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Camping Party Ideas: Games, Food & Decor

A backyard campout built from bedsheet tents and flashlight games — s'mores, a scavenger hunt in the dark, a rainy-day backup plan, and a printable invitation.

A Yombu team member in a yellow Party Animal teeChanel Hoole7 min read
Illustration of a backyard campout with a bedsheet tent draped over a clothesline, string lights, a fake campfire made of cardboard logs and orange cellophane, and children with flashlights

the tent is two sheets and a clothesline

A camping party does not need a campsite. Everything that makes camping fun for a kid — the tent, the flashlight, the sense of being somewhere slightly wild — travels perfectly well into an ordinary backyard or, if the weather turns, an ordinary living room. The whole theme runs on a couple of bedsheets, a bag of flashlights, and permission to be a little louder than usual.

What follows is a backyard campout built for an afternoon or an early evening, since half the best games need actual dusk to work. It covers the games worth running, food that doesn't require a real fire, decorations you can put up in under an hour, and a printable invitation. It suits ages four through ten, and it is one of the few themes that genuinely gets better as the group gets a little older.

The tent takes ten minutes

String a clothesline or a length of rope between two trees, a fence post and a chair, or two porch railings, and drape a bedsheet over the top so it hangs down on both sides like an A-frame. Weigh the bottom edges down with rocks, books, or a row of shoes. One line and two sheets makes a tent big enough for four or five kids to sit inside, and a second line makes a second tent for the group to split between.

Indoors, the same trick works over a couch back or between two dining chairs, and a string of battery-powered fairy lights inside the sheet does more for the atmosphere than anything you could buy. Kids will use the tent as home base for every game that follows, so put it somewhere central rather than off to one side.

The weather backup is not optional

Decide the indoor version of every game before the party, not on the morning of it, because "camping" is the theme most likely to get rained out. The sheet tent moves indoors without changing at all. Flashlight hide-and-seek works even better inside, where there are more places to hide. The one thing you lose is a real fire pit — replace it with the cardboard-and-cellophane version below, which looks better in photos anyway and needs no supervision.

Decide the indoor version of every game before the party, not on the morning of it.

Keep the schedule flexible around the light: run the quiet, indoor-friendly games first if it's sunny and save the flashlight games for whenever it actually gets dim, whether that's a rainy afternoon or a genuine dusk. If you'd rather someone else managed the whole run of show while you handle the fire pit, an outdoor entertainer will keep games moving in a yard or a park without needing much beyond space and daylight.

The other thing that goes wrong is s'mores without adult hands anywhere near an open flame. Use the no-fire version below for anyone under about eight, and if older kids do get a real fire pit or a portable burner, one adult stays on marshmallow duty the entire time rather than drifting off to talk. Nobody remembers the party for the fire being managed well, but everybody remembers if it isn't.

Games for a camping party

Illustration of one child stepping out of a doorway while another runs and a third crouches behind a bush by a tree

Flashlight hide-and-seek

The same game, played after dark with everyone carrying a flashlight instead of trying to stay silent. It turns an ordinary yard into somewhere genuinely exciting to hide in, and it needs nothing but flashlights you probably already own.

Full rules for hide and seek

Illustration of three children squashed together in a hiding spot beside a sofa while another opens a wardrobe door

Flashlight sardines

Hide-and-seek in reverse: one kid hides, everyone else searches alone, and whoever finds them squeezes into the same hiding spot instead of announcing it. In the dark, with flashlights, the pile-up at the end is half the fun and it works just as well indoors on a rainy afternoon.

Full rules for sardines

Illustration of two children on a bench reading a paper clue, a path of stepping stones leading to an open treasure chest

Night hike treasure hunt

Hide glow sticks or reflective items around the yard and send kids out with flashlights to collect them before time runs out. It gives the youngest guests something achievable in the dark and it's the natural game to run right before s'mores.

Full rules for treasure hunt

Illustration of two teams of children leaning back on a rope with heels dug in and open-palm grips, a marker ribbon at the rope's centre and a referee to one side

Campfire tug-of-war

A rope, a line drawn in the dirt or marked with chalk, and two teams pulling. It burns off the last of the daylight energy before the group settles down for stories and s'mores, and it needs nothing but the rope itself.

Full rules for Campfire tug-of-war

Illustration of four children sitting in a line, each cupping a hand to whisper into the next one's ear

Campfire whispers

Sitting in a circle around the fake fire pit, a whispered message travels around the group and comes out unrecognizable by the end. It is the natural quiet-down game once the running games are finished, and it costs nothing but a made-up sentence.

Full rules for the telephone game

Food ideas for a camping party

No-fire s'mores

Graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows layered and microwaved for ten to fifteen seconds until the marshmallow puffs up, then sandwiched together. It gives every kid the actual s'more without anyone standing over an open flame, and it works just as well as the party's indoor backup.

