Taylor's 7th Birthday {a "glamping" party}

It has been one. crazy. month.  About a week before Taylor's birthday, we weren't really even sure yet what we were doing We hadn't had any time to even think about it. But maybe you know by now that I work best under pressure.
 She talked about not doing a theme at all because she couldn't think of one.  I was totally fine with that.  But then she started throwing out some ideas...but nothing was sticking for her.  So I got online to show her some ideas. I've seen camping themed parties before and always thought they looked fun.  We love to camp.  And we have kids that love to camp.  She loved the idea of it and we decided to go with a girly twist.  The actual term is "glamping" (glamorous camping).  I don't know if that's a real word, but there are definitely lots of references to it online.
We had already decided that we'd let her have her first slumber party, so we thought this theme fit perfectly with that!

I think this was the most fun cake yet!  But I think I've said that before.  I got almost all of my ideas from a mixture of online "glamping" parties and google images.

 

 

We had a gift station that had their pillowcases and fabric markers to decorate,

Seconds before we lit the candles, Nana and Papa, and our Michigan family called in to Facetime.  So they got to help sing 'Happy Birthday' and watch her blow out her candles.  She was enthralled at the campfire on her cake.

Later, after all of our non-sleepover guests left, and Mason headed off for a sleepover with his cousin, we did smores...

decorated pillow cases...

watched movies and made a god's eye yarn craft...

The tent was definitely the highlight.  We put up a canopy that we use when we camp, and then just started clothes pinning fabric and sheets all over.  We added mini bunting, Christmas lights, streamers and hanging ball lanterns in the center.  It came complete with the stench of campfire smoke leftover from our bluegrass weekend in September. 

Taylor was the first one asleep.  About an hour and a half later the rest of them fell asleep about 1am. I really hated to tell them they really needed to get to sleep, but at 7 years old, with church the next day, I didn't think I should let them go until they wanted to. 

It was pure joy watching these girls together.  3 of them are from her class and her cousin fit perfectly in with all of them.  They got along sooooo well and were so excited about every little thing.  They did each other's hair, played dolls, Daddy served them popcorn, and they were all so polite and sweet.  I honestly wasn't sure what to expect from a 7 year old sleepover, but we enjoyed it so much!