This past weekend was a wild one! We celebrated Easton’s 2nd birthday with a bright and bold Party Animal zoo celebration! It was a roarin’ good time!!
This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.
THE THEME
I really wanted the theme of Easton’s party to highlight several of his favorite things. First and foremost, he loves all animals. He is also a huge fan of bubbles, coloring, music, and wearing hats and sunglasses. So after I thought about all of his individual interests I quickly came to the conclusion that a Party Animal theme would be perfect!
After deciding on the theme, I knew I wanted the overall “feel” of the party to be bright, bold, loud, and fun! I imagined what it would be like if a bunch of animals at the zoo actually threw a party…then I tried to bring that to life.
I have to mention, this bubble machine, is amazing!! Easton loves bubbles so much but I knew I wouldn’t be able to blow individual bubbles throughout the whole party so I decided to order a bubble machine. It was the best decision! Everyone (especially Easton) loved it! I have a feeling we are going to be using it all the time now!
THE SWEETS
The dessert table was definitely a bit of a sugar rush! We loaded the table full of fun candies, cookies and an amazing, wild cake. Bella Christie and Lil Z’s Sweet Boutique did an absolutely incredible job on the cake. They are so talented and their cakes are so delicious! I sent them the invitation as well as individual graphics of the “party animals” that I designed and I can’t believe they matched the lion and elephant so perfectly for the top of the cake. They also created the matching cookies of all of the animals. They are truly outstanding!!
Sawyer and I had a blast making all of the little animal figurines for the party. We made sure they were ready to party by loading them up with glitter, party hats, pom poms, and tinsel!
THE ZOO
The kids (and adults) had such a blast with the zoo! I was able to repurpose the fruit stand from Easton’s Farmers Market first birthday party into the zoo ticket booth. Then, I created the large zoo animals cutouts. This DIY project was overall very inexpensive and really not that hard to create.
First, I had each of the animals printed as large engineering prints at Staples. The elephant, zebra and lion were each just a single 36″x 48″ printed sheet. The giraffe, since he was so tall, required 2 sheets.You can download a FREE printable of the large animal cutouts, here. I was amazed at how nice the printing quality was for such an inexpensive cost. The paper is very thin, so I then glued each printout onto white foam core that I got at the dollar store. The last step was to hot glue dowel rods to the back of each animal so I could stake them into the ground. So all in all, each animal came out to be about $12 each. Not bad at all!!
All other customizable printables from this celebration can be found in my Etsy shop, here.
These “Pick Your Nose” cups were so much fun! There were 6 different animal noses in the package…a toucan, zebra, cheetah, shark, bear, and chameleon. They generated lots of laughs!!
Of course, Riley had to get in on the fun too! I mean, when you have a 100+lb yellow lab how can you not put him in this amazing lion’s mane?!?!
GAMES AND ACTIVITIES
Ok, full disclosure, I love a good pun. haha! So when I saw that these pink flamingos could also double as a ring toss game I couldn’t help but “put a ring on it”! We also made fun elephant masks at the party. Easton loves to color so I had to make sure his special day incorporated crayons in some way too.
IT WAS PANDAMONIUM!
But it was such a fun day! Crazy fun chaos! Each of our little party animal guests took home a new panda bear stuffed animal as a party favor to remember the day. I couldn’t resist letting Easton have one too! They were all so excited when they approached the kid’s table and realized that the panda sitting in their spot was for them.
Happy Birthday Easton! Your incredibly sweet spirit brings such a light and joy to our family! We love you so much, sweetie!!
This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.
PIN FOR LATER
SHOP THE ENTIRE PARTY
You never cease to amazing me, friend! Every detail is incredible!! Amazing, amazing job!!!
~Abby =)
Thank you so much Abby! I SO appreciate your kind words. They mean so much to me!
It was a really fun day. Easton had a blast!
Thanks again! xoxo!
Alison
You did such a great job! Thank you for sharing with us! Where did you those sweet pandas from?
Hi Brooke,
Thank you so much for your message! I really appreciate your kind words! The pandas are from IKEA. When I was there last, they still had an adorable collection of animals! 🙂
Thanks again! Have a great day!
Alison
Hi! This is SO stinking cute, I can’t get over it!! Looking to purchase or find your printables for the animals! Please let me know as I’d love to use this theme for my best friend’s baby shower!!
Thanks!
Hi Taylor,
Thank you so much! You are so sweet! I’m so happy you like the party! The large animal graphics are available for download in the post (in the “zoo” section). All of the other printables from the party are in my Etsy shop. You can see them here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/JustAddConfetti
Thanks again so much!
Alison
I love this! Do you have any more diy advice for the animal cutouts? We’ve printed the engineering prints but now wondering what glue to use, if the foam core is one piece or multiple pieces per animal, how the animals held up, et. Thanks!
Hi Jessie,
Thanks so much for your message and kind words. As for the assembly of the animals, I used spray glue from Michael’s craft store and white foam board from the Dollar Tree. Depending on the size of the foam board that you use, you can also tape multiple pieces together with duct tape. I did this when making the giraffe. Then, I also used hot glue to attach dowel rods to the back of the foam board. This made them sturdy enough to place in the grass anywhere in our backyard. I hope this helps.
Thanks again!
Alison
Hi, I can not seem to find the large animal printables, would you mind linking me? Thanks
Hi Samantha,
Thanks so much for your message! Sure! The large animal printables are free downloads. You can find them near the middle of this post — in “The Zoo” section.
Thanks again!
Alison
I just LOVE your sons birthday party!!! You didn’t miss a detail!! Could you share where I can purchase the pom pom garland (around the lions neck) and honeycomb garland?
Hi Kasi,
Thank you so much for your message and kind words! You are so sweet! I bought the pom pom garland from Target and then just added the honeycombs (they were from Target too) to the center. I hope this helps!
Thanks again! Have a great day!
Alison
Do you mind sharing where the b&w table cloth is from?
Hi Chloe,
Thank you so much for your message! Sure! Here is a link to the table cloth (*affiliate): https://amzn.to/2ZKb9wE
I hope this helps! Have a great day!
Alison
This is such a cute party!!! Could you tell me where you found the elephant mask? Did you draw them out and then cut them out or print them out?
Hi Angela,
Thanks so much for your message and kind words! I drew the elephant masks by hand with a black marker. Then I just glued a large craft stick to the back of each one so the kids could hold them over their faces. It was a cute craft!
Thanks again! Have a great day!
Alison