Trail mix cups

Pretzels, dried fruit, a few chocolate chips and a small handful of cereal, portioned into paper cups so nobody's hands go into one shared bowl. It travels well if the party moves from yard to living room partway through and there's nothing to spoil if it sits out for an hour.

Campfire cones

Waffle cones filled with mini marshmallows, chocolate chips and a few crushed graham crackers, wrapped in foil and warmed on a grill or in the oven for a few minutes until everything melts together. Hand them out warm and let each kid eat straight from the cone with a spoon.

Bug juice punch

Any bright green or blue fruit punch, served in clear cups and given the slightly gross name on purpose — kids find "bug juice" funnier than they find fruit punch, and the name does more work than the recipe. A drop of edible glitter is optional and unnecessary.

Foil-pack campfire potatoes

Small potato wedges tossed with oil and seasoning, wrapped in foil packets and baked or grilled until soft, then handed out warm in the foil. They feel like real camp food, they hold heat well on a table, and the foil means no extra dishes.

Decoration ideas for a camping party

The cardboard campfire

A ring of stones, real or painted cardboard, with a stack of cardboard tube "logs" in the middle and a few sheets of orange and red cellophane crumpled and lit from below with a battery tea light. It looks like a real fire from across the yard and there is nothing to supervise or put out.

String-light canopy

Battery-powered fairy lights strung between two trees, a fence and the house, or along the inside of the sheet tent. They cost about ten dollars a strand and they do more to sell the mood after dark than any other single decoration on this list.

A trail of lanterns

Paper bag lanterns — a battery tea light inside a folded-down paper bag, weighted with a scoop of sand or pebbles — lined along a path from the door to the party area. They take an evening to make in bulk and they turn an ordinary walk across the yard into part of the theme.

A pinned map of the woods

A hand-drawn or printed map taped to a board or a tree, marked with the tent, the fire pit and the food table like a real campsite layout. Kids love finding themselves on it, and it doubles as the sign pointing guests to where the party actually is.

Marshmallow garland

Large marshmallows threaded onto string with a few pieces of dried fruit or beads between them, hung along a fence or across the food table. It's edible, it's cheap, and unlike most garlands it disappears into snacks by the end of the party instead of going in the trash.

Two more things worth sorting before the big day: where to buy the plates, balloons and piñata and what the whole party is likely to cost

Printable camping invitation

Free to download and print at home — write in the date, the time and the address, and it is done. It prints cleanly on ordinary paper at A5 or half-letter, two to a sheet, and it works just as well sent as a picture message if you would rather not chase a class list for addresses.

Printable camping party invitation card with a bedsheet tent, string lights and a cardboard campfire illustration, with blank lines for the date, time and address

The camping invitation

One card, blank where the details go. Drop your email and it's yours — print as many as you need, nothing to pay.

Free printable — drop your email and it's yours.

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Hire an entertainer who can work outdoors

Everything above assumes you are running the afternoon. You do not have to. A character performer arrives in costume and in character, runs the themed games, handles the child who is frightened and the child who wants to be the star, and gives you an hour to put the candles in the cake — which is usually the difference between hosting the party and watching it.

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Frequently asked questions

What age is a camping party best for?
Four to ten, and it genuinely improves with age since older kids can handle real dusk games like flashlight sardines. Under-sixes are happiest with the tent, the lanterns and a scavenger hunt while it's still light out.
Do you need a backyard for a camping party?
It helps but isn't required. The sheet tent, the string lights and every game on this list work indoors over a couch and a couple of chairs, which matters more for this theme than most, since rain is the single most likely thing to go wrong.
How do you do s'mores at a kids party without a fire?
Layer graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows and microwave for ten to fifteen seconds until the marshmallow puffs. It gives every kid the real thing without anyone near an open flame, and it's the easiest thing on this whole list to prepare in bulk.
What do you do if it rains on a camping party?
Move the sheet tent over a couch or between two chairs, run the flashlight games with the curtains drawn, and switch the cardboard campfire indoors where it looks even better in low light. Decide the indoor version of each game before the party rather than improvising on the day.
How long should a camping party run?
Two to three hours works well, ideally timed to run into early dusk so the flashlight games get real darkness. Start with tent-building and quieter games, save hide-and-seek and sardines for once it's dim, and end on s'mores and a campfire story to wind everyone down before pickup.
A Yombu team member in a yellow Party Animal tee

Written by

Chanel Hoole

Party planning editor at Yombu

Chanel writes Yombu's guides to kids party entertainment — the planning playbooks that help busy parents pull off a celebration without the stress. She has spent years tracking what actually makes a children's party land, from the entrance an entertainer makes to the games that keep a room of six-year-olds spellbound.

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