Anya's Animal Themed Birthday Party - Food & Fun

To make the menu sound more fun, I tried to give wild names to the dishes. Here's a peek at the menu :

1. Jungle juice - juice and soft drink
2. Beetle wings - potato chips
3. Animal crackers - mathri
4. Bhaloo cutlet - veg cutlet
5. Corn whale - corn bhel
6. Paw bhaji - pav bhaji
7. Wormy doodles - noodles
8. Dragon dhokla - khaman dhokla
9. Golden eggs - mini gulabjamuns
10. Forest fruitsticks - assorted fruits on a toothpick
and of course....a cake!

Jungle menu card

 I had these zebra and leopard stoles which came in handy. I just thew a transparent plasic table cover over these and a perfect backdrop for animal theme was ready.

I made these mathris in mini animal shapes. Kids loved it. 

In keeping with the theme, I planned following games:

Feeding the monkey: I covered a wire-planter with a paper cut-out of  monkey and hung it on a wall. A tennis ball, which was supposed to act as a banana was given to kids .They had to throw this 'banana' inside the 'monkey's mouth'.

Guess the animal: Anya's Papa prepared a slide show with different paw prints. Kids had to guess the respective animal. The one who gave the maximum correct answers won a prize. Even parents participated whole-heartedly and we had a lot of laughs with the guesses. 

Tip: A variation could be guessing animal sounds.

'Jungle me mangal' dance: This is a classic newspaper dance where each kid had to pair with her Mom and dance on a newspaper sheet without stepping out. As the music stopped, the sheet had to be folded into half and the dancing would resume. This brought out all animal instincts in participants and drew a lot of laughter. Both parents and kids had a gala time. I am a child at heart and always like to participate in games etc. So I was keen for games for parents too.

You are caged: This game was done twice - once for Moms and then for kids. It is a version of musical chairs. Moms formed a circle and had to pass a hoola-hoop through themselves before passing it on to the next Mom. Music played all along. When music stopped, whoever was left holding the hoola hoop had to do a small act and go out. The one who was left last, was the winner and got a prize. 

After repeating this game with kids, we headed to burst the pinata. Kids loved collecting candies, erasers, pencils and nuts.

We then had cake cutting followed by dinner.

Anya's Animal Themed Birthday Party - Lion Cut Out

I wanted to do an animal, preferably a lion cut out. The idea was to paint whiskers on kids and then take a picture at the cut out. I gave some thought to this matter and came up with a brilliant idea. I say it's brilliant because I could do one of my favourite things in the world - reuse:) Let me elaborate. I had these surf boards from last year's Hawaiian themed party. Yes, I'm a hoarder and nothing gives me more pleasure than to reinvent stuff.

I took away the hibiscus flowers (those of you who know me well, would have guessed it...I have saved them too!!), and started contemplating. It struck me that these surfboard colors were perfect for a lion - I wouldn't even have to repaint! 

I drew  the lion's face on the rust board and the torso on orange one. Then I cut them out with a pair of sharp scissors. The face was joined to the body with allpins and toothpicks. To support the lion, I placed a bamboo pole behind it.

I retrieved the grass from my friend's work. As the color had faded, a green coat was done and it looked as fresh as new. I placed the grass at the lion's feet, which also saved me the need to draw the lion's paws! Yeah, smart me:) I also gave a fresh coat to the lion's body and face.

I had a wish to use this IKEA leaf as a prop somewhere in the decor because it was so apt for the jungle-animal theme. I placed the lion under the leaf. The way it all came together was fantastic. 

I fell in love with the lion and so did my guests. It's another matter that, ironically, I had a tough time keeping the lion safe from kids:) 

It was very satisfying to make this cut out and to know that kids enjoyed it so much!

Anya's Animal Themed Birthday Party - The Decor

I chose this theme partially because there were some drawings from Anya's first birthday which fitted the theme. My sister-in-law is quite an artist. She, along with my niece, had made these lovely animal sketches which came in handy.

Snails on a trail

Merry mushrooms

Friendly frog

Buzzing bees

Their labor of love shines through.Though I like all drawings, my favorites are frogs and mushrooms. They are so bright and cheerful, my spirits soar every time I look at them.

A friend of mine was kind enough to lend a set of animals from her daughter's birthday party. She is another excellent artist. Ain't I lucky to have such family and friends!Check out these brilliant animals:

She used colored sheets for making these animals. There was no painting involved though there was a lot of cutting and pasting. She used a double sided tape to stick spots, stripes, ears and eyes. How lovely the animals look!

I made an arch with all these animals and put the birthday banner in middle. I wanted fresh palm leaves in my decor to give a jungle look. Luckily, I found freshly cut palm leaves with the gardener and got them home. The good thing about palm is that it doesn't wilt fast. So I prepared the arch of palm leaves a day in advance. They held well with simple cello tape.

Animals gathered at Anya's den to celebrate

What was my contribution to the wall? I made the banner and enjoyed doing it.

Anya's Animal Themed Birthday Party - Birthday Banner

For the last two birthdays, I had used a store bought banner. This time around, I wanted to make one.(As other decor was taken care of, I had time to go into other details). Google gave enough ideas and my heart was set on making a pennant style birthday banner with animal spots and stripes. I finally made it and was quite happy with the way it turned out.

I chose white and rust colored sheets.White was an obvious choice for zebra stripes. Rust was apt for giraffe and leopard spots. The steps to create this spotty, stripy banner are simple:

• Take any thick sheet. Draw a triangular pennant measuring 8.5 inches at the top and 10.5 inches on each side. Cut out one pennant and using this as a stencil, cut out the rest. I made 6 white and 7 rust pennants: 6 for zebra stripes, 4 for giraffe spots and 3 for leopard ones. I did not include Anya's name in the banner. If you want to paint your kid's name, get ready to make more pennants.

• Using a circular shape, trace a circle in the middle of each pennant. This is for writing the birthday alphabet.

• Draw spots and stripes. Paint them using acrylic colors. If you are comfortable, you can paint directly without drawing first. I wasn't so confident, so I drew them first and then colored.

Leopard spots

Zebra stripes

Giraffe spots

The coming together of banner

My hard work paying off

There it is!!

4. Let them dry. Glue a string at the back of pennants and voila! Your customised animal themed banner is ready.

The final look

It was a lot of fun doing the banner. There is something about DIY which gives satisfaction like little else. While making the pennants, I could picture lithe zebras grazing in savannah, languid giraffes munching from trees and agile leopards stalking their prey. So much so, it has left me longing for an African safari! I hope my wish gets fulfilled soon:)