Camping Party: We began our camping party by making invitations. We made a tent out of green paper and cut a slit in the middle for the doors. Once the child opened the door of the invite all of the necessary details were printed on a white piece of paper glued to the back.  Once our group of 6 year old boys were assembled, we proceeded to the basement which we had transformed into the great outdoors.  Ideally the real outdoors would have been great, but winter in MN doesn't really allow for this!! We decorated by setting up a real 6-man tent, darkening the room and hanging white lights from the ceiling for stars and played a CD that contained cricket and other nightime noises--the library is a great resource for all kinds of music. We made two different crafts.  First we had previously gathered walking sticks from the woods and peeled the bark from the first foot of the stick. I assembled a variety of supplies with which they could decorate:  beads, feathers, jute twine to string beads and hang feathers, and markers.  The boys had a great time personalizing their sticks.  We then took a picture of each boy holding their stick along with the birtday boy, and once we develop these pictures, we used them as a personalized thank you card. Games included spot the animal:  We used flashlights(another craft that they personalized with paint pens and took home in their party bag) to find a variety of plastic animals that we hid around the room. The boys all sat on a blanket and we would announce which animal to look for.  We also gave clues to find the sack filled with treats. We hung this stuff sack from the ceiling like you would if you hung food from a bear. We then gathered at the table upstairs for lunch and cake. I decorated upstairs with a vine:  a garden hose covered with cut out paper leaves. The table had pieces of bark and leaves covering it, tin cups and plates and the cake was a "fire".  For the cake, I made three chocolate log cakes and frosted them with brown frosting.  I then propped them into a tripod shape on a platter and made flames by cutting fruit roll ups and placing them in and around the logs. It actually looked like a campfire.  We ended our day with presents and a real bonfire in our yard. Each child recieved a treat bag that was filled with trail mix, candy, their flashlight inside a nylon bag I had sewn.  It was a fun winter escape and party for our son who loves the outdoors!!