We made it. 1 year ago, my baby boy was born. Around October I started planning his party, knowing I wanted to do something really special for his big day. I came up with the camping theme basically because of my love of s'mores. Let's be honest, I've never been camping in my life, so this was my take on camping with some style!First things first, the invitation. I love invitations. I'm a firm believer that it sets the tone for your party and gives your guests a little hint as to what they're in for. Now I know 99% of the people who received them didn't look at them twice, but I was very happy with them. My friend, the very talented Alice Qualls from The Olive Box , helped me put together the invite after I picked out all the images from http://www.istockphoto.com/. Above is the result...
The pictures are compliments of the amazingly talented Suzanne Hansen of SheWanders Photography. She is a friend, but I have also worked with her on many weddings, and she has shot Jason and I's engagement, wedding, and most recently, our family pictures with Micah which you can check out a few pics here. Thanks Suzanne and great job with my point and shoot camera!!!!
The letters for my "Camp Micah" banner were compliments of the super creative Courtney Toney from Joyful Weddings and Events http://www.joyfulweddingsandevents.com/. Courtney just launched her shop, JoyfulJoyful on Etsy which you can check out here.
Once I had decided on my color scheme, I had some of these fabrics left over from Micah's bedroom and went and bought the others from Joann Fabrics. This was a really fun and surprisingly easy project.
Poms are all the rage right now and I knew I had to have them. I ordered mine from PartyPoms on Etsy. I was so excited when they arrived in the mail I put them up for Thanksgiving! I especially loved the mini-pom garland. I'm thinking of putting them in Micah's room now that the party is over.
Aaahhh, the goodie table. This was too much fun. I spent A LOT of time on the internet researching what I wanted to do for the sweets. Being a working mom, I knew I needed to make things that weren't incredibly time consuming. We had a huge turnout of around 45 adults and 24 kids, so I needed treats that would please everyone!
First off were my marshmallow lollipops. These were super easy. As I said before, the whole reason for the camping theme was because I love s'mores, and will take advantage of any opportunity to have them! When I started to really think about it, there was no way to safely have authentic s'mores with all the kiddos running around. This ended up being a great alternative. I came across the idea to do these on the Hostess With The Mostess Website, http://www.hostesswiththemostess.com/. I visited her blog I think on a daily basis and got a lot of ideas from her website as you will read more below.
I was super proud of the way my Campfire Cupcakes turned out. These were so much fun. They are basic chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing. I rolled them in oreo cookie crumbs. The campfire is made up of chocolate pebbles (found online), pretzel sticks as the wood, red sugar flakes as flames and gold, edible glitter gel. For Micah's cupcake, I stuck a single candle down in the middle of the "sticks" so when I lit the candle, I had a burning campfire!
Here is a close-up of the cupcakes....
I also made my own cupcake stand. This was also really easy. I went to a local cake decorating store here in San Diego and bought cake rounds and cake dummies. Add in a hot glue gun, ribbon, and my fabric.
I utilized one of my favorite wedding vendors, CAKE, for our cake. The ladies at CAKE in Mission Hills never disappoint. I ordered my favorite flavor, banana truffle cake. I sent Kimberly pictures of my fabrics and she translated the fabric beautifully into our cake.
I got my labels and card stock from Paper Source.
Perhaps one of my favorite things on the goodie table was my pails of sweet treats. Gummy frogs seemed like it coordinated with camping, as did the left over chocolate pebbles from my cupcakes. Toasted marshmallow jelly beans just happen to be one of my favorite flavors, so that was a no-brainer. I got the idea for the wood rounds that the pails are sitting on from The Hostess With The Mostess blog where she did a "Woodland Forest" theme.
These marshmallow ghost peeps were a major score find back during Halloween. When I saw them I knew I had to have them.
I made these sugar cookies the weekend before the party and they froze beautifully. I iced them a few hours before the party. It was a little challenging making brown icing, but I'm happier with this light brown-taupe color instead.
Again, never having camped a day in my life, I hear that dehydrated ice cream is fun to have when you go camping. I tried a couple bites of it and it is surprisingly good..although it sticks in your teeth a little!
Had to have dirt cups....just kind of was a natural fit.
I got these green pails from the $1 section at Target. I wrapped all the utencils in napkins and tied with rope from Home Depot. We used camping lanterns that I borrowed from friends as the centerpiece in the food island.
Food was pretty basic. Hot dogs, potato chips, salad, potato salad, and my famous baked beans.
I had a fun time putting together the goodie bags. For the kids (the little campers), each bag included finds from Oriental Trading Company, including a compass keychain, flashlight keychains, camping stickers, glow sticks, and fake bugs and ants. I also had in there an individual pack of trail mix.
I don't have too many pictures of these "tree" arrangements I did. I was inspired when I went to Anthropologie and checked out their Christmas decor. I went to the floral trade market and got the greenery, and wrapped a pot with burlap from Joann Fabric and tied with twine. I used these all over the house.
For the adults (the Camp Counselors), or my friends with infants, I bought Honeymaid S'mores cookies from the grocery store. I individually packaged them with a little message. I used some of the art that was on the invitations.
I found these owl candles at Target a few weeks before Christmas and I couldn't resist!
Here's another picture of my "tree" centerpieces and some of the creepy critters that we set up around the house.
My mom bought this cute little squirrel from Anthropologie for Micah. We set him next to the refrigerator. Only problem was every time I walked by it I thought it was our cat.
Here are some pictures of the flower arrangements I did. A lot of the greenery is actually from our yard. I mixed it with button poms and coffee bean from the floral market. I incorporated my fabrics by wrapping each vase.
Yes, I bought a second Christmas tree. I admit, I was a little obsessed. But, I wanted to set the scene even before guests came in our front door. My dad made all the great signs. I couldn't have been more happy with the way they turned out. My dad is so creative...I should've known. When I told him what I was thinking, that I wanted some signs for our long walkway, he said, "I got it" and this is what he showed up with!!!!
Ahhh, the bathroom. My friends and certain, unnamed family members (smile) thought I was coo-coo for wanting the expand the theme into the bathroom. This was so fun though! I think more people complimented and talked about the bathroom more than anything else!
I put out all our extra greenery all over the bathroom. It smelled fabulous!!!
My friend Amanda gave me the idea to put rocks in the sink...thanks Amanda!
When we bought the outdoor tree, we asked the guys at Home Depot if we could have these extra "stumps". My dad drilled small holes in them and wa-la!
This was so fun....I literally searched everywhere for pine scented soap. Gotta love Bath and Body Works! I was really lucky with the time of year or else I'm not sure I would've been able to find anything!
The Twilight Woods lotion is from Bath and Body Works and the Forest spray is from Pier 1.
My mom got this cute little ornament from Pottery Barn for me and it looked so cute next to the flower arrangement.
This Evergreen candle from Bath and Body Works smelled delicious!
Micah slept the first hour of his party. Here he is with us, shortly after he woke up. He wasn't quite sure what was going on. Oh, and just by luck, I found Micah's "I heart Camping" shirt at Gymboree.
Here is Micah being sung to. He didn't freak out at all. Notice the lit campfire cupcake...too cute!
My first taste of cake and frosting!!!
Happy 1st Birthday to my baby boy. It is hard to believe that he came into our lives one year ago. I had so much fun planning this party. I presume in about 6 months, I'll start the wheels turning again about his 2nd birthday party!!!
