May 16, 2012

Girl's Camp Banner and Other Camping Decor :)

Yep, I said it.  I decorate when I go camping.
Doesn't everyone???

Well, okay, if I were going camping with Cowboy 
I wouldn't decorate...very much.
He just doesn't get it.
Nor does the rest of my family.
But when I go to CHURCH camp, and it's pretty much ALL GIRLS, 
then totally yes, I'm DECORATING!

The woods are gorgeous to gaze upon, that much is true!
But when you're looking at the CABIN, well, it just needs a little sumn sumn.
Or....maybe......a LOT.

My cabin mom partner, Ronnie and I LOVED sprucing things up a bit!

Since summer is almost here and we're about to embark on another girl's camp adventure, I thought I'd share some ideas on how you can liven up your camping quarters.

You can also see HERE what gifts I gave the girls each day.
CAMP.  IS.  FUN!

First of all, I made this banner
 out of a bunch of super fun paper that I already had in my stash.
(THIS is why you need a stash, ladies!  
So that when you get around to making something with it,
 it feels like it's free......lol)
I staple-gunned it to the beam, one corner at a time.  
Yeah, it was a pain, but so worth it.  
Dontcha just love the color and joy it adds to our cabin porch?
Ronnie brought the pink sheer curtains (***BIG HEARTS*** for those!)
and the pink feather boa!
All we were missing was buckets and buckets of pink paint and an air sprayer!


The dollar section at Target is your FRIEND!
That's where I got these darling foam words.
I'm totally reusing those this year!
Except not the Princess one, cuz we've moved past the princess faze...
this year it's gonna be all about the owls!
Let me know if you see groovy owl decorations anywhere (cheap).
Here's my Pinterest board where I've been gathering owl inspiration for months.



We were, well, the Snow White cabin. 
That's way more fun than, say, cabin #9, right?
(the cabin naming and signs were the work of our stake leaders)


Here's the banner, up close...
can you see that each one is based on 
each of the Young Women Values and in that Value color?

















and VIRTUE

Here's the overall look of our front porch.

And here's how it looked from the road
Niiiiiiiiice!  ;)
(there are strings of lights all around the outside of our cabin too)
See that blue cooler there?  
Ronnie had that packed full of juice boxes and such for the girls 
and Diet Coke and such for US. 
 She was the BEST cabin mom partner!!

Inside looking out.


Strings of Christmas lights and big tissue flowers everywhere.

(sidenote: Look way way back in that corner.  We nailed up a cheap shower curtain so that the girls could have a private place to change their clothes, and a clean rug to stand on).

More light strings and tissue flowers!

This was the first time I'd ever made tissue flowers
which means ANYBODY can do it!
Do anything you can think of to make it pretty!  :)



We covered our picnic tables with cheap plastic tablecloths from the dollar store. 
 Bring extra because they WILL get ripped up.
All along the middle of both tables we had baskets and buckets filled with all kinds of little craft things they could make during their free time, big bottles of bubbles, Bath and Body Works body spray (cuz they don't get to shower every day), air freshener (2 CANS!), coloring books, crayons, markers, bug spray for humans, stationary, and candy!
The girls kept busy and had something to do while chit-chatting and waiting for the next organized camp activity.
One of the girls actually filmed a video of a squirrel breaking into this tub of licorice.
It's HEEL-LARE-EEEE-USSS!
Anyone know how to download a video that's posted on Facebook?  :s
So, uh hum, I guess my advice is
DON'T LEAVE FOOD AND CANDY OUT, EVEN IF YOU THINK IT'S SEALED.


Ronnie and I were bound and determined to get the 
GOLDEN PLUNGER AWARD
for having the cleanest cabin.
It took three days
BUT WE FINALLY GOT IT!
(the previous two days were both won by the same cabin.  What? 
 I think there must have been a pay-off or something!)  ;)
We are SOOOOOO proud of this bejeweled toilet plunger!

Keep your cabins clean and organized.
The girls grumble about having to clean up constantly,
but they actually do enjoy having a tidy place to hang out!
It became a hang out for a lot of girls from other cabins too.

You may even have to resort to putting their shoes OUTSIDE!
PeeeeeYewwww!



So our cabin was almost always tidy,
except that one night when we secretly got stringed and saranned!
Hey, I guess THAT can be considered decor!




I am so grateful for the awesome stake leaders who gave us newbies a lot of pointers on how to be the best cabin moms we could be.  Some other suggestions for out-of-the-ordinary things to pack that were super helpful:

extra camp chairs if you have them
wipes
fan
yellow light bulb (if the bugs get bad...they don't like yellow light)
tacks
nails
hammer
staple gun
clock
extension cords
power strips (so glad I had TWO!)
hand sanitizer
masking and duct tape
saran wrap and string???

(if I think of anything else, I'll add it here)





The most important things, 
even more important than making your cabin 
extra fru-fru and yummy-smelling
are those bonding moments where kids truly know you care about them.




Let your light so shine before men, 
that they may see your good works,
 and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 5:16



I would love to hear about your camp experiences and ideas!
I've got less than two months until we embark to the mountains again!





12 comments:

  1. Hold up . . . you have CABINS and BEDS at girl's camp! Whoa. We're just happy to have the addition of those fancy "flushing toilets" at our camp. Your decorations look great.

    Warmly, Michelle

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Michelle! Yes, can you believe we have cabins & cots? I feel so spoiled! That is NOT what we grew up with.......we slept in tents and cooked our own food. lol.

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  2. I loved going to Girls Camp when I was younger. I only go to go maybe twice, but it was so fun! Your decorations are great! :) Gotta love all the effort you put into making it even more fun for the girls!!
    P.S. I'm married to a Cowboy too! ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Kassi!

      Thanks!!! I really do love making it extra fun and colorful for the girls! I have some great things up my sleeve for this year too! :)

      And YAY for Cowboys!!! lol.

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  3. Cindy! I wanna go camping with you! This is my first year going with my daughter, and it's her first year as a YCL. I just showed her your pictures and what did she say....we can't decorate anymore. (SAYWHAT????) yeah. They want all the cabins to be (get this) equal. They don't want anybody to feel left out. Man! I tell ya. Bummer! Anyway, glad you had a great time!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Tori!

      As you can see, I'm MONTHS behind on replying to comments! LOL. SORRY!!!

      That super stinks that you couldn't decorate at girl's camp! Ohmygosh, I'm so sorry! How was your experience with your daughter? Did you have a great time??? I never got to go with my older daughter....I was put in YW about a year after she graduated. And I'll probably be released right before my younger daughter is in YW (she's barely 10 now). Se La Vi, right?

      Have a great one!!! Always love hearing from you! :)

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  4. OH THANK YOU for the ideas! This is my first year as a cabin mom. I am grateful you posted this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Pam!

      I am MONTHS behind on replying to your comment.........so sorry!!! lol. It was THAT kind of summer. (you can see why if you read my "From Hawt to Hot Flash"....lol.

      Anyway, I'm really glad you found me and I hope I was able to inspire some ideas for your girl's camp experience! How'd it go? I'd love to see pictures of what you ended up doing for your girls!

      Have a great day!!!

      Delete
  5. thanks for the GREAT ideas! this will really help me when i go to camp

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much!!! I'm so happy that this'll help you out! I hope you have a blast!

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  6. Cindy, I love all your camp ideas! I would love to know where you got the young women's symbol for the glass jar lanterns?

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  7. I loved going to Girls Camp when I was younger. I only go to go maybe twice, but it was so fun! Your decorations are great! :) Gotta love all the effort you put into making it even more fun for the girls!!christian wellness advocate

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