Party planning and event hosting are so much fun for me! Porter requested animals this year, so we created a jungle animal party around the theme “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Party Like Animals.” Here are the details so you can host your very own Jungle Party.
Food
Determining a Menu is always number one on the list. I’m kind of gettin over all those cheesy super themed snacks (ie: Banana Monkey Treats, Hungry Hippo Vegetable Dip and Raisin Dried Ants). We opted for something practical and that didn’t have a silly name, but would still fill you up.
- Snake Sub Sandwich: A six footer ran us forty bucks from Walmart, just be sure you specify a pick up time 🙄
- Zoo Pasta: I followed this recipe, but I couldn’t find animal pasta, so we mixed together dinosaurs and ocean animals.
- Animal Trail Mix: so easy because you can just add whatever animal snacks your fav store carries, but got the idea from Glue Sticks Blog.
- Zebra Kisses: yum, these were a hit. I wish I bought another bag of hugs. We used this recipe, but did end up baking them a little longer than mentioned and didn’t use M&Ms.
- Animal Print Birthday Cake: for anyone who knows me, cake is by far my favorite part of birthday parties. I got this awesome idea from Sweet Dreams and Sugar Highs, but it didn’t turn out as well as I would have liked. I made a tiger stripe cake with orange supreme cake mix and chocolate cake mix. The top layer cheetah cake was made using her alternative cake recipe. I used one box French vanilla cake mix with vanilla pudding. I ran out of cake mix, so I made my own version using this tutorial and added the banana pudding to make it “alternative” for the cheetah cake. After the cakes cooled, I cut them to the same size, frosted in between and stacked them. Frosted all around and added a giraffe, tiger, and the classic number “3” candle. Overall, I wouldn’t attempt the stripes and cheetah print again, but the flavor of the cake was delicious and super moist!
Activities
Now that our kids are toddlers, parties no longer are considered a mere play date. The kids need something to occupy their little minds.
Obstacle Course
I absolutely loved this idea for our active little dude. We set up five different obstacles.
- Hula Hoops: zip tie hula hoops to garden stakes, then zip tie jungle vines to the sides.
- Alligator Swamp: use a thrift store sheet as the water, cut limbs for the edges, cut spare wood for stepping stones, and put these alligators in between
- Tunnel: use a tunnel from your kids’ favorite tent and pound in garden stakes to keep it in place
- Pool Noodle Tires: this was a pain because just duct taping the noodles together did not hold for us. We used leftover American flags as dowels and put them inside the noodles before taping together.
- Snake Balance Beam: don’t let the snakes eat you if you fall off! We used spare wood, screws and a 4×4 six foot post to make the balance beam. To up the anti, add snakes on either side.
Make Your Own Jungle Scene
We upcycled some old paper trays from our last party to create our own jungle scene. Lay out a variety of “ingredients” and let their creative minds take flight! Use:
- Sand Playdough (we loved this tutorial)
- Trays
- Twigs from a tree
- Sycamore seeds from our tree
- Moss Grass (craft store)
- Craft Rocks
- Animals
- Green Play-dough
Decorations
It’s the details that truly make the party. I liked black and white with Green Accents.
- Welcome To The Jungle Sign
- DIY jungle leaf garland (use this tutorial)
- Black and white striped table cloth and runner
- Sand and Animal centerpieces
- Chalkboards, written with a marker (which makes all the difference, I swear!)
- food backdrop (cheetah print sheet from the thrift store and “wild” balloons)
- You get the idea. Details matter!
Party Favors
I don’t know why party favors have all of a sudden become a must have, but we tried to keep it simple. Pointless favors just annoy me, so we went with something the kids could actually use. Each bag included:
- A DIY Animal Mask (we found these at AC Moore)
- Zoo Animal Stickers (Dollar Store Sticker Pad)
- Plastic Animal (Dollar Store had the best deals for these)
- Jungle Animal Sucker
Amber Launstein 