Well y’all, thats a wrap! Birthday season has come to an end and we went out with a bang. Our eldest turned 6 at the end of May to concluded the rapid fire birthday secession that happens in our household. Our daughters have birthdays in March and April, then our son celebrates his birthday right before the start of summer in May. When I asked my son about a birthday party theme, he suggested several options before finally settling on a camouflage themed party.
A camouflage birthday party theme can go a lot of different ways. When I started researching some ideas, there was hunting themed camo parties, Nurf gun themed camo parties, military themed camo parties, and so on. My son really isn’t into hunting or military stuff, and although he loves a Nerf gun, I didn’t want the whole party theme centered around that. So, we just stuck with general camouflage as our theme. Which I realize isn’t so much a party theme, as it is a pattern used for clothing and the like, but my son is 6 and this was good enough for him!
Decor
When I start to plan a birthday party, I always start by picking a color scheme. Which with a theme like camouflage was pretty dang easy. I chose to use varying colors of green (a kelly green, a lime green, and a forest green) along with gold, black and white.
As always, I made a custom Happy Birthday banner using camouflage scrapbooking paper, gold metallic paper, and dark green cardstock. I also made some other paper banners from green and black cardstock. I cut small triangles and rectangles with my cricut machine, then taped the pieces to fishing line with transparent tape. Since these banners were outside, it was hard to keep the triangle banner from twisting in the wind and therefore you can see the tape on some of them. For next time, I will definitely make the small banners double sided (and tape the fishing line in between two triangle cutouts), but this was one of those live and learn situations.
And I’m sure by now you noticed the balloon garland I put together? I used green balloons, lime green balloons, gold balloons, silver balloons, large gold balloons, white balloons, and hunter green balloons (leftover from a previous birthday). I tried a new method of constructing the balloon garland this go around. Instead of using a kit like this, I tied the balloons together in pairs, then strung them together using fishing wire. There’s a certain technique I used, which is probably a whole post in itself, but there are a ton of tutorials on Pinterest if you are looking for some guidance.
Balloon garlands are so inexpensive when you make them yourself and its much easier than it looks. Seriously, I have persuaded multiple people to try making a balloon garland for the first time. And all were delighted that it wasn’t as hard as they thought, so go ahead and give it a try. They make such an impact with the decor.
Treats + Snacks
As for the snack table, I used a plain white table cloth and a burlap table runner (I think this one was actually left over from my wedding!). The color and texture of the burlap tied in nicely with the camouflage theme. But lets be honest, the birthday desserts were the star of this show.
I started with my tried and true vanilla cupcake recipe and buttercream frosting. To tie into the Camo theme, I used camouflage cupcake liners and multicolored green sprinkles. Okay, I know this may sound nutty, but when you want your parties to be Pinterest worthy, you gotta go the extra mile, right? I wanted sprinkles in several different shades of green (Camo theme, duh), but I also wanted these sprinkles to be different shapes. I was hoping to find a set like this (that I used for Julianne’s birthday) only in green. No such luck. This is when you have to get creative. When I found the avocado sprinkles at Michaels, it had everything I was looking for. Plus a few sprinkles I wasn’t looking for.
So, yes, I did what any mother who wants to give her son the best Camo themed birthday party would do. I poured out that bag of sprinkles and separated out the ones I didn’t want to use. Voila. There was my mixture of multicolored green sprinkles with varying shapes.
My son also requested a small carrot cake like his sister had at her first birthday. I obliged and used my go-to carrot cake recipe and my favorite cream cheese frosting. Then, during the party, I come to find out that he wanted what was essentially a smash cake, so that he could eat it like a smash cake. His idea was to tear into this carrot cake hands-free and just go to town. We finally convinced him to eat a slice of cake like a civilized 6 year old so he could share the cake with others.
I also mixed up a batch of camouflage themed snack mix. I threw together pretzels, peanuts, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, green goldfish, and green and brown M&Ms. And you bet I did the same thing with the goldfish and M&Ms as I did to those sprinkles. I just bought a large bag and picked out the colors I liked. Don’t worry, the other colors won’t go to waste in our house. 😉
And you know the party wouldn’t be complete without Chelsie at Pearl’s Pastries working her magic. She made four different camouflage sugar cookies for Luke’s party, and as always, they were fantastic. And I can’t stress enough how delicious her cookies taste too. The kids love to take one home and have a little treat for later.
Activities
We hosted this party at my parent’s house over Memorial Day weekend, so the main attraction was the swimming pool. Luke had a blast splashing with his friends in his new camouflage swimsuit. And the weather was perfect for hanging in the backyard.
It seems that cupcake decorating has become a staple at our birthday parties in 2021. I first tried this activity at my daughter’s dessert themed birthday party, and it was such a hit that we just keep doing it. I use these paint palettes to coral the sprinkles, and place a cupcake in the middle. My tip is that I prepare the frosting ahead of time, but I do not frost the cupcakes until right before I serve them. This ensures the frosting will still be wet enough for sprinkles to stick to it. If you frost the cupcake too far in advance, the frosting will set (and become hard), and the sprinkles will roll right off.
The kids have a total blast customizing their cupcakes, and I would consider this an outside activity. I always try to cover the kids table with a plastic table cloth for easy clean up, but with it being outside, its always blowing around. For this party, I lined the table with kraft paper that I taped to the underside of each end. It dressed up the folding table just enough and stayed put the entire party!
Hobby Lobby also had temporary tattoos to match the camo theme, a great party favor idea. I would say the kids had fun swinging at the piñata, but Luke busted it open on his first swing, so the kids had to settle for scavenging for candy. Maybe next time!
Luke’s 6th birthday party was a blast and the camo theme was fun to plan! What birthday themes have you tried? I’ve love to hear about them. Comment below or connect with me on instagram @elleandjaydesign. And now you can find me on Pinterest too!
Party Sources
- Camo scrapbook paper
- Gold metallic scrapbook paper
- Green balloons
- Lime green balloons
- Gold balloons
- Silver balloons
- 24″ gold balloons
- White table cloth
- Vanilla cupcake recipe
- Vanilla buttercream recipe
- Camouflage cupcake liners
- Green sprinkles – I used this set and removed the pink and avocado ones.
- Carrot cake recipe
- Cream cheese frosting recipe
- Lime paper straws
- Striped kraft paper straws
- Green striped paper straws
- Paint palettes
- Light green sprinkles
- Silver star sprinkles
- Green star sprinkles – from this set
- Kraft paper table runner
- Camo tattoos
- Camoflauge gift wrap
- Camo napkins
