A Backyard Campout Party

A Backyard Campout is so much fun, especially on a warm summer night!

Take a look at these fun ideas that are guaranteed to turn your party guests into happy little campers!

Camping Party Invitations

Make your own camping party invitations by cutting a tent shape out of cardstock. Fold the tent flaps back to reveal all of the party details!

You could also go to a scrapbooking store and purchase camping papers and stickers. Find a fun font on your computer to print out the party particulars. Let your imagination come out to play as you create one-of-a-kind campout invitations!

If you would rather purchase pre-made camping invitations, these little tent invitations are absolutely adorable and would be perfect for this theme. The minimum order quantity is 25, which is probably more than you would need for your party, so here's my suggestion: Order them unprinted, and use half for the invitations and the other half for thank you notes.

Note: Remember to include on your invitations any specific instructions, like "bring your sleeping bag and pillow," or "come with your spookiest ghost story!"

Campout Decorations

Decorating for a campout party is easy because nature does all of the work for you! The great outdoors is full of all of the campout essentials: trees, crickets chirping, starry skies...

The main thing that you will need to do is create a campsite. Make sure that you have a tent big enough to sleep all of the kids that are coming, and put a fire pit nearby.

If you can, place some cut up logs around the fire for the kids to sit on throughout the party. If you don't have logs, use fold-up chairs.

To really set a fun camping atmosphere, add some camping string lights, lanterns, tiki torches, and some fun signs (like "Don't feed the bears") to your campsite.

Campout Activities

Build a campfire: Have the kids help you gather sticks and wood to help you build a campfire. They get a HUGE kick out of this, feeling like they really accomplished something terrific!

Camping Scavenger Hunt: Fill a pillowcase with lots of camping goodies (glowsticks, glow necklaces, flashlights, midnight snacks, matching bandannas, water spray bottle fans, etc.), and tie it to a tree hidden in the woods. Map out coordinates in your yard, give them each a compass, and as a team have them go on a hunt for "camping loot" that you've hidden. They'll love finding camping goodies that they can enjoy through the night!

Flashlight Tag: A good, old-fashioned favorite for when it gets dark outside!

Manhunt: Another old-fashioned favorite that they just love!

Spooky Campfire Stories: Have everyone come prepared with a spooky story to share, or get a book of spooky stories that you can read to them.

Roasting Marshmallows: What campout would be complete without roasting marshmallows?

Camping Party Favors

The goodies that were found during the Camping Scavenger Hunt (water spray bottle fans, bandannas, flashlights, compasses, etc.) can be used for party favors.

Toss them all into pillow cases secured with twine and tie them on the end of a stick for each child to take home. You may want to throw in some new glowsticks, since the ones they found during the hunt will be all used up.