Fab Fete: Party Animal Themed 2nd Birthday

Last year, Juliet’s birthday party started out with the perfect birthday dress.  See here.  This year, her birthday party was inspired by Meri Meri paper products that I found during a random clearance sale.  Here is just a sampling:

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meri meri napkins

I adored the color combination, unisex animal theme and the amazing deal …. so much so that I didn’t care that her next birthday wasn’t for another 6 months.   Yes I realize that that officially makes me THAT crazy party planning mom.  But what do you expect?  I loved planning parties as part of my Public Relations and Marketing profession pre-baby.  So I’m bound to plan events with the same passion for my daughter.  Besides she is way cuter than my previous clients (Samsung, Saks Fifth Avenue, Toys R Us etc).  Plus it’s always so much more meaningful when it’s all about family and your daughter’s BFFs.

Too bad the budget isn’t the same.  Oh well, that’s why I have Pinterest boards full of DIY ideas.  In addition to the Meri Meri paper products that I bought, I complimented them with customized handmade items.  This post will concentrate on some of the DIY party projects that I had fun glue gunning, spraying, and sticking:

  • party animals
  • animal-themed wall decor
  • themed water bottles, Gogo Squeezes, and Applesauce
  • backdrop board and risers
  • banners
  • milk bottles
  • birthday hats

The party animals were done 3 months ahead of time and involved buying (wholesale from Amazon) the plastic animal figurines and then gluing random items on them to make them fit into the party animal theme.

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The presents on the larger animals’ backs were made from old jewelry boxes and Nerd candy boxes!  I just wrapped them in coordinating papers that I bought on sale from Michaels and added washi tape or pom pom trim.  Hats were made from anything from paper to pom pom balls to buttons and ribbon.  I just used whatever broken jewelry, leftover craft supplies and ribbon I had.

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And I painted the nails of some of the animals which made my husband label them the “gayest animals he has ever seen.”  True as that may be, they were pretty fabulous.

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I’m selling these party animals as a package to anyone who can pick up from NYC.  Message me if interested!  They made for great centerpieces at our party but can also serve as fun displays in your kids rooms.

To make our venue more in line with our theme, I decorated the walls with animal themed photos of Juliet and also decorated the pillars – one with a pin the tail on the elephant game and one with art that Juliet created.

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baby photos

little maestros

The musical entertainers performed in front of that photo wall singing songs with animal lyrics and leading an animal parade around the room.

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As I always am with snack stations and dessert bars, I want all my food displays to match.  Choosing items within the color theme are a must for me and when things don’t exactly match, I sticker them!dessert bar

Juliet-8935Everything from the GoGo Squeezes,  to the toddler-friendly mango applesauces, water bottles and favor bags were stickered in my so-called free time (without a nanny) and made to coordinate with the theme.  Michelle, from That Party Chick who I worked with on Juliet’s 1st birthday party was kind enough to partner up with me again on this project.  Check out her shop!  She is super creative and lightning fast with her graphics.  I’ll have more pictures of the dessert bar in my next post but here’s a sneak peak.

dessert bar

The backdrop is something I’ve been wanting to craft ever since I saw some online how-tos during my research and Pinterest round-up.  It took some time but was a cheaper alternative than having a customized graphic designed and printed large-scale.  Basically, I taped together foam board pieces, added fabric with spray adhesive, then taped on a banner.  And now I can store and re-use the foam core board for other future events!

dessert bar

Make a riser with tissue boxes covered in coordinating fabric!  Mine is a blue giraffe print fabric, found on clearance that I simply glued on at home.  See how I used it prior to this event during my Disney sponsored princess party here.   I also covered a diaper box with plastic tablecloth and pom pom trim to create a last minute riser for one of the kids tables shown here (last minute RSVPs!)

DIY

The birthday hats, milk bottles and banners were all made with leftover paper and fabric.

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milk bottles

I’m excited to show you how the whole party animal theme came to life through the themed outfits, food, entertainment and the rest of the decor!  Stay tuned for a continued blog post coming soon!

