For my daughter's 5th birthday, she requested a campout theme. What a fantastic site this is to search out interesting and unique party ideas...she and I sorted through lots of them and were inspired to begin the planning of her special party. Since her birthday is in March and it is normally quite cold here at that time of the year, we opted to hold the party in a transformed campsite in our basement. First we sent out invitations...complete with a cute little camping jingle...my daughter decorated them with camping stickers to make the invitations complete. The children were very excited upon receiving them.  She invited 6 friends - always the age of the birthday girl plus one...this works very well in keeping our party sizes just right.  In advance, we created an oversized Welcome to Camp sign for the front yard as this would greet our guests.  Also in advance we created everything that we would need to set up a camper's registration table - a sign-in sheet, name badges, signage, etc.  When the children arrived to camp, the camp sign was a terrific welcome. They stepped inside and were greeted by the birthday girl's aunt who was playing the part of camp registration director.  She enthusiastically welcomed the children, explained the details of the campout, gave them a nametag and each child chose a glow in the dark necklace and bracelet to wear. Each time a guest arrived and she finished the registration process, she had them follow the signs to the camp site. Upon arrival in the camp site - complete with a big tent and lots of articial trees (from all over our house) - the children were escorted to the camp crafts station.  There they created camp visors and camping door signs (found on Oriental Trading). They had fun completing their projects. After everyone completed their crafts, we played a quick game of pin the marshmallow on the campfire...which we had designed ahead of time. This is always a big hit. Next it was time for dinner. The table was decorated with lots of kid-friendly camping equipment that we had collected from around the house - and a sign in the middle that read Campers Gather Here." At each place setting was a flashlight for each camper...all of them loved their flashlights...I think this was one of the best finds of the entire party - found them on clearance at Target - really nice multi-colored flashlights for 88 cents a piece.  The children enjoyed hotdogs and chips. The bug juice was next and boy was it a big hit! To create it I purchased an oversized container of the green Hawaiian Punch - attached a Yummy Bug Juice label on it and added in a few plastic bugs. The kids were really intrigued by this! After dinner we enjoyed birthday cake - which was made to look like a campfire...used twix bars marshmallows etc. to create a cake that was perfect for the occasion.  Next it was game time.  We played "Dive under the camp sheet!"  To play we had the children seated in a circle...and we'd say together "Lilly Lilly dive under the sheet and bring back 6 bugs that are really neat!" Each time the request changed...sometimes it was "bring back a bug that sits on its feet."  The campers loved this game - we kept playing it over and over and it never seemed to lose its appeal.  Next it was time to go on a bug hunt. We turned off the lights and had the children use their flashlights to find a handful of bugs.  This turned out to be quite a lot of fun for them.  We did a campfire guitar pinata and then it was time for campsongs. We had the children gather around our fireplace...and we sang some campfire songs...and listened to a campfire story - there is a perfect one about the Berenstein Bears that we chose.  During the story the campers enjoyed smores which we had made in the oven.  They loved the smores.  Afterwards the children gathered in the tent for gift opening. There is something extra fun about a tent...it made it extra fun for all the campers. As a take-home favor we gave each child a playground ball inside a gift bag. We attached a tag that said "Thanks for coming...we hope you had a ball!"  They also took home their flashlights collected plastic bugs camp crafts and pinata candy. When it was all finished and the last camper had left I overheard my daughter mumble to herself..."now that was the best birthday party ever!"  I knew it was a hit for her...and that's what means so very much to me."