LOC Camp In

With kids heading back to school, we decided it would be fun for families to get out on a Friday night together. We planned a camp in night to bring camping inside for a couple hours! Exploring and camping is always a fun theme for an evening party, and we wanted to put our own little spin on it to make it an enjoyable event.

For the party supplies, we wanted to have fun mixing and matching some different patterns. I knew I wanted to use the camp cups and animal ears. I went from there and pulled different things to narrow down our favorites. Decided on the gold dot kraft plates as the base and then we alternated watermelon slice plates and gold foil star plates. Both gave a fun camp out vibe to the table. We laid a grass table runner in the center and laid out the animal ears for the kids to use. A long table let families sit together and socialize with family and new friends!

In order to bring the outdoors in, we wanted to create a nighttime camp out setup. To coordinate with the cups, we went with a black backdrop made from plastic table cloths, and added sparkly moon and star balloons. Rachel (LOC Event Coordinator) brought in her kids' play tent and it was the perfect camping touch! Plus the kids loved going inside to play. We laid out our turf backdrop on the floor and Helena (LOC's newest shop girl!) made the adorable fake fire. She got creative and used packing paper and wrapped it around cut up wrapping paper rolls that we cut up. For the flames, she cut out the layers from card stock and Rachel propped them up with tape in between the paper logs. I brought some rocks from home to finish it off. A campfire is a necessity for a camp setup! Scene was simple, but brought the theme to life.

For the food spread, we kept the dinner easy and ordered a neighborhood favorite, Ziggy's Pizza. We figured for feeding kids and adults, pizza is delicious across the board, especially with Ziggy's topping combos. I also ordered a couple salads for the side. Snacks and dessert, we did some twists on classic camp out favorites. On national s'mores day, local dessert shop, Milkfloat, posted a picture of their gooey s'more poptarts and I knew they would be perfect! I reached out and they were able to do mini versions for our event. They were delicious and looked adorable. I was also able to pickup a slice of their vegan cake for a couple children coming that have special allergies. For a fun snack, we made a "Build Your Own Trail Mix" bar. I picked up some cheddar crackers, pretzel sticks, marshmallows, chocolate chips and a mix of graham and chocolate cookies. They could get a good mix of salty and sweet. You can set out any combination of fun snacks for your guests to use. The kids definitely had fun making their mixes.

Another local small business we partnered with was Lamphouse Photo Co. They were so fun to work with and everyone loved their Baby Birdie Booth! They designed personalized photo sheets for the photo booth pictures, and kids were able to take as many photos as their little hearts desired. We decided on the boxwood backdrop (they have so many fun options!) to coordinate with the camping theme. If you want unique entertainment at your child's next event, I highly recommend Lamphouse! To see pictures from the evening, you can check out their Facebook photo album here.

To keep our happy campers busy, we also planned a craft activity. We pulled woodland animal balloon kits from our stock and they worked great with the camp out theme. They are fairly easy kits where kids decorate a blown up balloon with the provided stickers. They had fun making their bears, owls, deer, and foxes. Always fun to have a craft that then becomes decor.

To finish off the evening, Rachel had an interactive story time with one of her favorite books, We're Going on a Bear Hunt. It's a great book for story time because you can incorporate actions and get your little campers involved. It was so cute watching them bring the story to life! Rachel did a great job helping them interact.

It turned out to be such a fun evening! We kept it relaxed and let the families enjoy spending time together. We enjoy putting together these events and our favorite part is seeing everyone have a good time. I also loved working with some great local businesses! Highly encourage you to check them all out.

Lots of Love,