6 Epic Camp Out

I don't know if I am cool enough to call things "Epic" but that's what this Camp Out was.  The kids loved it, we loved it and it was a ton of fun!!  It was like having a big Un-Birthday Party.  An event for no reason other than making the kids happy and bringing back memories of camping last summer.

Darcy took the kids out and gave me an hour to set up our surprise Living Room Camp Out.  They may have had some idea because all they can talk about, since September, is "when are we going camping?"

I made a cardboard, star-lit tent, pulled the sleeping bags out of storage and zipped them together, blew up the air mattress, filled their Camping Survival Satchels, hung the stars and set up the dessert table and activities in record time!

More Epic details:

3D Paper Stars were hung from the ceiling.

I covered the cardboard tent with a coordinating blanket from their bedroom.

In sneaky, momma fashion, I built this tent from a large piece of cardboard and poked Christmas lights through holes the night before our Camp Out {try hiding a giant cardboard tent in the house ~ challenging for sure!}  Cheri at I Am Momma ~ Hear Me Roar shared this light-up-a-box idea last week.

I whipped out a picnic blanket and transformed the ottoman into a Camping Dessert table.  We also served Hotdogs and Caesar Salad for dinner.

We had fixings for smores, a brownie campfire cake, smore bars and pretzels {my kids love pretzels ~ is that weird?}

The kids knew about these Smore Bars as I had done a few "test kitch's" to get them just right... 
here's the recipe!

Our Brownie Campfire Cake was super fun and inspired by this one.

You can't go wrong with Twix and M&Ms.

Our Camping Activities were awesome!  I found these fantastic printables at 2 Teaching Mommies.  I laminated everything so that I could use them as a unit during my Toddlers in the Park class this spring and maybe even bring them camping with us this summer.

Isaiah matching shadows.

The boys unpacking their Camping Survival Satchels.  

Cameron kept saying "oh Mommy, now we have a purse just like you!" and

"where did my purse go?" 

I laughed SO hard!

Darcy kept saying "no, buddy.  It's your tactical satchel"

hee hee

Unpacking their camping fab finds.

Cameron wanted to "taste" the fire.

Testing out the tent.

Gazing at the stars.

Really, really, really great time had by all!  We roasted marshmallows over a tea light and made smore snowmen out of foam pieces too.  Check out my Camp Out Board for more inspiration.  The kids LOVED it {and so did we}!!

Notes for next time:  
I would use a real pup tent as our cardboard one tended to slip off of the air mattress and only lasted through the night.
Plan to have the kids stay up REALLY late.  Unlike real camping, they hadn't been outside, expending energy in the great outdoors.  Ultimately we had to separate them with the boys sleeping in their room and only the little miss in the tent.
I would try to find healthier camping snacks... there's a good chance that too much sugar contributed to the late night :P

If you have an indoor camp out, will you let me know?  I would love to see it!  Thanks for visiting.

Linking to these fab parties.