Boot Camp Birthday: Rations

As promised, here's the next installment in the Boot Camp Birthday series: rations.

We scheduled the party I mean boot camp over lunchtime, partly to take up time--if the recruits are eating, you don't have to entertain them as much.  We served a basic menu that we figured most of the boys would enjoy: hot dogs, chips, carrots & dip, keeping in mind that when you've got eight 3rd grade boys together, they don't tend to want to sit and eat for very long. 

I wanted to serve them baked beans because that seems like a very boot campish thing to do, but I didn't think most of them would eat them and didn't want to waste some perfectly good beans.

We made a lovely army green punch to serve, just using a basic punch recipe: mix together 1 qt sherbet and 1 12 oz can frozen lemonaide concentrate.  Then add 2 L of lemon-lime soda.  I heard that if you use rainbow sherbet, the punch turns out in a drab, army-like shade of green, and we found this to be (sorta) true.  If you're planning to try it, I would suggest using 1/2 rainbow and 1/2 lime sherbet.

The centerpiece of any birthday celebration at the Bluefields' is always the cake.  I enjoy the creative process of baking and decorating a special cake for the special birthday boy.  For this boot camp, MC requested a tank cake.

I used two cake mixes, a butter cake (because the grocery store was all out of white cake in the variety that was on sale) and chocolate.  I used food coloring to dye half of the butter cake batter army green, and then swirled the cake batters in the pans. 

I used a 9x13" pan, a 9x6" pan, and a ~4" round oven-safe soup bowl.  I also made 6 cupcakes for the family to eat on MC's birthday.

Roger "helped" clean up.

After the cakes were baked and cooled, I leveled the cakes and stacked them in a tank shape like this:

See how the cakes are all marble-y and camouflage-y?

Next, I started frosting.  I used vanilla frosting dyed green with food coloring (add a bit of red to the green to get a drab color) and chocolate.
 

If I were to do this again, I would frost the whole cake green first, allow the green to sit for a bit to harden, then add the chocolate on top of the green.  I was afraid I would run out of green, though, so I just kept alternating frostings, trying to make it look somewhat camouflauge-ish.

Next I added the tracks and wheels.  I used Fritzie Fresh Black Bites for the tracks, because that's what my grocery store had (I was looking for Twizzlers.  You could also use chocolate sugar wafer cookies, cut in half, or squares of Hershey chocolate), and milk's favorite cookie for the wheels (because it's also my favorite cookie and they were on sale and I had a coupon--but any black or brown round cookie would work). 

A note on the wheels: you may want to frost the cake a day ahead of time, because it's a bit time consuming, and there may be other things demanding your attention on the day of the party.  You can certainly add the wheels and other embellishments ahead of time as well, but be aware that they may get soggy overnight.  Also, you might want to lay the wheels out before you start placing them on the cake, just to make sure you get the spacing right.  I used 7 wheels per side, but I think I could have gotten away with just 6.

For the final touch I added a pretzel rod cannon (you could use Pirourettes or a black licorice cigar if you prefer) and a plastic soldier gunner (he looks awfully small, doesn't he?  Cheap dollar store army guys...).  At the last minute I decided to cover the cannon with chocolate frosting, and I'm happy with that decision.

And there you have it--looks good enough to eat, eh?

I think the recruits thought so!

Stayed tuned for more boot camp birthday fun--up next: Uniform & Supplies.

This post is the second of four Boot Camp Birthday posts.  Click here to see them all.

Boot Camp Birthday: Party Favors (I mean uniform & supplies)

As promised, here is the next installment in the Boot Camp Birthday series: uniform and supplies.

That's the birthday recruit on the right

Upon arrival, each recruit was issued a personalized Dog Tag and Helmet (use a silver or black sharpie to write the child's last name on the helmet), and applied Camo Face Paint.  I thought about giving them all buzz cuts, just to make the experience a bit more authentic, but I figured some of the parents wouldn't be too happy about that (actually, there are a couple I'm sure wouldn't have minded :)

I managed to remember to get a picture of about half of the recruits in their standard issue uniforms before they went and got all muddy and sweaty and stuff.

Upon completion of Birthday Boot Camp, each recruit was given a certificate of completion along with some goodies.

Each bag contained a camo foam glider,  green paratrooper, toy soldiers,  camo bouncey ball (from Party City), water grenades, and Boot Camp Survival Snack Mix.  Of course they got to keep their dog tags and helmets as well.


The certificate reads:

This is to certify that

{Lastname}, {Firstname}

has completed

Basic Birthday Training

at Bluefield Boot Camp

Thanks for coming!

Click here for a free printable that you can download and edit.

This is the third of four Boot Camp Birthday posts.  Up next: training exercises.  Click here to see them all.

Boot Camp Birthday: Invite & Thank-yous

Hard to believe my middle baby is 9!  He requested a military-themed birthday party, and I was happy to oblige. 

