January 6, 2011

Throwing a Safari Party for my Monkey!

Monkey will be turning 2 in less than 2 months and you know me I try to stay ahead of the game by planning his birthday party now this way I have plenty of time making crafts and testing out ideas. I am a full believer of house parties but I live in a townhouse so they way we work it is having 2 parties in one day.  In my DH eye's we should have two parties because Monkey and I share the same birthday.  Last year we had two parties on two separate days, after prepping and cleaning for one party I really didn't want to do it the following week. So this year we will be partying from 1:00 till 11:00ish!

This is what I got going on in my head, I am open for suggestions. The theme is safari, since Monkey LOVES giraffes.


Decorations
*Sidewalk: Make animal paw prints using chalk

*Green Streamers hanging from the ceiling

* Palm Trees: You can make your own palm trees using the cardboard rolls from a fabric store. Cover them with brown felt strips and make palm leaves out of green felt. Placed wire in the middle of each leaf and stick them in a piece of foam that can be placed inside each cardboard roll.

*Dinner room table: Animal print tablecloth, novelties like plastic compasses, rubber snakes, lizards and plastic zoo animals

Games/Activities
*Safari Masks Decoration Activity: Children love becoming animals and this activity will be an amazing experience for them. You can get Safari Mask Craft Kit from a party store. Have the kids design their own masks that they can wear at the safari birthday party.

*Jungle Mural: For this safari birthday party activity you'll need butcher paper, crayons, markers, paints, etc. Give each kid a piece of butcher paper. Spread out pictures of wild animals for ideas. Get the children to design their own jungle murals. Tape the murals on the wall when they are ready.

*Board Games: Barrel of monkeys’ and Elefun

*Safari Hunt: Dress children up up for this! (Hats, vest, biconculers, flaslight) Hide inflatable animal around the house and have the kids find them. 

*Simon Says Be A Giraffe Play the game using safari animals, such as "Simon Says be an elephant!"

*Animal Memory Game

Food
App
*critter crunch (trail mix with animal crackers)
*Pigs-in-a-blanket
*Pretzels
*Fried Ravioli’s
*Dip/chips/veggies/fruit

Children’s Menu
*Lion Tails (chicken fingers)
*Wacky mac-n-cheese
*Ziti

Family Lunch Menu
*Eggplant parmesan
*Roast or some other kind of meat
*Roasted Potatoes

Friend’s Dinner Menu
*Stuffed Cabbage or Lasagna
*Jambalaya
*Broccoli and Cheese

Sweets
*Zany Zebra Shakes: Combine the following ingredients in blender - 6 cups milk, 12 Oreo® cookies (crushed beforehand) and 2-3 scoops of vanilla ice cream. (You may want to split the ingredients in half so it won't overflow). Blend until smooth.

*Chocolate Monkey Banana Pops

*Birthday Cake
*Birthday Cupcakes

Down Time
*Jungle Book and Tarrazon DVD

Goody Bags
Jungle Lollypops
Jungle Coloring books
Small box of crayons
Homemade Animal Cookies
Thank you note for the children
Every child takes home an inflatable animal, zoo stencil, a derby hat, animal mask

Time Line
Family Party: starts at 1:00/Eat at 2/ Cake at 3
Kids Party: starts at 4:00/ Games till 6/ then follow Friends Party Plan
Friends Party: starts at 5:30/Eat at 6/ Cupcakes at 7

2 comments:

brittany said...

it all sounds like so much..but should be a good time..and i still love your idea about breaking up the parties!! =)

Amanda said...

It is a bit much…. Ok I found animal mask already made and decorated that’s the same price as the blank mask. So that’s one thing I can take off. Now for the food, I could make the same thing for both parties but that’s kinda not fair for me and Dave lol. I can take away the zebra milkshakes but I wanna keep the chocolate banana pops. I still have time for adjustments, any ideas??