A Zoo Birthday Party

Monkeys will swing, zebras will kick up their heels, and elephants will stampede to your home for a fabulous zoo animal party!

This is a fun theme for small kids under the age of 5. Even if you are not taking an actual trip to the zoo, you can definitely bring the zoo alive in your own home.  Birthday in a Box has a great animal party theme.

They also have these jungle animal party supplies. Whatever you decide, these themes can act as a springboard to great ideas for your party planning!

Here are tips on bringing the zoo alive at your home:

For the Invitations:

Gather pictures of each of your party guests or of the birthday kid. Purchase brightly colored construction paper, and fold it into half. On the front half, cut out rectangular shapes so that it looks like a cage. You can either place the pictures of the party guests on the inside, so it looks like they are in the cage, or place a picture of the birthday kid inside. On the front, write, “Welcome to ____ Zoo!” Inside the invitation and underneath the picture, provide the party details.

Alternatively, order personalized zoo invitations to invite your guests for a fun day at the zoo!

For the Decorations:

For decorations, purchase streamers and balloons in your kid’s favorite colors. Use the same colors for the tableware. Attach a few zoo animal Mylar balloons to the birthday kid’s chair. In addition, take a stuffed zoo animal and place it in the center of the table with a few Mylar balloons attached.

Decorate the party room with stuffed animals and posters of zoo animals. On the path to the party’s front door, use sidewalk chalk to draw animal footprints. Place a sign at the entrance welcoming the kids to the zoo. Take large appliance boxes, and on one side, cut out large rectangular shapes. Paint the boxes, and name them for different animal cages. Cut out a back flap so the kids can crawl in and pretend they are zoo animals. These are great for photo opportunities!

For Games and Activities:

When the kids arrive, have someone on hand to paint their faces like zoo animals, with whiskers, brown noses, stripes, etc.

As an opening activity, have the kids use paper plates to make animal masks. Make sure to cut out the eyes of each mask before the kids decorate them. Have them use crayons, glitter, and markers to make the animal’s face. Attach a stick to the bottom of the mask for the kids to hold. Make sure to write the kids’ names on the back of the masks so that they can take them home as a goody.

Play Elephant Says like Simon Says.

Play Pin the Tail on the Zebra.

Put on a puppet show using zoo animal puppets.

Announce a zoo animal, and have the kids make the noises of that animal and walk like that animal. You can also call the name of an animal out, put on music, and have the kids move like that animal. When the music stops, the kids must freeze. If someone continues to move, they are out!

Place a tail on each kid, and have them play a game where they must pull off the tails of other guests while still protecting their own. The kid who still has his tail on and has the most tails, wins!

Enjoy an animal relay race. Split the kids into two groups, and have them stand across from one another in a straight line. The first kid who goes must do an animal movement to reach the kid on the other side, such as slithering like a snake, jumping like a kangaroo, or jumping like an antelope. After each new kid is tagged, ask them to move like a new animal. After everyone has a turn, the relay is complete … and everyone wins!

For the Party Menu:

Use animal cookie cutters to cut out favorite small sandwiches into different zoo animal shapes.

Serve iced animal crackers. Make a batch of sugar cookies, and cut them out into animal shapes. Have the kids decorate them with icing and candies.

Check out Recipe Zaar’s Zoo-Pendous Jungle Party Menu for more unique ideas.

Serve popcorn and peanuts in fun paper containers like the ones you would get at your local zoo.

Cut Jell-O Jigglers out into animal shapes.

FamilyFun.com has a great selection of animal cupcakes to make! Check out these darling Polar Bear Cubcakes!

For the Party Favors:

Send the kids home with their animal masks, zoo animal balloons, little beanie animals, zoo animal stickers, coloring books, and small boxes of animal crackers. Package it up in a vintage popcorn box for the kids to take home.