CAMP KINLEY BIRTHDAY

I had an absolute blast this weekend but holy moly I was so tired I was in bed and asleep by 8:15 last night. My weekend started with a 5.5mile run early Friday morning and didn't end until yesterday evening when all the cleaning from family and birthday party was finished.

If you know me then you know that my real career should have been party planning. I LOVE it and live to plan my children's birthday parties...and sometimes even one for the hubs. I do however try to set a budget and stick to it so the planning can get a bit stressful at times but when it's all said and done with I wouldn't do it any other way!

For Kinleys' 5th birthday he wanted a campout party. Boy did pinterest give me some awesome ideas then I had one or two of my own I threw in there! I am just going to take you on a picture tour with explanations in between! If you have any questions about anything just email me or comment here and I will be happy to help. Seriously if only I could make a living at this I would be the HAPPIEST CAMPER EVER!!

The Camping printables I got from Simone Made It Party Printables on ETSY. I love this kit because 1) it was only $15 & 2) I got to edit it with all my information. This was perfect for me because I tend to change my mind alot so this was easy to just go back and change and print. Without any fees or anything like that! Plus there was a ton of things to print with the Kit including the invitation! The only bummer is she does not do custom orders...wah wah wah...now I'm looking for someone for Lanies Minnie Mouse Party!

The Tie-Dye Station was a HUGE hit with the kids and parents! I forgot how fun this was and since I hadn't done it in years I also forgot how messy! oooops :)  It was well worth it though and each child got to take home their own T-Shirt!

This was one of my fave pics of most of the shirts! I loved seeing how they all turned out!

Then the kids got to "Fish" for party favors!

I just picked up a bunch of little <$1 toys from Party City and put little Velcro circles (from Hobby Lobby) on each of them the the fish had the other velcro and with each cast they caught something!

The cake turned out way better than what I would have imagined. It was a chocolate bottom layer with Peanut butter buttercream inbetween the layers. Then a white cake on top covered in Homemade Choc buttercream icing! oh and the cute little campfire on top! Kinley LOVED it and so did the kids since it had like 5 finger swipes before we even cut into it! Atleast I think it was the kids but now to mention it there were a few lingering adults over there too! ;)

(oh and I made it too) SCORE 1 for MOM

These cupcakes were to DIE for but man were they time consuming to make! They have a homemade graham cracker cake on the bottom, marshmellow in the middle, covered in homemade chocolate cake mix, baked then cover with a Chocolate Ganche and homemade Marshmellow Buttercream Icing....YUM YUMM!!!

Seriously I can't believe how fast he has grown...  :(

CAMP KINLEY wouldn't be complete without a camp fire...and no one got burned! SCORE 2 for MOM!

The party was 3hrs but even with that much time we didn't have time fore the Nature hunt so each child got to take one home with them to hunt with their parents!

Then they also got to make their own Trail Mix to take home too!

We planned a Movie under the stars but didn't consider that his birthday party was literally on the LONGEST day of the year. It wasn't dark until like 9:20 so only a few were able to stay but it was so much fun that I think we will just do this a few times this summer with the neighborhood kiddos!

After the movie all the kids went home except for Kinley best friend Mason. He stayed and they camped out with Camp Counselor DAD in the tent in the back yard. For his birthday we got Kinley a real guitar. He LOVED it and this was by far my fave moment of the night. I hooked up my Ipod to the mic he got from Mason & Owen and played "Pontoon" and he just strummed away on his guitar while me and Mason sang (not really sure what mason was singing but it was too cute). Kinley was so serious and just bobbing his head while he played. I LOVED every minute of it! Even if it looks like we are raising little hippies in this picture!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY little man! I hope this party was something you will NEVER forget!

CAMP COUNSELOR,

~MOM