I have written three different lists of themes to be used for themes weeks.
Those themes are meant to encompass all of camp, from crafts to special events, games to meals. THIS list, however, is meant to give you ideas for theme days.
FASHION
Many theme Days are easy to run because often they are no more than suggestions on what to wear that day. Wacky Hat Wednesday would be an example. It doesn’t involve activities, crafts, meals or events. Sure you could have a crazy hat runway show and a “Who Can Fill the Crazy Hat with Ping Pong Balls First” competition, but that’s overkill for this particular type of theme. These fun fashion type of themes are simple add-ons to your regular camp program.
ACTIVITIES
Some themes are not about the costuming, they are about the activities. Top Shot Tuesday is a good example of this. Activities for this theme day revolve around target skills (archery, bb guns, rock throwing, etc.). I suppose you could dress up as an Olympic athlete or a hunter, but that’s not the focus of these types of theme days.
COMBINATION
There there are the themes that encompass both fashion and activities. On Fiesta Friday you can wear a serape and sombrero, bust open piñatas, make maracas for a craft, eat Mexican food for lunch and play some mariachi music. You can do as little or as much as you want with a theme like this. Personally, I’m just here for siesta.
If you go with on of these “big” combination themes, make sure you only do one each week. Why? Because it can become overwhelming really quick if you decide to do these types of theme more frequently. On the other hand, if you want to plan a theme day every day, keep your sanity intact and go with the easy fashion theme days like Mustache Monday and Tie Dye Tuesday.
THE LISTS
This list includes easy themes and some “bigger” themes. Some themes focus on what to wear, while other themes focus on the activities for the day. It’s all about alliterations in this list. Each day has multiple theme suggestions (Thursday was a bit of a challenge). For theme days that I really like that wouldn’t fit in the alliteration list, I added a separate “Bonus” list afterwards.
- Movie Character Monday – dress like your favorite movie character
- Mustache Monday – break out the fake mustaches
- Maker Monday – all about making things
- Mystery Monday – everything you do today is a mystery
- Maritime Monday – dress like a sailor or something from the sea
- Mission Impossible Monday – dress like a secret agent and accept a mission
- Music Monday – dress like a rockstar, play disco bingo, sing lots of camp songs
- Medieval Monday – knights, princess and dragons
- Mighty Jungle Monday – dress like a jungle animal
- Mythological Monday – togas and Greek gods
- Mad Science Monday – lab coats and fun science experiments
- Monster Monday – Monsters Inc, Monster High
- Marvel Monday – dress like your favorite Marvel superhero
- Mardi Gras Monday – beads and blues music
- Magic Monday – campers learn some magic
- Tie Dye Tuesday – dress in a tie dye shirt, do some tie dying
- Twin Tuesday – dress like a friend
- Travel Tuesday – dress as tourists
- Tropical Tuesday – wear Hawaiian shirts, hula skirts, and leis
- Top Shot Tuesday – archery, bb guns, slingshots, paper airplanes into waste baskets, basketball shooting, etc.
- Tournament Tuesday – competitions and tournaments
- No Tech Tuesday – cell phones stay at home, no technology today
- Totally Rad Tuesday – it’s all about the 80s
- Treasure Hunter Tuesday – dress like Indian Jones and go on a treasure hunt around camp
- Teddy Bear Tuesday – everyone brings in their teddy bears
- Time Travel Tuesday – use any time period in history to inspire your fashion choices
- Wilderness Wednesday – grab your flannel and dress like a lumberjack, or you could dress like woodland creature
- Wacky Wednesday – dress as crazy as you want
- Wacky Hat Wednesday – keep the wackiness down to your headwear
- Walt Disney Wednesday – channel your inner Disney character
- Wild West Wednesday – cowboy hats and boots
- Water World Wednesday – lots of water games
- Wonderful World of Sports Wednesday – wear your favorite team jersey and play some sports
- When I Grow Up Wednesday – dress the way you would for the career you want when you grow up
- Wheels Wednesday – if it has wheels, it’s part of camp
- Wind and Sea Wednesday – it’s time to sail across the seven seas
- Willy Wonka Wednesday – candy and Oompa Loompas
- Around the World Wednesday – food, clothing and games from around the globe
- Wizard Wednesday – grab your wand and throw on a cloak, it’s time to cast a spell or two
- Throwback Thursday – dress from a time in the past
- That’s Incredible Thursday – campers show off their incredible talents
- Thriller Thursday – this can be Michael Jackson’s zombies or extreme sports, your choice
- Thanksgiving Thursday – focus on ways to give thanks
- Throwdown Thursday – campers challenge staff to a throwdown in any game or activity
- Theater Thursday – skits, drama, improv
- Thunder Thursday – it’s time to go big and bring the thunder
- Thoroughbred Thursday – horse shoes, stick horse races and more
- Thoughtfulness Thursday – explore ways everyone can be more thoughtful
- Thrilled About Game Shows Thursday – wear a wacky costume to be chosen as a contestant for the camp game show
- Freaky Friday – campers dress like a staff member and staff dress like a camper
- Flashback Friday – dress like you did at any other time in your past
- Fairytale Friday – dress like your favorite fairytale character
- Far, Far Away Friday – celebrate Star Wars or just another part of Earth that is far, far away
- Future Friday – what do you think we’ll be wearing in the future
- Fandom Friday – from Harry Potter to One Direction and everything in between
- Friendship Friday – through ice breaker games let’s make some new friends
- Famous Artists Friday – different art projects to highlight different artists
- Fiesta Friday – it’s Cinco de Mayo in July
- Fear Factor Friday – who’s up for trying some crazy food?
- Farm Friday – overalls and straw hats
BONUS LIST
- Pajama Day
- Crazy Hair Day
- Crazy Socks Day
- Denim Day
- Cartoon Character Day
- Emergency Services Day
- Celebrity Look-Alike Day
- Vs. Day (Red vs Blue, Marvel vs DC, Boys vs Girls)
- Birthday Party Day
- Halloween Day
- Christmas in July Day
- Letter Theme Day – dress, hold activities and make things beginning with a specific letter
- Pirate Day
- Rockstar Day
- Pop Culture Day
- Storybook Day
- Scottish Highlands Day
- Down Under Day
- The Orient Express Day
- Hollywood Day
Brilliant!
I would add twin Tuesday.
Excellent list! I never responded to your round table, but glad you were able to share this!
Thanks, Joanne…and you should participate in the round tables. There are always great ideas that come out of those.