Cole's Crazy Campout preparation!

Cole will turn NINE YEARS OLD on Monday and tonight we will celebrate with Cole's Crazy Campout.  He has invited three of his buddies to come celebrate and campout for his birthday.

For the invitations, we made tents out of construction paper and wrote a poem to go inside.  Cole was very excited and I was glad to see him so involved in the planning process.  

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of one of the invitations before I mailed them but here is the poem:

A night of adventure under the stars

We might see Venus, Jupiter or Mars!

We’ll sleep in the pop-up – stay up all night?

It will get dark so bring a flashlight!

We’ll watch a movie and play flashlight tag

Don’t forget a pillow and sleeping bag!

We’ll roast hotdogs and eat s’mores...

An amazing night in the great outdoors!

 

Yesterday, the kids made signs for the campout.  Cole decided what he wanted them to say and then I did the horrific bubble letters.  The kids did the coloring and they turned out quite cute!  Cooper added character with his own style of out-of-the-box coloring which initially frustrated Cole but then he realized how it only adds to the "craziness" of the campout! 

We went out this week and found some fun supplies to go along with our camping theme.  Most of the boys have never camped so we are going to make sure they "rough it" a bit to get the full experience.  We bought flasks and super cool light wands that are on lanyards.  They have 4 functions: flashlight, blinking, full light wand and whistle.  Too cute!  These will be great for flashlight tag.  We also found these small Coleman lanterns that are battery operated which will be their favors but also help if they need to escape for a quick visit to a nearby tree.  The best part is that they say Coleman right on them.

We've planned several games including a timed fire-starter race with a flint.  The boys will also be in charge of making the pancakes tomorrow (with hovering supervision) which will be a fun experience for them.  With hot dogs on the fire, s'mores, an outdoor movie, catching fireflies and flashlight tag...this should be a night they won't soon forget.  Could someone call Mother Nature and ask her to turn down the heat a smidge?