Camp Themed Party

Most families have memories of going to the beach for summer vacations. My summer vacations growing up were centered around bugs, baiting hooks, shaving cream & bon fires. My dad started Camp Icthus, a Christian summer camp, when I was 7 years old. Every summer our family was busy fishing, canoeing and doing arts & crafts. The shaving cream I mentioned was from the big shaving cream battle we had at camp. It was soo messy which made it so much fun!

It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years since Camp Icthus began. To celebrate all the memories, my dad & mom threw a casual camp banquet for all the people that have been involved in camp over the years. I was able to help out by creating the centerpieces for the tables &  a couple other decor items.

Since it was a camp themed party & I wanted to keep it inexpensive, I used thrift store flannel shirts to create my centerpieces.

The centerpieces were really easy to put together. I already had a ton of glass vases I had collected over time (from thrift stores).

I just measured around the vases then used those measurements to cut rectangles from the shirts.

I found this leather cord on clearance for $1.49 for 6 yards! Holla! :p It was a perfect accessory to add to the centerpieces.

To attach the shirt piece, I broke out my hot glue gun. I used the leather cord in different ways for the centerpieces. I tried to sew the cord in the criss-cross pattern but the cord was too thick & pulled the material too much. After my first fail, I hot glued six small pieces of the leather cord in a criss cross pattern. It worked perfectly!

The runners are just strips of burlap. I got a HUGE roll of it for $20 online. We covered more than 20 tables & still had a huge roll left.

I chose burlap because it was cheap & I wanted to give it that rustic-camp vibe.

The flowers in the centerpieces were from a local farmers market. It cost less than $30 for flowers for 20 centerpieces. The greenery came from pine trees outside the church where the banquet was held.

Aren’t those gigantic pinecones awesome? My parents gathered those up. I’m not sure where from but I still have a couple garbage bags full if you’d like some & you’re around the Buckhead, Atlanta area. :p

This was a chalkboard I made for guests to write down their favorite camp memories…like the old-family toothbrush song, the camp fire, the amazing camp rolls, the life-change that happened, capture the flag, etc.

A cheap way to create a chalkboard (especially one you have to transport) is to buy a foam board (or multiple foam boards depending on the size you want) & paint it with chalkboard paint. Paint several thin coats & once it’s dry “treat” it with chalk. What I mean when I say “treat it” is take a piece of chalk & go over the whole surface then wipe it clean. It’s easy to transport & super cheap!

My dad wanted to have all the camp shirts displayed. Celebrating 25 years of camp ministry equals A LOT of camp shirts! :p I had the idea to “frame” them using embroidery hoops.

It worked great because we were able to hang them all along the back wall. It was really neat to see the progression of the tee shirt designs. The picture above shows shirts from the initial years to the more recent (going left to right).

It also ended up to be pretty affordable. I ordered the hoops from Fabric.com & the hoops were all under $2 (some less than $1). We could’ve just hung the shirts themselves & it wouldn’t have cost anything but I thought this would be a cleaner look.

This is Andy Craddock & Stuart Kingsley. Both have been very instrumental in Camp Icthus…and they were also instrumental in hanging all these t-hoops! :p Great job, guys!

The food was done by Gail Johnson who owns the camp ground where Camp Icthus is held. Gail also runs a bed & breakfast there (seen here). She is such a sweet lady & did a fabulous job with the food. If you ever want a getaway, I HIGHLY recommend her bed & breakfast. It is a BEAUTIFUL property & you’ll adore Gail!

I loved the peanut butter & jelly sandwiches cut into fish shapes. The fish is symbolic because the term “icthus” (as in Camp Icthus) is greek for fish & was used as a code for Christians. During the time that Christians were being persecuted by the Roman empire, someone would draw an arc in the sand. If the other person drew another arc that meant that they were a Christian too. This created a fish or an icthus symbol.

Who knew you’d find all that out by looking at some fish-shaped pb&j sandwiches?! :p

Since we had leftover burlap & the plaid flannel shirts, Gail used those to layer the food table.

Don’t these look yummy? These are smore cupcakes! I loved how Gail added the chocolate bar piece & graham cracker.

This was the program (and the hand model is Mrs Cheryl Morrow…just giving credit to the talent). ;p

And this, my friends, is the grungy sock award! A 25 year camp celebration also means a birthday for this stinky guy. Oh yes…this has been around from the beginning. Can’t you tell by the style of the sock?? ;p That was my dad’s old sock & yes he wore socks like that & 70s style shorts well into the 80s. I used to be so embarrassed when he wore his bell-bottoms. He is an elementary school PE teacher so I had him when I was in elementary school. I thought I was going to die of embarrassment. I didn’t. I survived. I survived & will probably do the same to my children. ;p

Every morning, there was cabin inspeciton. The group with the dirtiest cabin got the grungy sock award. The cabin that was the cleanest got…

…the “clean as a whistle” award. :p Most of the guy groups were okay with getting the grungy sock award (except for the fact that the grungy group were the last in line for meals) but the girls…oh boy. There were several years when a girl group ended up with the grungy sock award & every girl started crying! That definitely was a group of Monicas! :p Wait…maybe that was my group??!

25 years of pictures & memories were presented through a video my dad worked really hard on.

This is a really special picture. That’s me, Carol Kohl, my mom & my sister Meg. Carol Kohl has had such a huge impact on Camp Icthus. The impact is not only in her serving as a counselor & recruiting a lot of kids to come but also in my moms life. Before I was even born, Carol led a bible study that my mom was in. Mom always says what a huge impact Carol has made in her life.

I simply adore this picture of my parents. See…they’re not perfect. No parents are. But they have so much love. I’ve never doubted their love for me. I’ve never doubted their love for others. I’ve never doubted their love for one another. How could you ask for more? In a world of broken families, I feel so blessed to have these wonderful people as my parents!

And I so admire & respect my dad’s vision & dreams. He is sooo good at what he does. He’s the best PE teacher I’ve ever seen, he’s an incredible camp director & a better dad than I deserved. He gives to others before he thinks of himself. He tells hilarious stories (even though I may have heard them before ;p). He is one of the wisest people I know. He’s one of the few people that when I didn’t take his advice I REALLY regretted it. He is one of the most humble people I know. And my only frustration about this banquet/party is that he wasn’t given the applause he deserved after 25 years. My parents don’t make a dime from camp. In fact, they try every way possible to make it as affordable as they can so that anyone can come. My dad logs thousands of hours outside his full-time job & his family to make this camp possible. He does this to create an environment where kids can come, experience the adventure of camp & learn about Jesus & learn that they’re loved. Thank you, Dad! I know these words aren’t a trophy or something you can hang in your office. My only redeeming factor is the hope that you will be rewarded in heaven!

I don’t care one lick that we didn’t get to go to the beach during our summers. Knowing that I am the daughter of such amazing & selfless parents and knowing that their sacrifices made it possible for other kids to hear about Jesus is worth more than any vacay.

I know I’ve been a little gushy this week. First with my brother Claytons birthday post & now with the camp post. Sorry. ;p Next week is going to be AWESOME on Parties for Pennies! I’m going to be posting my first ever video tutorial on how to do yarn laterns.   Hope to talk to you then!

What about you?? Did you go to camp growing up? What was your favorite memory?

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