Going Away To Navy Bootcamp Party

My son joined the Navy and we wanted to give him a nice going away party.  The weather was still nice enough here in San Diego so the LOCATION was at Mission beach.  The section we selected was a grassy area on the beach and next to the bay with Volleyball courts and Basketball courts.  INVITATIONS: I couldn't find ready made invites so I made my own.  Someone online had a nice sample of some combat boots that opened up, with the party info inside.  That's what I did.  I couldn't find the Navy camo paper so again I made my own.  I simply copied a Navy camo pattern and repeated it to fill and 8 x 10 paper then had a few color copies made.  Cut that into the shape of boots.  I sewed the shoe laces on. And added dog tags.  When you pulled the boots open, it had a navy seal inside followed with the party info.  They came out really nice.  I also included a map to the location and let the guest know to bring any beach toys and their chairs.  THE PARTY: for ENTERTAINMENT we brought the basketball, football, volleyball, and a giant frisbee. The guests were totally entertained there was lots to do for all age groups. A lot of the smaller kids enjoyed going into the water, while the older kids played team type games for most of the day. My son and his friends had a blast!  FOOD: we had two meals planned.  During the day we had Burgers, Hot Dogs and Sausage Dogs, with all the fixings.  We also had chips,fruit and veggie trays.  As the sun began to set everyone packed a few things in their cars and we moved our set-up to closer to the water.  It was the entry to the bay, we had set aside a bon-fire pit.  We started the bon-fire and everyone placed their chairs around.  We watched the boats go by and had a chance to chat on a more intimate level.  Meanwhile we had our second meal going.  This was a Steamed Seafood dish with Crab, shrimp, mussels, clams, potatoes, corn and sausage.  It was ready just as the sun went down. We served it in large trays and everyone was surprised.  It was the perfect item to serve at this time and location. As they were eating, again we just gathered around the bon-fire and just really enjoyed the moment.  As we were sitting - someone across the bay lit some lanterns and the sky was filled with these beautiful lanterns.  This was not part of my party plans but how perfect was that.  It was gorgeous to watch.  Another thing that happened was there was a natural phenomenon happening on our beaches.  There was an abundance of plankton, that during the day you couldn't really notice but at night, the kids went down to the beach and were amazed that as they stepped near the water, it would light up a neon blue, that was amazing!!!  We finished the night with a beautiful cake that his aunt brought him.  It was a white sheet cake, with piping along the edges.  She had ordered a huge Navy Seal that she put right in the center.  She also made a lot of cupcakes that surrounded the cake.  She put yellow/gold colored frosting on them and decorated them with USA flags.   As a gift to our guests. I put the Sailors Creed on pearlized paper, embellished it with patriotic ribbon.  I bought these candles at Walmart and etched our son's name on it.  I also included a beautiful black and white photo of our son, along with a special request from each guest.  The request was that on the day that he leaves for bootcamp, if they can each say a prayer for him and all of the young men and women that are leaving with him and all those that serve our country. Each one of these was placed in a white craft bag embellished with a Navy Seal and Patriotic ribbon. It was such a perfect party, everything went so well.