The pictures from this post are a mix of mine and those from www.Hammjackk.net

 

 

 

 

Fab Fete: How to Throw a Party Animal Themed Kid’s Birthday

We’ve jokingly called Juliet a party animal ever since she was born because she has been a night owl going to bed anywhere between 10pm (nowadays) to as late as midnight during her first year of life.  So it was only fitting (and such a cute unisex party theme) to make “party animal” her 2nd birthday theme.  Get inspired as this post shows you how to incorporate the party animal theme into everything from the fashions to the decor to the entertainment to the food!

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Let’s start with the fashion.  Juliet wore a bear necklace and (sometimes) wore / carried her lion backpack (perfect since her birthday invite introduced her as “Leo the lion”.  I wore my party animal necklaces from Mustard Dandelion’s cute Etsy shop with my leopard Banana Republic heels.

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The birthday invite (from Paperless Post) encouraged guests to come dressed in their wildest fashions.

animal inviteJuliet’s fashionable friends did NOT disappoint!

animal party ideas

We were happy to see lots of animal print, fur, animal faces, and bunny ears!  My friends are always up for a fun fashion challenge and luckily, they’re as crazy committed to themed parties as I am.  I find that it just adds another level of excitement, enthusiasm and involvement into a party.  How cute are they all?!!

animal themed party

The party animal decor consisted of a yellow, orange and baby blue color theme.  And animals were incorporated wherever possible.  (masks, plates, centerpieces, signage, and stickers for example).  Here’s the gift table that sat conveniently right next to the entrance’s coat check-in.

favor bags

Those 3 teddy bears are actually bears from my own childhood.  I just added the ribbon and party hats to align them more with the theme. I used them at Juliet’s 1st birthday party too and love that they represent daddy, mommy and Juliet.

Underneath the table, we stored all of Juliet’s presents.  And on top of the table, we featured the favor bags which included:  stickered go go squeezes, organic gummy bunnies, stickered Ziploc full of animal crackers and goldfish, a rubber duck, a book about animals and animal stickers.  Additionally, each child went home with one of the giant, yellow balloons featured at the kids table.

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dessert bar

The framed sign and favor bag stickers were custom created with my direction by That Party Chick , the silk flowers were bought on sale at Michaels, the riser was a diaper box that I covered in fabric and ribbon and the white topper is a shower curtain that I only use for special events.  If you follow my blog, you’ve seen it re-purposed in 3 other events.  And the yellow tulle fabric is just taped directly onto the table’s perimeter.

animal themed party

Every kids’ birthday should feature some photos.  I incorporated photos of Juliet holding different stuffed animals and/or costumed as an animal herself and created a consistent look and feel by printing them all the same size, posting them to card stock and adding a label to each one to continue the animal theme across the mirrored wall.   birthday partyThe food station was split into the sweets and snacks tables.  The sweets table included:

  • a macaron tower from The Macaron Cafe
  • frosted animal cookies from Elinis
  • organic animal cookies
  • bunny chocolates
  • organic bunny gummy pouches
  • vanilla cupcakes
  • candy balls
  • animal shaped suckers with “happy birthday Juliet!” stickered on the back
  • yellow gummy bears
  • stickered applesauces

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IMG_2751dessert bar Juliet-8884 Juliet-8889

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The snack side of the table featured:

  • snake sub (with olive eyes and red Twizzler tongue)
  • safari salad
  • monkey food (bananas)
  • hungry hippo hummus and veggies
  • bear nutella sandwiches
  • coffees teas, waters and jungle juices
  • parrot pineapples

IMG_5892 animal themed food IMG_5889

menu

And the entertainment consisted of:

  • musical performers singing animal themed songs (Think “in the jungle”, “itsy bitsy spider”)
  • Pin the Tail on the Elephant
  • stuffed animals, animal books and puzzles and animals that you could ride on

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And the animal decor included animal masks for the kids, plastic animal centerpieces (which you can read more about in my earlier post), and animal chair covers which were a big hit.

animal parade

animal parade masks

It was a lively party that kids and adults all enjoyed.  And Juliet was so happy to celebrate with all her little friends.  It was the first year she really understood what it meant to have a birthday.  I’ll always remember her cute voice saying, “I’m TWO! Happy birthday!!”

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