Backyard Glamping Theme Party

Jennifer Pike
Jun 11, 2020
5 min read

Have you ever gone glamping in your backyard before? During this pandemic, it has been fun to see the creative ways people are doing themed parties and going the extra mile to make things meaningful for friends and family. This is such a fantastic way to take our minds off of not being able or feeling comfortable camping at a real camp site.

My daughter, Teah turned 23 this past May and so I thought I would throw her a surprise glamping party in our backyard for a few reasons.

1- She has been wanting to go glamping for a while now but was pregnant/had a baby

2- I thought I would offer to take my grandson overnight so that she could have a night off in a cozy tent with her husband (more abut the gong show that turned out to be at the end of this post-you won't want to miss that lol)

3- We bought a brand new tent, glamping kitchen and double tall queen mattress last year that we never used and it needed to take it's maiden voyage!

BUT MOST OF ALL, BECAUSE I LOVE HER!

I went for a walk at our local park and found some random sticks and twigs on the ground to create this CAMP TEAH sign. My hubby and I nail gunned the sticks to a piece of leftover shiplap we had from our kitchen island renovation. Pretty cute, eh?

We set up the tent and decorated the outside with lights and a leafy garland. I set up a cute bistro table set so that Teah and her hubby could enjoy a morning coffee in the sun (again....did not happen due to the story to follow....) haha!! I'm actually crying on the inside. ;) story at the end....

I also placed a little spruce tree at the side of the entrance for that woodland feel as we are just starting to get trees up in our yard this year.

Here's a look at the cozy inside with some deets:

PS- I got the tent on Amazon and it's the EASIEST TENT TO PUT UP!! It already has the poles inside the tent and take two seconds to put up and take down. Amazing!!! Ill link it below and in my Amazon storefront under GLAMPING. Oh! and it has a space to hang a chandelier inside if you want to ahhhhhhh!!! I didn't see that until we set it up and it was too late to find one.

To create a cozy glamping experience in a tent, you need lots and lots of pillows, blankets and a furry rug for under your cold toes in the morning. This was the same rug my daughter and her husband used at their wedding! I also added some cute bird cage lights on the inside.

No ugly sleeping bags here! A real duvet, real sheets and real throw pillows are a must. I gave her a fancy side table with a vase of flowers and the essentials, like a diffuser (which acts as a nightlight) a tissue box and a lantern/flashlight just in case she had to come into the house at night. And she did....lol

I had such a fun time planning the food menu for the party! That's always my favorite part of party planing because the food really sets the tone.

MENU

HOTDOG BAR

S'MORES IN WAFFLE CONES

HAPPY CAMPER CUSTOM COOKIES (instead of birthday cake)

KETTLE CHIPS

"CAMP"INO CANDIES

and for the drinks...

PEACH BELLINI SPARKLING ROSAY

BUBLY WATERS (strawberry and orange)

CANNED CORONAS WITH LIME (you gotta have canned for glamping, right lol)

FRUIT SCENTED WATER IN A GLASS DISPENSER

OK...let me go into some details about the hotdog bar! This was so freakin' fun!!!

I found some inspiration on Pinterest and put my own spin on things for this hotdog bar. I laid out all of the toppings in fancy dishes. Everyone choose the type of hotdog they wanted to make from the display photo menu. To be honest we all tried a few versions--they were soooooo gooooood! My favorite was the bacon and bleu....oh my gosh. What a treat!! The second best was probably the Maxwell Polish with caramelize onion and honey dijon.

As you can see it was a huge hit!!

I'll link the battery operated candles too!

I drank far too much of this Rosaaayyyyy. hehehehe ;)

I wish that the sun didn't set at almost 10:30 pm here because it was so pretty at night with all of the battery operated candles and lights strung around the fence line. I think it was near 8 degrees Celsius by that time so we had packed it in!

S'mores in a waffle cone....ummm...yes! Super easy and no mess. Just wrap the cone in foil after you've filled them with marshmallows and mini chocolate chips. Pop them on you bbq for a few minutes to melt everything and they are to die for.

These beautiful cookies were custom made for me by SWEET AS JAM-COOKIES AND CAKES right here locally. Aren't they THE CUTEST EVER!!!? I think it's super fun to change things up and ditch the birthday cake for some festive cookies instead. It really worked out well for this glamping idea, but it can also work great for any "social distancing party" too.

We also put out some chairs around "the fire" which had mini fairy lights placed throughout the wood. We didn't want to have smoke and a real fire lit because of our two little grandsons attending.

These parties take a ton of time, planning and effort so I hope you enjoyed it!

Now for the real deal truth of what happened behind the scenes of the beautiful photos:

Everything was going great up until around 10:30pm.

First of all, our neighbors next door decided to have a bonfire with a bunch of very loud people and music in their yard that night and partied until at least 2am. So needless to say, our daughter and her husband did not fall asleep.

Then at 2:30am their son woke up (he was inside with us) and needed to be fed. We thought he may sleep through the night but he didn't. He wouldn't really take a bottle, so mom had to come in to breastfeed him.

And the straw that broke the camel's back:...the rain started at 3am. It was so windy, cold and rainy that my husband had to go outside and bring in all of the beautiful pillows, blankets, etc from inside the tent. The wind blew over our heavy wicker chairs and outdoor rug--I was afraid that it would destroy the tent as well so that came down too. None of us slept really. The poor birthday girl and her hubby had to sleep on my futon in my office lol. OH EM GEE....what a disaster. Hopefully, we can try again in July when it'll be much warmer and dryer!! At least we got to have the party during the day. It was nice and dry and sunny. PHEW!

PS- That's why we are having a permanent gazebo built in our back yard as we speak. The winds here are cray cray!!!