Here, I share all of the details and recipes from my daughter's Zoo themed Birthday Party, including a snack and dessert table and Zoo Cake with safari emphasis.
My youngest daughter loves animals, so we decided on a Zoo theme for her 7th birthday.
I found so many cute ideas on Pinterest. As usual, I had to pare down what I thought was manageable!
As I do for all of my parties, I tried to bring in a lot of color from inexpensive items. For this theme, using safari print balloons, papers. ribbons, and disposable plates really added to the decor.
This was a really fun theme, and we were happy with how everything turned out.
Decorations
To create the backdrop for the food table at this party, I used green disposable plastic tablecloths that I draped over a piece of hemp twine tied under the deck above this area of my patio. I did the same for the Snow White Party, the Princess Birthday Party, and the Parisian Cafe Birthday Party.
On top of the tablecloths, I hung sparkly green foil fringe curtains, then hung some leaf banners vertically.
At the top of the backdrop, I hung different shades of green balloons and animal print balloons.
In the center, I hung this sign that I made that says "Charlotte's Zoo." I made this sign using cardboard that I painted with different shades of brown acrylic paint to look like wood grain.
I used my Silhouette machine to cute out the letters for "Charlotte."
For the word "Zoo," I cut out the letters from this African Safari scrapbook paper.
I glued the letters to the sign using thin layers of Tacky Glue. Lastly, I added a couple paper butterflies to the sign.
I used the same scrapbook paper as napkin rings for plastic cutlery wrapped with green paper napkins. To do this, I cut strips of the paper and secured them on the back with Scotch tape.
I also used this paper for the food label signs.
To make these signs, I printed the labels on tan colored cardstock using the MHV Zoo Party font, then mounted them on the animal print scrapbook paper.
For the food and serving tables, I used a rectangular jungle leaf disposable tablecloth and a round green disposable tablecloth. I found so many cute paper plates, like these zebra print plates and polar bear plates.
For this large "7," I cut a piece of cardboard into the shape of a 7, then I wrapped it in leopard print wrapping paper.
Although I had purchased these safari themed treat boxes for favors, I ended up using some on the food table as decorations and stacking them to add height to the decor.
Another way I added height was by wrapping empty cardboard boxes in leopard print wrapping paper.
I draped some of these large faux jungle leaves on top of the box and spread them around the table.
I had these sets of "binoculars" for the kids to use for fun just like on a safari.
To make these, I cut down empty paper towel rolls and wrapped them with leopard wrapping paper. Then, I covered the paper with clear packing tape and used it to bind the two rolls together.
Lastly, I used a hole punch on the sides of the toilet paper rolls and attached a piece of hemp twine to serve as the neck strap.
I ordered these cute Rainbow Leopard Print Shirts for my daughters to wear at the party.
Food & Desserts
I used a small wooden bowl to serve animal crackers, appropriately labeled "Animal Crackers."
I labeled these classic cheddar goldfish crackers as "Penguin Food."
I made these "Tiger Cookies" by adding orange white chocolate stripes on top of chocolate covered graham crackers.
This is a super simple dessert if you buy these packaged fudge covered graham crackers.
To add the stripes, I melted orange candy melts and added the mixture to a disposable piping bag with a small tip cut off. Then, I drizzled the orange stripes onto the graham crackers.
These "Zebra Kisses" are Hershey's "Hugs" melted on square pretzel snaps.
To make these, I arranged Snyder's Snaps square pretzels on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and topped each one with a single Hershey's Hugs candy. I baked them in the oven at 200°F for 4-5 minutes until the candies started melting but still retained the stripes. You just want to melt them a little so that the chocolate sticks to the pretzel.
These "Cheetah Paws" are just Cheetos Paws.
I labeled this platter of fresh pineapple and strawberries as "Monkey Munchies."
These "Snake Eggs" are green grapes.
The "Tiger Tails" are Cheetos Puffs. I wrapped thick animal print ribbons around the clear container.
I placed wrapped Zebra Cakes in this clear plastic bowl.
For the Cake Pops, I used green chocolate melting wafers and green sanding sugar. I cut thin strips of the animal print ribbon and tied them around the sticks.
Although I made these Brown Bear Cake Pops, Polar Bear Cake Pops, Easy Polar Bear Cupcakes, Easy Polar Bear Cookies, Polar Bear Paw Cookies, Chocolate Bear Paw Cookies, and Golden Teddy Bear Chocolate Covered Oreos for different parties, they would be cute with this zoo theme!
Cake
I provide all of the details of this Zoo Cake in a separate post. This cake includes different animal exhibits, a train, and a water feature in the polar bear exhibit.
I used ready to roll black and white fondant and food coloring gel to make the animal print letters on the cake board.
Also, the inside of the cake had 3 different animal print patterns: tiger stripes, Rainbow Leopard Print, and zebra stripes. Details for how to make the tiger and zebra stripe cakes are within the Zoo Cake recipe.
Sources
Brown and tan acrylic paint - Walmart
Animal print balloons - Amazon
Green disposable tablecloths - Party City
Green foil fringe curtains - Target
Green jungle disposable tablecloth - Target
Green leaf hanging banners - Target
Large leaf and butterfly decorations - Target
Zebra Print Plates - Amazon
Polar bear plates - Oriental Trading Company.
African Safari scrapbook paper - Amazon
Animal print ribbons - Walmart (Offray brand)
Animal print treat favor boxes - Amazon
Leopard print wrapping paper - Amazon
Rainbow cheetah print shirts - Amazon
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