed to allowing me to host the party at their house since their yard is much larger than my own and they have a pool. ONE Happy Camper was not as easy as I expected since most party stores don't have much to accommodate the theme so I had to improvise. This is a party on a budget, because I love small family businesses and bargains! The cake stand which was probably the most talked about piece at the party was custom made by a local family run firewood business. If I had planned on submitting pictires, I would have taken better ones :-). I only paid $30 total for the stand and the wood slices to serve the food on. I was not expecting this ginormous (50 pound) beautifully crafted piece of art when I showed up to pick up the finished product! The custom made beehive pinata was also $30 and from a small family business. I love oriental trading company! That is where I purchased the jumbo camp signs, the decorative ants for the food table, the camp sticker books for the kids and the fishing pole cupcake toppers. My sister in law created the cupcake toppers for the chocolate cupcakes, the trail mix bar banner and the decorations for the wooden letters using the Campin Critters cricut cartridge. My sister and I made the party banners by painting on burlap and hot gluing them to twine. I, and by I, I mean my dad :-) made the a frame play tents and my mom sewed the fabric. These cost about $15 each to make. Ethan's centerpiece cake was absolutely adorable! I take no credit for the design. I gave @Mydessertdesigns a copy of the invitations that were created by @detailsbeyonddesign to use as inspiration. It was not only attractive, it was delicious, white cake with a banana cream filling! He enjoyed his cake while lounging in his Caio Baby portable high chair. We already had this since we do like to camp. It is so convenient! The guests swam, bounced in the jumper and enjoyed lots and lots of gummy worms (seriously...5 pounds were gone in about an hour!), food served on red and white checkered plates and ice cold drinks . The kids created their own DIY binoculars using toilet paper rolls, graphic DUCKTAPE and a little imagination! We had tons of treats including 3 types of cupcakes that I created, jumbo smores dipped marshmallows, and my MIL made smores cake pops. The tables had bug catchers (thank you Target dollar section) filled with teddy grahams, gold fish, gummy bears/worms and potato chips. We ate classic camp food including peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and watermelon. I honestly had so much fun planning this party and it turned out way better than I imagined. I hope some of these ideas give a little inspiration for your next camp theme party. Enjoy!

• What People Ate

  PB&J, watermelon, pasta salad, potato salad, slow cooked shredded beef sandwiches, "sleepingbags" aka turkey club and Italian sub pinwheels. The tables were also filled with goldfish, gummy bears, potato chips, teddy graham's and gummy worms all served up in bug catcher nets

• What People Drank

  Water, beer, Honest kids juice box, sodas, iced tea

• Desserts

  I kinda over did it in the dessert department (if that is possible). I made three types of cupcakes. Smores had a graham cracker crust on bottom, chocolate cake with marshmallow frosting and topped with a graham cracker and Hershey bar. Classic chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting. Vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Jumbo smores dipped marshmallows. Smores cake pops.

• Party Favors

  Trail Mix Bar: mini marshmallows, m&ms, peanut butter and dark chocolate chips, almonds, peanuts, raisins, banana chips. Canteens, camp sticker books and DIY binoculars that the kids created on their own during the party.

• Activities / Games

  Jumper, swimming, DIY binocular craft table and pinata.

• Lauren @detailsbeyonddesign

  Invitations, party favor canteen stickers

• Pauline @Mydessertdesigns

  Cake designer

• Villafan Pinatas Santa Ana

  Custom Pinatas

• Aguayo's Firewood in Chino, CA

  Cupcake stand, wood slices

• Jump For Fun Riverside, CA

  Jumper, tables, chairs, kids sized table and chairs