Grab your flashlights, firewood, and s’mores, we have the best camping birthday party ideas for the kids. From camping party food ideas, to décor, games, and more, these camping activities for kids will create many happy campers!
Do you have a little one who loves the outdoors and adventure? A camping-themed party is a wonderful idea for wilderness-loving kids. Best of all the venue is free, open the door and go into the great outdoors.
What do you do for a camping birthday?
Hosting a camping birthday party doesn’t have to be difficult. You can pull together an amazing camping-themed birthday using many supplies you might have at home. If you don’t have them, chances are your friends and family do, or hit up a few consignment and second-hand stores. These fun ideas will create an amazing low-budget birthday party camping theme.
- Grab a venue – this can be your own backyard. Have a great backyard camping party and enjoy a great savings.
- Collect camping supplies – camping supplies will create adorable camping birthday party decor at little to no cost. If you don’t have it, ask friends and family or visit second-hand stores.
- Create the invite – you can get a free camping theme invite on evite or visit Etsy for custom-made camping birthday party invitations or even electronic invites that can easily be sent using your phone. From glamping to camping, there is something for both girls and boys.
- Create a camping food menu for your birthday party food – camping recipes are everywhere. Plus light a bonfire and easily create your food for a camping activity. Don’t feel like making your recipes, use camping-themed food ideas for something that looks like the real thing.
- Create a few camping activities for kids – have camping games, a camping scavenger hunt, outdoor games, outdoor crafts under the stars, and more. This camp theme birthday party entertainment can remain very low cost.
We’ve put together more than 25 cute camping birthday party ideas that’ll help you plan the perfect get-together. You’ll find fun party foods like campfire s’mores, campfire hot dogs, and walking tacos. Of course, we’ve found a handful of adorable cake options (including easy cupcakes).
The list includes plenty of fun activities for the little campers to do during the party, like camping charades, camping Bingo, making lanterns, and painting walking sticks. We’ve also found some décor and party favor ideas that’ll really bring the theme together.
Check out these ideas for the best and cutest camping party you’ve ever seen.
Camping Birthday Party Food
S’mores campfire cones are a delicious idea for your dessert table. Provide waffle cones, chocolate chips, and mini marshmallows, wrap in foil, and pop them on the grill or in the fire pit for a few minutes. They’ll be a big hit with kids and adults alike! For variations on the recipe, add butterscotch chips, chopped strawberries, etc. You can set up a s’mores station so everyone can personalize their cone. | Frugal Coupon Living
If you’re planning a bonfire for your camp theme birthday party, these camping hot dogs are a must! They’re so easy to make using just hot dogs and crescent rolls. Provide ketchup or mustard to squeeze onto the dogs (optional) as well as cheese dip or barbecue sauce in individual cups for dipping. They’re delicious and filling, and you don’t even need a plate to eat them! | Frugal Coupon Living
This S’mores snack mix would make a great favor or take-home snack for your party guests, but it’s great for munching on while you mingle, too. Toasting the marshmallows gives this snack that S’mores vibe, but you can add them to the mix without toasting them, too. | Cincy Shopper
Walking tacos are an easy main dish to serve at your party with minimal mess to clean up. For this camping-themed party food, pile all your taco toppings into a bag of crushed Doritos or Fritos, grab a fork, and you’re ready to mingle while enjoying your tacos. They’re so good and don’t even require dishes. This fun camping food is an excellent camping party idea for adults or kids! | Frugal Coupon Living
These mini camping cookies are adorable! Set some out on the dessert table or wrap them in cellophane and tie them with a ribbon to hand out as favors at the end of the party. They’re easier to make than you think. Start with cut-out sugar cookie dough, and make royal icing in several different colors. Grab some camping-themed cookie cutters, and you’re all set. | The Decorated Cookie
Make pond water punch for the kids to drink! It’s a mix of blue Kool-aid and Sprite, but any blue drink you’d like works great. Add some fishing floats (and perhaps even a few gummy fish) to complete the look. So cool! | Surviving A Teacher’s Salary
These tent and campfire treats look as yummy as they are cute. They’re made with simple pantry ingredients you probably already have on hand, like peanut butter, Ritz crackers, and fruit roll-ups. If you don’t like chocolate raisins, you could use chocolate chips to make the stones around the campfire instead. The tent is made with graham crackers and caramel apple wrap. How brilliant is that? | She Knows
A trail mix bar is an absolutely genius idea for a camping party. Provide canisters of mini marshmallows, M&Ms, pretzels, cereal, chocolate chips, nuts, etc., for each child to make their own perfect trail mix. | And Everything Sweet
Cakes for a Camping Birthday Party
Birthday cakes make amazing centerpieces. Your guests will definitely ooh and ahh over this amazing lumberjack cake that’s made to look like a log and an ax. The surprise is the buffalo plaid interior. How fun! The peanut butter cracker cookies shown in this post are also terrific for a camping party. | Jenny Cookies (seen in our Father’s Day Cake Ideas)
Chocolate, graham cracker crumbs, and toasted marshmallows come together in these cute, easy, and delicious S’more cupcakes. The Teddy Graham and Hershey bar toppers are ultra-cute! This idea is simple enough that you can use a boxed cake mix and store-bought frosting instead of made-from-scratch if you’re short on time. | Tastes of Lizzy T
What could be more appropriate for a backyard camping birthday party cake than a campfire cake? This one is made with sugar glass for the campfire flames, rolled chocolate wafer sticks for the campfire logs, and a yummy chocolate frosting for the cake. | Simone Made It