First on my list was to create RECRUITMENT ORDERS (aka an invitation).  I found a free camo border at www.PageBorders.net, then resized it and pasted it into a Word document, and added my text in a typewriter looking font (courier new).  The orders read as follows:

*****************

Recruitment Notice
Recruit: Smith, Joe

Effective 14 April 2012
Please Report to

Bluefield Boot Camp

(123 Main St; Anytown)

For

Basic Birthday Training

in honor of b-daykid's 9th

beginning promptly at 1100 hours

Recruits will be dismissed at 1300 hours

Wear your best uniform

and come prepared to get dirty

Rations will be distributed

in the Mess Hall

Training Officers: Sawblock & Scarlet
Please contact us through proper
channels ASAP if you are unable to
attend: 123-456-7890 or
youremailaddress@domainname.com

*****************

I've created a free printable that you can download, edit and print.  Click here to access (to download, choose "Download" from the "File" dropdown menu on the upper left.  Please note, the document was too large for google docs to upload as it was, so I removed one of the borders.  Just copy and paste it back in).

Next up were the envelopes.  I made them using Word, because I wanted the same typewritten look as the orders.  For the return address, in army green ink and SmallCaps, I put

Bluefield Birthday Boot Camp
123 Main St
Anytown, AS 00000

For the address:

Recruit: Lastname, Firstname
321 Main St
Anytown, AS 00000

I wasn't sure if the recruits would realize that the party I mean training camp was scheduled for April 14, so I added a text box to the front of the envelope under the return address in red ink that read:

Official Orders
Please report for duty on 14 April 2012

I was amused that for these uber-masculine invitations, the only stamps I had in the house were flowery love stamps.  I'm not sure if anyone else noticed or enjoyed the juxtaposition. If you're a better planner, flag stamps would be a good choice :)

Next, I wanted to create some fun camo thank you notes for MC to use.  He has a hard time writing, and tires easily, so I made a fill-in-the-blank thank you note for him to use (Click here to download and print--choose "Download" from the "File" dropdown menu on the upper left.  Please note, the lines are not visible on google docs, but they'll be there when you download the file) and printed it out on card stock.

Next came the fun part--we marble painted them!  Just fill a baking sheet (large enough to hold a letter-sized piece of paper) with shaving cream. 

Drizzle on acrylic paints in green, black, and brown.  Use a popsicle stick to gently swirl the colors.

Lay printed thank-yous, blank side down, on top of the shaving cream and press gently.
 

Carefully remove and set aside.
 

After a few minutes, use a squeegee to remove the shaving cream--the paint will stay on the paper.

Set aside and allow to dry, then cut apart into 2 thank you notes.

I'm pleased with how these turned out, but if I were to do it again, I would probably use less black or leave the black out and just use green and brown.

This is the first of four Boot Camp Birthday posts.  Click here to see them all.
Stay tuned--next up: boot camp rations...

Boot Camp Birthday: Training

As promised, here is the final post in the Boot Camp Birthday series: training exercises.

I remember a time when I did it all when it came to birthday parties {I'm not quite sure how I managed that}, but for the past several parties Hubby has been in charge of activities while I've taken care of the food and other miscellaneous details.  Hubby does a fantastic job keeping our guests entertained until it's time for cake and presents, and this year was no exception.

While the recruits were arriving, Hubby engaged those who had already arrived in a game of boot camp basketball, while they waited for the rest of the platoon to report for duty.  When the last boy arrived the recruits swarmed his transport, which must have been pretty scary, considering their warpaint and all.

Next the recruits participated in a training exercise called "catch, don't catch," to practice following orders.  The boys stood in a circle around "it" with their arms folded across their chests.  "It" (the boy in the middle) threw a ball to one of the boys in the outer circle, saying either "catch" or "don't catch," and the boy he threw it to had to do the opposite.

Some of the boys were really good at this game.  Others, not so much.

Next was tree climbing.  Earlier in the day Hubby had one of the monkeys place some cloth targets about 40 feet up in two trees.

The boys took turns climbing up to touch the targets.

Next Hubby took the recruits on a tour of the obstacle course.  After learning about and practicing at each of the stations, the boys spent about half an hour running the course. 

 First, the recruits climbed up a rock wall into our play fort, and crawled across the top of the monkey bars to the other side.  Then they either slid down the slide or jumped off the slide and rolled, depending on their comfort level.

 Next up, the recruits army crawled under an electrified fence (which was really rope strung up between wooden stakes).

 Then came a balance beam,

 followed by a board placed over a stump, teeter-totter style.  The boys had to walk up one side and down the other.

And then they did it again.  Over and over and over.

After the obstacle course, the recruits played tug of war.

We didn't even have time for grenade launching (water balloons launched toward a target) or flight training (throwing foam gliders through a hoop hung up as a target), because the boys had so much fun wearing themselves out on the obstacles.

Next it was time for lunch in the mess hall, followed by cake and presents. 

After that, the recruits enjoyed some R&R checking out the tree forts and climbing trees around the training area while waiting for their transports home.

And that's it.  I think the birthday recruit enjoyed himself, and the other guys did too :)

This is the last of four Boot Camp Birthday posts.  Click here to see them all.