I came up with this theme for my son's 2nd birthday....and he was just WILD about African animals at the time! He had a collection of plastic animals that was all lions and tigers, elephants, giraffes and rhino's etc. As a result he developed a great passion for these African animals and to this day - nearly 2 years later- they are still played with constantly and taken on all kinds of adventures!!
The Entrance to the party! A reasonable sized piece of cardboard -painted with black paint "Serengeti Trek, 6km"! With 3 lanterns to add some atmosphere- can buy these from Bunnings and probably other hardware stores too.
Party Boy in his "Safari" outfit (aka kaki green l/s shirt with cargo
pants and boots!)
When I started planning this theme, I went straight to my school folder to see what I could use when I used the "Africa" theme there. These arrows I printed off and laminated were a cinch to make and I used them to direct guests to the party zone! You could find something similar online and photocopy to create your own or look for animal print scrapbook paper and cover some cardstock to make arrows. Laminating them means they can be used again for other parties!
Created this sign using an "African" style font, looks good and a
simple addition to your decorations.
I found these great animal pics onThe site I found my prints on was called Kids Domain and it redirected me to this site..
.so not sure if they're still out there?!
The funky mats hanging on the wall I found at some cheapy $2 type store!
Sketch out some letters on some black card, cut out and used scrap bits of coloured paper- obviously in theme colours- to decorate your letters. I had made these for school so I was thrilled to be able to use them again! These were also laminated to allow for repeated use.
This sign was hung over the party food table, using the same font as for first sign shown, used a hole punch and threaded string through which was attached on either side to the wall/brick pillar.
I had wanted to create a canopy effect with the streamers....and a)- ran out of time and b) didn't really have anywhere to hang them from. Although thinking now- you could use those 3M hooks that are able to be removed without taking paint too! :) I had a tall container filled with grasses to get the "serengetti" feel. I also used plastic tablecloths to help keep the theme colours- a black one as the base and a green one folded in half on the top. I borrowed some funky basket/tray thingo's to use for decorations on the table too. Technically they were from Papua New Guinea....but they looked the part!!
The Party table! Animal mugs in bottom left were for the kiddies (found on ebay for a steal!)..complete with red plastic plates/bowls - kid friendly and cheap! And if you want you can chuck them straight in the bin after the party!
Food was labelled ; chimp chips (banana chips), elephant nibbles (peanuts), jungle muffins (zucchini slice muffins!), tiger treats (nuggets and meatballs), cheetah cheese (cubed cheese chunks), Lion rolls (sausage rolls), monkey bites, safari biscuits (choc chip cookies in giraffe and zebra shapes), chimp chips (potato chips) and you could do plenty more! Your imagination is the limit!!! I had great fun creating these labels and just attached them to skewers and stuck onto each container/dish.
GAMES: The great Peanut hunt! Kids were given brown paper bags to hunt down the REAL peanuts (peanuts in their shells)....the one who found the most got a prize!
Pass the parcel with African themed toys/stickers....I bought a bag full of themed "toys" and added a few extra gimmicky things like ENORMOUS glasses to break it up. I got those huge glasses from a discount store- and the kids LOVED them!
Have pages of animals at tables to colour- with crayons and/or pencils in tubs handy. You could use old tins (ie food tins) and replace the label with some paper you create or find to match the theme.
Play pin the tail on the Tiger for a different spin on an old favourite.
Create animal masks with as few or as many things as you like. Have pre prepared masks for children to choose from and as an activity, give them things to decorate with!
THE CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was so impressed with how this one turned out!! I didn't like the ones in the cake book....I wanted a "cuter" looking tiger and found a pic of the fisher price one online. I printed this one off and created a template to help ice the cake and this is what hubby and I came up with :)
THE INVITE!!!!!!!!!!
Silver Birch Designs- Children's Birthday Invitations. Loved creating this invite for my son, simple but effective! It was A5 size- I would probably halve it next time around, although the bigger size was great fun and the kids LOVED them!
A great way to decorate for a theme is to borrow items from people you know- like the PNG platters I had, african looking rugs from my parents, makes it look great and doesn't cost you a fortune!
Happy Party Planning!!
