Camp Wandawega is a magical vintage camp in Elkorn, Wisconsin. My first time staying here was the fall of 2017 when I attended Camp Wed, a three day retreat for creative wedding professionals held at Camp Wandawega, My sister Shannon watched my instagram stories of the Camp, and when she messaged me how much she wanted to go to Camp Wandawega, I promptly asked her if she’d want to have her bachelorette party there. After an emphatic “OMG YESSSS!!!” we booked the Camp on AirBnb and looked forward to celebrating in September!

My sisters and I kept all the plans from Shannon for the weekend, so when the weekend arrived, we set up a beautiful dinner table to surprise Shannon and her friends when they arrived. After dropping their bags off in their rooms, everyone enjoyed a blackberry moscow mule in our “Camp Hermsen” mugs, while crafting their flower crown to wear to dinner.

Making a flower crown is a pretty quick and easy craft. You just need floral wire, floral tape, ribbon, scissors, and flowers. Babies Breath is a great choice because you don’t have to worry about the flowers wilting, it will last several days if you wanted it to.

Take the wire around your head to measure how much you need. You don’t want it to be super tight.
Cut the wire and wrap it tight with floral tape.
Cut small bunches of buds and wrap them to the crown with the tape, slightly overlapping each time.
Tie a ribbon in a bow in the back and you’ve got yourself a flower crown!

Next we headed over by the charming treehouse, and had dinner during sunset. It was fun to see Shannon and her friends so excited about the dinner set up, and my family and I were thrilled that the weather was perfect for the outdoor setting. We originally brought linens to cover some picnic tables with at the camp, but ended up using these beautiful wooden tables and chairs from the ‘mess hall’ instead. We loved the way the wood grain looked with the eucalyptus leaves and gold candlesticks.

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Chef Tyler Ray Salisbery of Black Sheep and his staff served us an incredible four course meal as we celebrated Shannon with plenty of wine and champagne. The first course was one of the favorites! A poached pear and goat cheese bruschetta - I’m drooling just thinking about it again. It was made of poached pears, honey, fig sauce, and goat cheese on a toasted baguette. The second course Chef Tyler brought out was a heavenly zucchini and parmesan salad. Spiral-cut zucchini in a lemon zest dressing with fresh pepper, parmesan cheese, almonds and pistachios. I want to eat this salad everyday!

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For our main course, herb-roasted chicken with a blue cheese mousse, roasted red pepper and grilled onions over grilled zucchini with beet and smoked tomato harissa. I didn’t know blue cheese could be made in a mousse, and now I want all cheese everywhere to be made into a mousse! My sister loves all things fall and pumpkin - so Chef Tyler made the most divine pumpkin bread pudding topped with a whiskey glaze and fresh whipped cream. We would all drive to Wisconsin again just for this dessert!

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Saturday morning we traded our flower crowns in for flannels, as we had fun exploring the camp. We stayed on the top floor of the bunkhouse, which has a fun living room, retro kitchen, showers, and bathrooms. We made breakfast, bloody mary’s, and mimosas while looking out over the lake with the windows open. I love the time of year when you can open the windows and let the breeze flow in!

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You can’t go camp without a little camping craft sesh. We painted succulent pots, which was a quick and easy craft. It was the perfect glamping bachelorette activity. We got the pots, paint, and a bag of paint brushes from Hobby Lobby, and a pack of Echeveria Succulents from Home Depot (click HERE) We also made custom plastic mason jar cups, a fun way to tie in the theme of ‘Camp Hermsen’ while having reusable cups and straws all weekend. HERE is where we ordered them from.

The famous Camp Wandawega Treehouse is one of my favorite spots on the property. I love that the owners don’t rent out the treehouse, but rather keep it open so that all campers can enjoy it during their stay. The attention to detail that went into designing the treehouse makes it so fun to explore, read a book, or enjoy a cup of coffee on the deck.

One of our favorite places to hang out was in the Airstream Bar. This retro bar makes you feel like you’ve walked into a time-capsule from decades ago, in the best way possible. The leather detailing on the seats, barstools, couch, is gorgeous and made for fun vibe.

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Camp Wandawega has tons of areas for fun around camp, and we loved how retro all of the spaces and equipment were. Activities included Archery, Hatchet Throwing, an old concrete Shuffleboard, Basketball, Volleyball, Hiking, Bicycles (the two seater is a fav), and Canoeing to name a few. There’s also a crafting cabin, a teepee, old boy scout tents, and so much more to explore.

After dinner, we piled around the campfire for dessert - s’mores and cupcakes and cookies made by Amy from Sprinkled Confections. After watching the sunset on the water, Ranger Joe told us ghost stories, and the history of the camp (click HERE to find out more of the history).

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The two nights together of course went by way to fast. Camp Wandawega was the perfect place to relax and celebrate Shannon. I so enjoyed getting to know her friends even better, and look forward to reuniting at the wedding in a few short weeks!