A 7 year olds camp over, whatcha think??

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Registered: 05-10-2004
A 7 year olds camp over, whatcha think??
4
Mon, 05-10-2004 - 5:50pm
ok here's what I was thinking, tell me if this is good. We'll start off at 8 am with 3 of my son's friends. We will head to a mini golf place and play a round of golf. Then, giving each child $10, we will go to an arcade type setting so they can play games til the money runs out. Afterwards we will go to the local park and have lunch and let the kids play for a little while, depending on time. We need to be back at the house by 4 pm to set up for an overnight campout. Haven't quite decided on indoor or outdoor, girls will be there too. We'll have ham, hotdogs, and chips for dinner. I'll let the kids pick out 1 movie, we'll have popcorn and smores, on the grillOh yeah and cake in between with a campfire theme. The invites will be a camping theme, haven't got as far as how they would look. I will have the kids bring their own bags and a flashlight. Also have a little craft to take home. Take poloroid pics of each child in the tent with a flashlight.. put them in a frame the kids make out of popcicle stick and twigs and such with a magnet on the back. Then wake up to a pancake breakfast.

How does all that sound?????? Besides hectic?

My only problem is I was thinking of having them show up around 5 or so, but I need a game for them to play outside while everyone is showing up. And one to play with the flashlights. And should dh stay outside if it becomes an outside party? I was thinking about separating the girls from the boys in two tents outside or two rooms inside. I just need someoideas on how to tie ALL of this together for a party he won't forget. TIA for all the help and ideas.

Should I include with the invites somewhat of an itenerary (sp) to make mom's more at ease? And are there any "cute" ways to word an invite for this?



Avatar for my3girls2001
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Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 05-10-2004 - 7:05pm

wow!!! Honestly I think you will never do all of the things you have planned,, do you mean they each will pick out a movie? will that be like over 3 movies to watch? I don;t think they will have time for that,, and I would be happy giving $5.00 each instead of $10.00. It sounds like a great time!!


I would defenitly have dh stay out with the kids maybe in his own pop up tent or something I would not feel comfortable letting my child come over to sleep outside with no adult out with them. and maybe you could stay out with the girls,,


'How about if they paly just kid games such as hide and seek, or freeze tag, everyone loves those games and they can use their flashlights to tag with the light or something,, your picture frames sound really cute!


I would write on the invite your phone number and have the parent call with details,, or something,, GL,, to you he will be sure to remember this,,

Kim~
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Registered: 05-10-2004
Mon, 05-10-2004 - 9:10pm
oh goodness no, just one movie they will get to vote on, and we'll prolly just stay inside, but invite only boys, might be too much to have a boy/girl sleepover this early, but thanks for thr response
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-26-2003
Mon, 05-10-2004 - 11:00pm
This sounds great, but just to play devil's advocate for a second, I'll tell you what gets screamed at us by the Boy Scouts of America (we're Cub Scout Masters)--you need to be TWO DEEP! I.E., NO adults sleeping in the kid's tents or bedrooms, and when you're getting people tucked in, ready, bathroom rounds out of the way, etc. (or even just hanging out in the house and yard), you need to always have TWO adults, NEVER one alone with kids, whether it's boys or girls. Sad, but in this day and age, you can NOT be too careful with this--never put yourself into a position where anyone could ever even SUGGEST any inpropriety. If you're having more than 5 or so stay the night, you may want to consider having another parent or a friend be an additional adult chaperone overnight. (Besides, the extra pair of hands and eyes comes in really handy when they get hyper tired around 10pm LOL) With scouts, we've had a LOT of experience camping out with large quantities of boys from age 6-11, and one thing I can tell you is to make sure you have a LOT of activities planned. It is better to have too much to do, even if you don't get to all of it, than to leave 20 first and second graders to their own devices for long...

Busy hands activities that have worked for us (especially if you have an extra adult or two to supervise games while you're getting dinner ready, etc):



Balloon toss: the kids get in a big circle, and bounce balloons to each other, with the rules that you can only touch it once before the next person gets it, you can't go outside the cirle, and it can't touch the ground. You can make a team sport of this if you put a laundry basket in the center of each circle, with the goal that they're trying to get each ballon to bounce into the basket (which is harder than it sounds) before the other team.



