Goodbye to Summer Campout

Haleigh had been begging me all Summer to sleep out in the backyard so we came up with the idea of having a "Goodbye to Summer" camp out party with her and some of her friends. We made little knapsacks (hobo bags) for the invitations. I wish I would have got longer sticks but in the end they were still cute.
We used bandannas (that the girls could wear to the party) for the bags and put the tent-shaped invitations inside along with a flashlight.

The invitations folded out to invite Haleigh's guests to our campsite.

Our tent invitations made out of camping scrapbook paper.

Now all we had to do was deliver the invitations and get ready for the fun party. Many thanks to Beth and Jeff for letting us borrow their tent and DVD player to use for the party. When the girls first showed up we set their sleeping bags in the tent and then everyone came in to make Mud Cakes. I let each girl have a cup and spooned the "mud" (chocolate pudding) into their cup. After the mud was in their cup, each girl received a bag of Oreos to crush up (for the dirt on top of the cake), and last I gave them some gummy worms to put into their mud and dirt. Of course I thought we would be done by then, but then the girls requested sprinkles (because dirt has to be pretty of course) and something to "poke" their worms down into the dirt and mud. Every one's mud cakes pretty much turned into a mixed up mud mess, but they were okay with that. We saved those in the fridge for the girls to take home the next day. After we cleared up the "mud" we got ready to paint pet rocks. I got paint brushes and paint out and each girl got a rock to make into a pet or whatever they wanted. The girls had a good time painting the rocks and the paper that we set the rocks on. By the time we were done painting it was dark enough to have our camp out scavenger hunt. Earlier in the day I had collected some of Haleigh's stuffed animals and put clues on them. We started with one and it gave us a clue to the next animal to find. I threw the stuffed animals out into the back yard all over and the girls ran around with their flashlights to find the correct camp out animal (if Shamu, horses, and alligators count as camp out animals). At the end they all got a prize of glowing necklaces and bracelets to wear in the dark. After our scavenger hunt the girls all went upstairs to brush their teeth and then we headed out to the tent to read not-so-scary ghost stories and to watch a movie. The girls were all tired and didn't last through the whole movie. We ended up turning the DVD player off and going to sleep around 10:30. During the night it started to rain and I worried that the rain would wake up the girls, but they all seemed to sleep through it well. It started raining again between 6:30 and 7:00 in the morning and Ashlee woke up and needed to go inside so we got up and went inside which woke everyone else up. I thought we would at least get to sleep a little later, but we made it inside to watch Strawberry Shortcake and eat cold cereal. I had asked the moms what the favorite cold cereal was for a couple of the girls and so each girl got to choose their favorite and even mix them if they wanted. Thanks to everyone for coming. Haleigh had such a great time with all her friends. Thanks to Katie for staying on Friday night and helping with the games and stuff. It helped A LOT!!!!! Now enjoy some photos from the party.

The girls (and Trevor) the next morning playing the scavenger hunt again....they really loved that part of the party.

Trevor eating breakfast with Ashlee and Emily.

The girls doing their butterflies (they all take dance at the same place and this is what they do there apparently) and sitting in a circle to get ready to go on the scavenger hunt.

Early in the morning watching Strawberry Shortcake. Nothing is better than Saturday morning cartoons. (Except maybe sleeping in.....but that's just a Mommy point of view, I'm sure!)

Eating a treat before the big hunt outside.

Painting rocks and the paper.

Mud cake makers.

Smashing the Oreos to make dirt.

Haleigh helping me make the pudding before the girls got there.

Trevor coloring in his Mickey Mouse coloring book while Haleigh and I get ready for the party.

Haleigh helping make the invitations to her camp out party. She cut out flowers to put on the inside of every one's tent invitation.


Breakfast morning choices. Thanks Kara for letting me borrow the cute, cute bowls!