We are so excited to share this creative and adorable Camping Birthday Party that our friend, Stephanie Monge of Monmell Designs, recently planned for her son Landon.  You might remember the Glam version of our camping party from this summer (at The Bachelorette, Emily Maynard’s daughter’s party that we styled!)  Well, Stephanie’s party is just perfect for boys of any age!

I am thrilled to share with you her creative decorating, sweets, activities and decor ideas.  Be sure to keep an eye out for her FABULOUS burlap custom pillows that she designed with some of our printable camping party graphics.  (They are available in the Monmell Designs shop!)

Stephanie sent out our Camping party invitation to Landon’s best buddies…

The cake is absolutely perfect! I am sure all the little kiddies loved checking out this adorable masterpiece (and eating it, too!)

Stephanie is the master of burlap and created this precious burlap wreath with adorable embellishments….

Read on for more gorgeous photos and party details, as told by Stephanie…

 

 

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PARTY DETAILS, as told by Stephanie…

What a treat and honor to be able to share on andersruff.com all the memories created during a backyard camping party held in Chandler, Arizona!

I’m Stephanie {Mon}ge, half of the duo who is MonMell Designs, a pillow and home décor company approaching our 1st Birthday! Being that most of our designs revolve around burlap and our obsession with it, it was only fitting that my 7 year old son’s birthday have a few  LOT of burlap touches! I fell in love the Anders Ruff camping printable collection and once I saw it, I knew the happy campers were going to need tents! But, we’ll get to those in just a little bit!

I also knew I wanted to incorporate a few of the birthday boy’s favorite things: sparklers, movies, worms and ‘old school’ carnival Go Fish! (You know the one where you throw the fishing pole string over a little wall?) So, getting those elements to work together wasn’t entirely easy. But, ultimately it all came together with the invaluable help of my sweet mom, Sandra who flew from Houston just to help me make this perfect! {What a mama wouldn’t do, right?}

I should tell you, MonMell Designs first collaborated with the lovely ladies of Anders Ruff in November of 2011, on the coordinating home décor line of their Happy Gobble Gobble Collection. And then with our work together on the North Pole Collection.

In designing the details in this event, I created the MonMell Designs Camping collection using the AndersRuff images and guests saw the first glimpse of the Camping Collection when they arrived at the front door!

They were also greeted by a “Welcome Happy Campers” burlap banner, a tent, fishing poles, sleeping bag, and a wreath.  It even had real fishing lures, bobbers and fire-roasted marshmallows on sticks in the wreath!  To the backyard, which was set up with rows of tents, homemade kids size picnic tables I built from a pile of lumber, and a smore’s station! And of course a variety of Anders Ruff graphics printed on burlap and canvas. They incorporate designs which could be used for any camping trip and of course the coordinating Camping Themed Party.  Details include jute twine, Swarovski crystals and bronze brads, to name a few.

While the children were waiting for everyone to arrive they were able to decorate their tents wrapping pinecones around twine and hang them on their tents and get grubby with worms…live fishing bait!

At one point there were a group of kids in a circle, chanting ‘fight, fight, fight’ at the worms squirming around each other! Ha! Once hands were cleaned and the kids could wait no longer they were ‘lured’ to the dessert table. Oddly, enough the kids were torn between the real and the gummy worms…which were on the dessert table.

The backdrop was one of my FAVORITE things! I had my beloved on hubby clean up the backyard patrol, when I realized he was going to throw away two weathered and faded pallets! Gasp!! After I wrestled them away from him, I decided to use them as a backdrop and loved the way it turned out!

I love how they look like old weathered wood on a fishing dock.  Another wreath was hung from the pallets a with moss covered 7 and frame with an AndersRuff printable.  I bookended the table with oversized balloons from Petite Party Studio.

On the table were lots of little surprises, including a tackle box with vending capsules!  Kids were able to pack their own ‘bait’ and had a ball doing it!  The cake was beautifully created by Cakes by Cassie and complimented with cupcakes and the Anders Ruff printables. {TIP} Don’t put out all the cupcakes or sweets to avoid overcrowding the table.

The happy campers also really enjoyed all the woodsy essentials; Twigs/Twix, Snakes/Red Vines, Grizzly Bears/Gummy Bears and even Bug Juice/Orange Soda! Once the kids were fully loaded with sugar and the sun was beginning to set, we played a good ol’ fashioned came of Go-Fish over the fence.  I was shocked how much they LOVED this, even at 7 years old!

Just as the sunset we lit the candles and the special surprise sparkler in the cake!  After the singing and sweets the happy campers, with parent supervision were given sparklers to wave and enjoy!

Finally, when all the kids were ready to “relax” and the smell of fresh popped popcorn lofting in the air, the kids sat down to watch a movie on a backyard Big Screen from Fun Flicks of Arizona.

Kids say on sleeping bags and in their tents, some playing with the worms…still!  It was an absolute hit with the parents and children and a wonderful way to enjoy good old-fashioned backyard birthday fun!

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All of the printable camping party decor and invitations are available in our shop here.

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VENDOR CREDITS & SOURCES:

– Event Styling:  Stephanie Monge, MonMell Designs
– Styling Assistance:  Sandra Applewhite, “Grammy-in-Chief”
– Printable Camping Party Invitation: Anders Ruff Custom Designs
– Printable Camping Party Tags, Labels, Signs, etc : Anders Ruff Custom Designs
– Burlap Pillows: MonMell Designs
– Photography: Shannon Hage Photography
– Cake and Cupcakes: Cakes by Cassie 
– Table Linens and Wood Slices: My Party is Over
– Balloons & Vending Capsules: Petite Party Studio
– Backyard Movie Screen and Popcorn Maker: Fun Flicks of Arizona