What about having individual caping birthday party cakes? Campfire cupcakes are another terrific cake idea for a camp-themed birthday party, and they’re easy to make. You’ll need chocolate cupcakes (store-bought or homemade are both fine), chocolate and red frosting, mini marshmallows (optional), and pretzel sticks. | The Typical Mom
There are loads of great camping cake and cupcake ideas in this post, but the ones that caught our eye are the woodland animals’ cupcakes. You’ll need to be really great at working with fondant to recreate them, but there are other ways to do this, too! Use woodland animal paper cupcake toppers, or make or order some small woodland animal cookies to put on top. | Kara’s Party Ideas
There are so many cute details going on with this camping party that it’s difficult to choose just one idea, but a favorite is the teepee campfire cake. The cake looks like a log, and the fondant campfire and teepee sit on top. You should also check out the centerpieces and the canteen party favors. | Hostess with the Mostess
Camping Birthday Party Décor
Turn bandanas into a party banner to drape from the front of a table, from the ceiling, or above a doorway. You can purchase bandanas inexpensively from most dollar stores, so it’s an easy and fun decoration to put together. Add some greenery by clipping some branches from one of your trees, too. | Design Dazzle
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Make the party for your happy camper comes together in no time with these printable camping party cupcake toppers. They feature cute and simple designs with tents, compasses, trees, canoes, and more that’ll go great with any camping theme. | Alice and Lois
A pinecone garland would make a festive piece of décor for a camping party, plus you can reuse it again for the winter holidays! You’ll need some jute ribbon or twine, hooks, and pinecones. For these camping party decorations, it’ll be even more special if you go round up the pinecones from your own backyard! | Redeem Your Ground
Add some greenery to the décor by placing pine branches in galvanized pails or vases embellished with a plaid ribbon. The wooden slice underneath and pine cones in front complete the look. | Studio DIY
Make some campsite signs to show your guests the way to the party! This is such a cute idea, and while I typically see it with wood, making your signs with cardboard is a great party sign alternative if you want to keep expenses down or aren’t handy with a saw and a wood burner. | The Busy Broad
Worried about having a real fire with little ones around? Make a faux campfire with sticks and red, orange, and yellow tissue paper. This idea would also be brilliant as a centerpiece at the dining tables (but on a smaller scale). | Rockin’ Boys
Camping Birthday Party Favors
How fun are these tacklebox favors? They’re filled with gummy worms and wrapped with twine and a fishing bobber with a tag that reads, “Thanks for making my party reel fun.” | Must Have Mom
Make some bandana sacks for the kids to take home. You can fill them with goodies or a few of your favorite things like gummy worms, goldfish, cookies, binoculars, candy, canteens, etc., and they’ll think it’s super cool that they can carry their sacks over their shoulders. Instead of using wooden dowels, consider picking up a few twigs in the yard for a rustic look. They make adorable birthday camping party favors but can also be used to wrap the special guy/gal’s gifts. | Kara’s Party Ideas
Camping Birthday Party Games and Activities
Let the kids make lanterns with glow sticks! This is a safe way for kids to enjoy the lantern experience. If you’re worried about glass jars, provide plastic ones instead. The kids will need some assistance with the wire hangers, or you could attach those to the jars before the party starts. | Frugal Coupon Living
Kick the party off with a fun nature scavenger hunt to entertain the kids. It’s a great activity if you have your party in a woodsy area, but you can simplify the list if you’re hosting the party in an area without many trees, sticks, etc., too. | Frugal Mom Eh! (As seen in our Scavenger Hunts for Kids)
Camping games and charades will have kids and adults alike in fits of laughter. These are easy and fun games for all ages. Print, gather supplies, and play. For the camping scavenger hunt, stick the clues in a jar or bowl, and have each guest come up to act out a scene. You can divide into teams if you want or have a free-for-all. Also, consider these lake games, just add lake water! | Frugal Coupon Living
If you have an outdoor birthday party, consider taking your party go-ers on a camping scavenger hunt around the campsite. Omit whichever camping scavenger hunt clues don’t fit your camping party décor. As they read rhyming riddles and find new clues, you can lead them to find their camping party favors or camping-themed prizes. | Frugal Coupon Living
Camping Bingo is another fun game that’s great for kids of all ages. It’s in picture form, so even toddlers and preschoolers can join in. If you’re hosting this party outside, use small pebbles as your Bingo markers. It’ll add to the theme and help hold down your game sheets. | Glue Sticks & Gumdrops (seen in our Bingo Printables for Kids)
Every happy camper needs a good walking stick to use while hiking and exploring. Let the kids create their own painted walking sticks to take on their adventures. | The DIY Dreamer
Pin this list of camping themed birthday party ideas to save for your upcoming party!
More Birthday Party Ideas for Kids
It’s fun to add science experiments to a super science party, but don’t forget the party games too. Enjoy these 50+ Party Games for Kids. Pin to Pinterest for later.
I’ve not learned how to get my kids to stop growing. Because of this, it feels as though I am planning birthday parties all the time. Looking for more Birthday Party Ideas? We have them – parties for toddlers, for boys, for girls, for teens, and more!
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Cheers to another year!
WHAT’S TRENDING? Looking for a few engaging activities? Grab Minute to Win it Games – Traditional, Holiday, Group, and more! Use these fun activities in the office, classroom, or at your next birthday party.
Last Updated on March 23, 2023 by Ashley at Frugal Coupon Living