'The Great Outdoors' Birthday Party

My son turned eight years old!

We celebrated with a birthday party in 'The Great Outdoors!'

We had to have mason jars, because his name is 'Mason!'

The minnow bucket with hydrangeas and gardenias made the perfect centerpiece for this outdoor party.

You have to have trail mix or 'gorp' for a 'Great Outdoors' party!

An old metal number '8' serves as a paper weight for the napkins.  We served hotdogs with chili and slaw, popcorn, fruit, pickles and trail mix...simple, simple.

S'mores cupcakes were perfect for this warm day...no bon fire needed to roast these marshmallows!

Stay tuned...I will share the recipe for these s'mores cupcakes soon!  These cupcakes had it all...graham cracker crust in the bottom, chocolate chip morsels and chocolate cupcake in the middle with a marshmallow icing and a Hershey bar on top! Yum.

Another metal number '8' is displayed on one of the tables. 

A vintage playing card '8' is displayed on an old French stand.

The 'O' in Mason is an old milk top.  The metal letters came from Hobby Lobby.

The tree house was the hot spot for this party!

Rob installed a pulley system with a basket on the tree house.  This is the third basket we have hung, because the kids keep trying to hoist each other up and it breaks!  I used it on this day to send up a snack for the kids.

I love enamelware...this set of 'Hot Popcorn' enamelware was a find!  Plus, we eat a lot of popcorn.

You can see more of the tree house here!

The theme for this party started with the idea to learn some survival skills as part of our summertime project.  'The Great Outdoors' theme was perfect for my son's birthday and to kick off our summer project!  These cards are from the 'Worst-Case Scenario' card game travel edition.  I put these in the tree house for the kids to play.

Every kid needs a compass!  These came from Hobby Lobby, and I hung each on a piece of twine for the children to take home.

Their 'goody bag' was made like a bindle with a bandana attached to a stick.

Inside the little bag was a bag of popcorn, smore's, a pixie stick and some gum...just enough to survive for a day!  This looks like something Opie from the Andy Griffith show would carry.

I packaged my son's gift with different colors of tissue paper to resemble the flames of a fire and embellished the bag with some stickers that represented our outdoor theme.

Our gift to Mason was this adventure set from REI that included binoculars, flashlight, a whistle and a compass.  This summer, we will learn how to study the stars and use a compass for direction!  I don't know a thing about the stars, so I am excited about our project!

The kids enjoyed some outdoor adventure fun climbing in the tree house, and some swimming and canoeing on the lake.  For a 'Great Outdoors' party, you could have the children follow directions using their compass and have them find a treasure in the yard.  You could also have them draw a map of their own backyard and label it north, south, east and west.  This type of party offers countless ideas!

Edit: I linked a separate post about my tree house (here) for the Summertime Activities Challange at the CSI Project.  I will join the CSI Project again for their Red, White or Blue Challange with this 'Great Outdoor' Party!'



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I am also linking to Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style, the  Open House Party at No Minamalist Here and Under the Table and Dreaming Sunday Showcase! 

Visit for some great inspiration!

Our tree house was chosen as the #1 project over at the CSI Project for their Summertime Activities Challenge!  Thank you so much, Cassie at Primitive and Proper!  My boys will be so excited, too!

Thank you for these features!

 Kim at Savvy Southern Style

 Polka Dot Bungalow

Celebrations at Home

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