Jungle Birthday Party: A Super Safari

"Lions, and tigers, and bears; Oh my!" Animals fascinate all children, whether furry, frisky or ferocious. Turn the house into an animal kingdom with this kids jungle party. or call your local zoo to see if they have a party room that can serve as home base for a birthday at the zoo. I bet they do! Let the kids experience the call of the wild with this Super Safari kids jungle party.

Safari Party Invitations
Start with a invitation that will make the kids roar with excitement. Invite them on a safari with a personalized jungle theme invitation or a semi custom jungle theme caricature invitation. A personalized or a unique invitation for your little monkey.

For another type of invitation, go to your local party store or costume store and buy rubber animal noses. On animal stationary, write all of the pertinent party information. Attach the animal noses to the party information and hand deliver the invitations to the guests. This will get everyone excited to go on safari with you!

Get the Kids Involved: Create your own jungle invitations with the kids. Print out pictures of jungle animals in black and white and let the kids color them in with marker and crayons. Print all the party information on the back. Or take a photo of your child dressed up for a safari surrounded by trees. Include the picture on your invitation for another fun personal touch.

No matter what invitation you choose, throw some confetti in your envelope to get everyone excited for your big day!

Jungle Decorations and Party Supplies
Use a lifesize safari cutout with your child's face cut out to welcome guests at the door. We have both a female safari explorer and a male safari explorer, just add your child's face for a great personalized decoration!

As the children enter, give them safari hats (after all, this is going to be an adventure). A jungle safari banner is a good way to fill a wall and send a special birthday message to your guest of honor!

Use novelties like plastic compasses, rubber snakes, lizards and plastic zoo animals to carry the theme throughout the party setting. Use fish netting swags around tables and across the room as you would with crepe paper. Place little plastic bugs in the netting to make it appear as if the kids are on safari, catching critters.

We love balloons at a birthday party! For your jungle party, mix together safari Mylar balloons, green latex balloons and an assortment of latex balloons in colors to match the safari balloons. Don't forget the helium tank to inflate the balloons.

Safari Table Decorations and Menu
Start with fabulous Animal Planet theme paper goods to match the theme. There are plates, cups, napkins, tablecovers and more to make serving (and clean up!) nice and easy. We love the jungle animals and bright colors used on the set.

There are fun safari placemats with fun games and puzzles printed on the back to keep party guests entertained. Make sure to have crayons and markers out on the table for the kids to use with these activities.

Balloons always make a fun centerpiece. Mix together more bouquets of safari Mylar balloons and latex balloons and tie them together. They can be weighed down with simple balloons weights or black binoculars.

Stuffed animals make great centerpieces. You can find them online, or at many party stores. Look for monkeys, lions, elephants and other jungle animals. Tie them onto a safari hat for a fun centerpiece. If you're having a larger party with a number of tables and you'll have a lot of stuffed animals, you might want to consider donating the stuffed animals to a children's hospital after the party. Here's a picture of a centerpiece we used at a jungle party with stuffed animals that were donated after th party was over.

Throw animal crackers as confetti all over the table as part of the look, as well as a tasty snack for hungry children! You can also put a box of animal crackers at each place, tagged with a note from the guest of honor, as a fun favor.

Quench their thirst (yes, safaris are tiring!) with bottles of water with personalized jungle theme bottle labels!

Think jungle when working on your menu! Here are a few ideas for your jungle party:

Pizza decorated with animal stripes - you can use a variety of toppings to create this look
Lion fingers - ok, they are just chicken fingers renamed
Fresh bananas and fruit kabobs
Jell-O in the shapes of different animals - use animal cookie cutters.
Trail mix with nuts (assuming no one has allergies) - this is good for energy when going on safari!

Let the children decorate butter cookies in the shapes of their favorite animals (this is also a good way to keep the kids occupied) for dessert. You'll also want a super cool jungle theme cake! Check at a local bakery for an animal theme cake. Check out this jungle cake that one the of Party Girls had at her son's jungle theme birthday party!

Jungle Party Activities
You can't go wrong with a piñata at a birthday party and a zebra piñata fits this party perfectly! Fill it with piñata candy and toys and let the kids go crazy!

You can certainly send your kids on a safari at this party! Hide plastic animals (which you can find at any toy store) around the party. With their safari hats on, send them out to see how many animals they can find! Have a prize for the winner, but let everyone keep the animals they find!

Here are a few more fun animal theme games you can play at your safari!

"Name That Animal" - This is a fun game for small children just beginning to learn their animals. Pass out animal stickers or small stuffed animals, and have the kids imitate the animal they receive. Let the other kids guess the animal!

"Find Your Animal" - Each child has to bring his/her own stuffed animal. Put all of the animals together to make one big pile of animals. Then one by one blindfold each child and have them try to find their animal. Give each child who chooses the correct animal a prize!

"Tarzan!"- This game is an old favorite (usually called "Hot Potato"). Have all of the kids sit in a circle, as one kid is chosen as the "leader". Begin passing a stuffed jungle animal around the circle, while the "leader" turns his/her head with eyes closed. Everyone must accept the animal and may not hold it longer than a second. At any point the "leader" can yell, "Tarzan!", and whoever has the animal is out. Continue to play until there is only one person left, and he/she is the winner.

For a few fun crafts activities, you can make paper bag puppets and let the kids put on a puppet show with a safari story. Or, have safari coloring sheets for the kids to decorate. Here are a few you can print out yourself:

Jungle Safari Party Favors

If you make paper bag puppets, those can be used as the treat bags to hold each child's favors. Jungle theme candy bar wrappers with milk or dark chocolate make yummy and memorable favors. You can even include your child's photo and a special message from your child thanking everyone for joining them on safari!

Our jungle safari favor pack includes an assorted plastic jungle animal, assorted 4 jungle animal bean bag, toy binoculars, play whistle, and an assorted zoo animal finger puppet. Or fill a empty jungle favor box with fun prizes like:

Have a great time on Safari and Happy Birthday from Party411.com!