Toilet Paper Mummy Race: You go to the dollar store and stock up on cheap TP, and break the kids into teams. The teams have one "mummy" each (which can be a grown up or a kid) who they have to get wrapped from head to foot in "mummy wrap", and who then has to waddle without breaking their wrapping to the end of the mummy race course, which you set out before they start. It's really funny if they have their heads swaddled too, and they have to be guided by voice since their waddling "blind".



The Handless Pass: You break the kids into teams, then line them up. You give them a basket full of grapfruit, or oranges, or round nerf balls work well, at one end, and an empty basket at the other. The first kid picks up the ball, tucks it under his chin, and has to pass it to the next kid, who grabs it with their chin (hands behind back) and passes it to the next kid, etc, etc, until the last one drops it in the basket. If it gets dropped or touched with hands, it has to go back to the beginning. First team to get all their balls in the end basket wins. (This works well with girls vs. boys, too, so nobody has to actually touch a *ewww* girl's face lol)

The ever faithful potato sack race--just make sure the ground is even, and there are no sharp edges for anyone to hit should they fall.



Three legged race--same as sack race unless you want stitches and a first aid merit badge.

One thing that we have found is that ALL kids love to win things and be recognized so they feel special!! Set the games up as a sort of "Camp Whatever Games" and keep team scores, individual, etc. If you go to your local sports/trophy store, you can pick up a few small trophies fairly cheap (we get them for about $4-$6 complete with engraved front and an assortment of tops), and most paper supply stores have award ribbons--or you can always print out award certificates. Make up awards, like "Most Spirited Player", and "Most Team Spirit", "Best Sportsmanship", etc, and make sure to have enough of them for everybody to win something so nobody gets left out. We even set up an Olypic style stage and hand out medals (no big deal, three boxes or stools at different heights lol)--the kids get to jog around the circle with a flashlight for a torch and make victory speeches (it's amazing how hammy they can get lol). We have a tape recorder of really hokey "Games Music" too, which always makes the kids laugh.

One more thing, as far as a flashlight game that is TOO cool, try this out--you get stiff paper, like the big square sheets of scrapbook paper, and trace simple shapes on them--a tree, a dog, a bear, a person, a bird, a cloud and sun, etc. You hang a couple sheets on a rope between two trees, or two posts, or whereever it will hang, and the kids put on "Flashlight Figure Theatre". The flaslights, when you shine them through the shapes from a distance, put the figures onto the sheet hanging in the dark. You can have the kids do a "story in the round" where one person starts the story with their firgure, and each kid has to add onto the story with their flashlight figure too. Make sure you have a moderator, or the stories tend to get horrific pretty fast though LOL (the bear ALWAYS ends up eating someone lol).

Well, hope that helps, and good luck :)

Angela

Avatar for kidstimes2
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Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 05-11-2004 - 10:31am
Hi there, de-lurking to respond to your post. I am having a campover for 8 year olds this Friday night and here is the invitation wording that I sent out to the parents. I copied and pasted different camping clip art onto the doc and then printed it on cute paper, it has been a big hit! We are not sleeping in the tents with the kids as they are only right outside our backdoor and in a very safe neighborhood.

We are sending the kids on a neighborhood treasure hunt (to look for leaves, acorns, pinecones, unique objects, etc.) then I am also going to have them make p-nut butter pinecone bird feeders so that they each have something to take home from their "camping" adventure! I would be happy to give youmore ideas if you want, email me privately at kimberlygrove@comcast.net.

End of the School Year

Backyard Camping Adventure

The school year has been long

Thankfully it’s almost done

Now it’s time to kick back

And to have a little fun!

A camp-over is what is planned

In Xander’s tent in May,

A treasure hunt is in the works

We hope you can come and play!

You will need your sleeping bag

A pillow would be great,

Ghost stories we will tell

When it’s dark and when it’s late.

No need to be afraid

Parents will be on the prowl,

To catch those unsuspecting ghosts

Or coyotes as they howl.

We will eat until we are stuffed

Hot dogs, burgers and more,

And if we all STILL have room

We will build delicious s’mores!

8XX Tupelo Bay Drive

Is where you’ll want to be

849-XXXX is our number

To RSVP!

We hope you will make it

And join us for the fun,

The camp over will end

With the morning’s rising sun!

Date: Friday, May 14th

Begins: 5:00pm

Ends: 10:30am Saturday, May 15th

Parents: Bob and Kimberly