{guest blogger} DIY summer camp

Do I have a treat for you today!! I am so excited to introduce you to my friend Courtney.  She is simply amazing, and you're going to find out one of the reasons why as you read this post.   When I heard about the summer camp she did for her kids, I knew I wanted her to share her ideas with not only me, but all of you.
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Thanks Kierste for inviting me to your blog! My name is Courtney and I am a stay at home mom to five kids (including a set of triplet girls) as well as a non-practicing CPA.

As we were planning out our summer I wanted to provide some fun experiences for my kids but was overwhelmed at the costs. Because our older son was attending some sports camps, I wanted our girls to be able to attend camp too but didn't want to spend $400-$500. Plus, my girls are only 7 and wanted more of a craft/play experience than anything. My husband suggested I have a camp for them, and this was the beginning of Camp Courtney is Crazy.

The first thing I did in designing the camp was to pick a theme. I considered picking different countries or holidays but in the end chose children's books.

The following is a summary of the activities and treats for each day.

Monday - Fancy Nancy books

(including Explorer Extraordinaire and Bonjour Butterfly)

Activities: Decorate flower pots with mod podge and tissue paper, start our butterfly collages by painting the canvases and watercolor paper, swimming and planting flowers

Lunch: Grilled cheese sandwiches and build-your-own fruit skewers

Dessert: Parfaits (that's fancy for ice cream sundaes)

Tuesday - If You Give a Moose a Muffin

Activities: Make blackberry freezer jam, weave potholders, make sock puppets and swimming

Lunch: Quesadillas, apples and grapes

Dessert: We made cinnamon and chocolate chip muffins

Thursday - Pinkalicious

Activities: Finish the butterfly collages, create butterfly water color project, make silly putty, and swimming

Lunch: Green grapes, green apples, green salad and mini pizzas made by the girls out of refrigerator biscuits

Dessert: Decorate your own pink cupcakes

Friday - Little House on the Prairie series, Kirsten American Girl and Mormon Pioneer stories

Activities: Pioneer Treasure Hunt (the prize was aprons made out of ticking fabric), make butter in a baby food jar, make handkerchief dolls, watermelon seed spitting, and swimming

Lunch: Watermelon slices, hot dogs, buffalo chips (I hid chips with a picture of a buffalo on them in the backyard and the girls had to find them) and cornbread we made earlier in the morning

Dessert: S'mores (luckily we have a firepit for roasting marshmallows)

A couple of other things:

Camp T-shirts

My friend, Nanette, owns Aliso Print and designed and printed shirts for me. They were very affordable and made the camp feel a bit more official! Plus, I think my girls wore theirs almost every day.

Camp Schedule - 10am to 2pm

- Introduction of the theme

- Craft /Activity 1

- Break

- Craft /Activity 2

- Lunch

- Swimming

- Dessert

- Final Craft / Activity

Last Thoughts

At the last minute I had my husband get the Wii ready as well as our favorite game Just Dance 2. This was a great activity for transition times when I was busy cleaning up or setting up for the next activity. Plus, four girls could play at a time which cut down on disagreements.

I had initially planned to have the camp for 5 days, 3 hours each day. Once I realized I had another commitment on Wednesday, I switched to 4 days, 4 hours each day. Monday seemed really long to me but in the end I think it worked out well, and the parents loved getting a bigger chunk of time. I loved having Wednesday off to regroup midweek.

I had 10 children total - my four youngest and six friends. The number was manageable but I think if I had any more I would need extra help. My friends still think I'm crazy for having the camp (hence the camp name) but I am already thinking about next year. Each night as I would tuck my girls into bed they would thank me for having it and ask what we were doing the next day. So in the end, they got the camp experience they wanted and I didn't have to spend $500 to get it. Plus, I had a fun and memorable week with my girls and their friends.

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See, I told you!  Isn't she awesome? Thank you SO much Courtney for being here today.  I absolutely love all of your ideas, and appreciate you sharing them with all of us.