NO PARENTS ALLOWED!
One of my favorite things to do with my sweet peas is to host a crazy, jam packed day full of food, crafts, games and most important – NO PARENTS ALLOWED! How to Host a Successful Grandma Camp is a great guide designed to help you be successful while you entertain your grandchildren for the day.
Don’t get me wrong. I love spending time with my daughters. I love even more that when we are all together, I dont have to be the one to change diapers or make the littles’ dinner plates. Mommies and daddies have to do all of that dirty work.
But there is something about the bonding that takes place when it’s just me and my grandchildren. My full attention is on them and theirs’ on me. For this reason, I decided to get together one day a year for an entire day planned just around us. (I actually have a summer camp and a Christmas camp now because of how much we all enjoy it!) No errands, no chores, no parents, and no broccoli! Well, if you like broccoli then by all means have it.
Sure, I spend many days with the sweet peas, but those days are usually for only an hour or two, or mom is tagging along bossing us around, or we have to stop by the store for eggs and milk. But this day is all about having one on one fun with no distractions. Actually, one on six but who is counting. 🙂
Now that I have several camps under my belt, I have come up with a system that helps Grandma Camp run smoothly. I thought it would be fun to share my tips on How to Host a Successful Grandma Camp and give you some ideas for your own fun day.
Themes to Help You Host Grandma Camp
- Theme – Think of Grandma Camp as a big party that you are about to host. By picking a theme for your ‘party’, it will make it easier to tie in crafts, games, and a menu.
Here are some great ideas for your camp. The sky is the limit here. Think about your littles’ ages and what they are into right now. Then plan everything around it.
- Under The Sea
- Christmas Camp
- Bugs & Butterflies
- Secret Spy Camp
- Pirates & Pearls
- Circus
- Stars & Stripes
The Invitations Set the Stage
- Invitations – You can hand make your invitations or buy them at the party store, but do not skip this important step. Kids love getting something in the mail with their name on it and it helps to set the scene for what to expect at camp. Plan on the invitation arriving a few days before your camp. This ensures that the campers won’t hound their parents for weeks about when they get to go to grandma’s house. (But do schedule the date with their parents in advance so there are no double booked problems). Ideas for Invitations here.
A ‘Home’ for Their Stuff – Helping You Stay Organized When You Host Grandma Camp
- A Place to Put It All – One of the the first things that we do when I host grandma camp is decorate bags or buckets to hold all of the treasures we make throughout the day. This one tip helps us have some control over the chaos of glitter and glue. You will be thankful that you took the time to do this.
Feeding the Little Campers
- Menu – If your camp is all day like mine, you will need to plan breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. I wouldn’t worry about making all meals camp themed. It is more important to include foods that they like and will eat. A hungry camper is NOT a fun camper. I like to make at least one of the meals/snacks geared to the theme though. Here are some fun ideas for camp breakfasts, camp lunches, camp dinners, and kid friendly snacks. Let the kids help you cook. They are more likely to eat it if they helped make it.
Craft Ideas for Camp
- Crafts – Crafts geared towards the theme are another easy activity to schedule into your day. This is a great way to work on fine motor skills with your sweet peas. When you host grandma camp, it is a perfect time for helping your littles learn to use glue, paint, color, and practice scissor skills. These are all things that strengthen their little hands and fingers. You can read about Toys that Encourage Fine Motor Development in Toddlers here. Plus it is good practice for being school ready.
- Service Projects – I incorporate special projects into our day as well. it is fun learning about our community and caring for people and things. Because my grandchildren are still small, we usually do some type of bird feeders. As they get older, I would like to introduce more profound projects like adopt a soldier. Look for my post on Teach Them Young here. It is about the importance of teaching children about honoring our servicemen and women.
Fun and Games
- Games – When coming up with games, especially for your camps hosted in the summer, there is one rule – the messier the better! For winter camps when you have to be inside, you may want to be a little cleaner. Either way, working their big muscles helps with gross motor development as well as burns off some stored up energy. You can check out Toys That Encourage Gross Motor Development in Toddlers here. You will want to include board games and cards into your day too. These are great for the older ones while the younger ones are napping. Here are some favorite card games that work on math skills and are easy to learn.
When You Host Grandma Camp, Plan Some Down Time
- Chill Zone – This is the time that the younger campers go down for a nap and the older ones ‘chill’ with a movie or quiet games. Coloring and playdough are great chill zone activities as well. This is the homemade playdough recipe that I use.
Snap Some Pictures of Your Day
- Pictures – Don’t forget to take pictures of your day. I snap tons while we play, but always set up a photo shoot type picture opportunity. This is one of the best ways for me to get a group picture of all of my grandchildren at once. You can take individual family pictures as well. Have pictures printed at a one hour printing place like Walgreens for pennies. I send Papa out to pick them up. You can put the prints into the frames that the kids made during craft time. We use them for
Father’s Day gifts or Christmas gifts for mom and dad. Here is an awesome picture frame project to check out.
Business as Usual at Grandma’s House
- Free Time – Be sure to allow for unscheduled free time. Hanging out at grandma’s house is fun even without a million activities scheduled. So allow them to do what they normally love to do when they visit. Believe me, its an exhausting day to host grandma camp. You will need free time to recharge as well! Here are some of my favorite relaxing activities that I like to do after the sweet peas head back to their pods.
Wrapping It Up!
- Wrapping It Up – 30 minutes before pick up, have kiddos change into jammies, brush their teeth, and quiet down with a great kid friendly movie.
Whew! Your grandkids will be so excited for the next Grandma Camp. But for now, relax. You did it! If you liked this post, you might like Mud Kitchen Ideas to see how I set up a muddy mess for my sweet peas. Or check out my Ultimate Scavenger Hunt for Kids. – Susie Pea
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