For Max’s 3rd birthday, we threw a zoo-themed party. It was a great theme with so many options for fun. Here is a complete guide for planning your child’s zoo themed birthday party. This party plan would work for ages 1-7, although starting at 5, I would add some crafts and games, and maybe a bounce house.
Zoo Birthday Cake
This was my most ambitious cake to date. I made it myself with the help of a neighbor who took a basic cake decorating class.
- The cake was a homemade lemon cake with buttercream frosting.
- The animal prints were rolled fondant cut freehand into animal prints with a paring knife.
- The lion face and grass were piped buttercream frosting.
- I drew the lion face with a wooden skewer before piping the frosting, so I had something to trace.
- The additional animal decorations were purchased non-edible decorations.
Zoo Party Menu
I drew inspiration from zoo animal feeding habits for our menu. I like to keep menus pretty healthy, but still delicious. Each dish was labeled with an animal postcard and a fact about that animal’s feeding habits.
- Peanuts: Elephants
- Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwiches (a toddler favorite): Monkeys
- Watermelon Slices: Gorillas
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies: Zebras (I served these out of an old rice sack!)
- Seal Salad: Seals (a seashell-shaped pasta salad with shrimp, mango and avocado)
- Veggies and Hummus: Goats
- Tropical Punch at the Watering Hole (mango, guava and pineapple juices mixed with lemon-lime sparkling water)
Zoo Birthday Party Favors
I like party favors to do double duty as decorations and small gifts.
- Animal print sunglasses
- Zoo animal sippy cups
- Adorable box of Animal Crackers (purchased at our grocery store)
- Zoo animal blow up toys
The sippy cups and sunnies looked great by our wheatgrass. How lucky that our healthy habit could help decorate our party! Kids grabbed these whenever they wanted to.
We had a cute display of the animal crackers and gave each child a box as they left.
You can see the blow up animals all aver the lawn. At the start of the party, they were all lined up. Kids played with them and then took their favorite home.
Zoo Animal Photo Op DIY
Homemade Photo Ops were a huge hit. Party-goers had a blast posing. I made sure to take a picture of each guest and enclose a copy in their thank you notes.
I am sorry that I didn’t take pictures as we made them these or from another angle. Here are the instructions to make your own.
- Purchase zoo animal posters with a large face of an animal staring directly ahead. Check out All Posters if you can’t find some locally.
- Carefully cut out the animal’s face.
- Place poster on a piece of MDF, and trace the circle where the face belongs. Cut out circle with a saw and sand very well so little people don’t get chin splinters.
- Use spray glue to adhere poster to the MDF.
- Build a base to make the board stand up. (Again, I’m sorry I don’t have exact instructions. We winged this late at night.) Alternatively, you could securely prop up poster with large rocks or chairs. Make sure this is very strong as toddlers are pretty clumsy.
- You may have to provide a stool for children to reach the face hole.
Please Feed the Animals Sign DIY
I loved this sign right above our food table. It’s a simple project, but it made a very big impact.
- Saw off the corners of 3 pieces of scrap wood. Use what you have. It should be rustic.
- Drill holes in the center of wood, using the photo above as a reference.
- Write the Please Feed • The • Animals in black permanent marker.
- Use a rope to make obvious knots connecting the sign. Intentionally make it a little off-kilter.
Zoo Party Decorations
Decorations make all the difference when it comes to a party. you can really make a theme come alive by going all out.
- 50 animal print balloons
- 2 Zoo Animal Photo Ops (elephant and giraffe)
- Please Feed the Animal Sign
- Blow Up Toy Animals
- Party Favor Display
- Animal Crackers Display
- Themed Food Table: burlap table cloth, stainless steel serving dishes looked like feed troughs, toy animals, postcards and animal fact cards livened it up
- Watering Hole: the cardboard sign was intentionally rustic, the framed picture was the birthday boy as a newborn (cue: mom tears)
- Concessions Stand: popcorn with cotton candy lollies
Zoo Party Activities
Here’s a party planning secret: little kids just want to play and run around at parties. Herding the wee crowd into organized games is always a disaster.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Here’s a party planning secret: little kids just want to play and run around at parties!” quote=”Here’s a party planning secret: little kids just want to play and run around at parties. Herding the wee crowd into organized games is always a disaster.”]
Instead, we opted to set up different play areas and let the animals run wild.
- Zoo animal blow up toys
- Zoo animal photo ops
- Kiddie pool
- Water table
- Sandbox
- Tee Pee
- Tunnel
- Beach balls
- Hula hoops
- Outdoor toys
- Ball crawl (We bought 4 bags containing 100 balls and put them in a pack and play.)
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Do you sell your cakes? Please contact thru email. I love your cake and would love to have it at my grand daughters birthday party.
Hi I am planning my babies 1 st birthday and hes well my 1st on and only son.. I chose zoo theme/ safari because since he was born all his baby things were baby animals. I kinda wanna know how the salad was made ?
I don’t see why not. Cardboard will make it less stable and durable, but it would be certainly easier to create. Just keep an eye on the wild kids at the party. Good luck and have fun!
This is such a treasure, I have some of these items already. I am trying to put together my daughter’s 3rd birthday party. Would I be able to do the cutouts with cardboard, if I decided not to use them as photo-ops?
We made a back stand out of wood. I don’t have a picture of it, but my husband nailed braces to both sides of the back because it needed to be secure for the kiddos. I remember it being a bit of a challenge because we wanted it to stay upright and be sturdy, but after fiddling around, we made it work. Please send a picture of your completed project. I’d love to see it. Good Luck and take care, Rebecca
Do you mind elaborating on how you made your posters stand up? we have the MDF and the poster but am lost on how to make it stand with kids. Thanks!
I got the peanuts from my local grocery store, Publix. They were sort of hidden in the produce section. I hope that helps. Have a great party. Love, Rebecca
Hi. Love your party decorations. 🙂 I am trying to find peanuts for my sons party in the cloth bag and the same silver tins. Do you mind sharing where you got them? Thanks.
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Where did you get those cute animal drink bottles? I have to have them 🙂
Where did you get those cute animal drink bottles?
Thanks! I thought that too but so happy that I can buy them 🙂
Oriental Trading Company. A friend actually thought I had drawn them with sharpies. I’m not that crazy!
Love this! So creative.
Where did you get the balloons from?
Hilary,
Thank you. It was so much fun.
I don’t remember exactly what sizes, but they were standard posters. Over-sized posters are great, but can be quite a bit more expensive, plus kiddos are small.
Good luck,
Rebecca
What size posters did you use? I love this idea……it is so creative!
Thanks. I’m so glad you liked it. We had a great time at our party. I hope you do to.
For the cut-outs I looked for animal posters that featured a head in the center to make pictures. You have to frame the shot in your head when deciding which poster to choose. I think I got them at allposters.com or postergods.com. My husband made the frames out of particle board. It was a little tricky to get them to stand upright and we ended up weighting the support down to get that straight verticle line.
Adhering the posters was very easy. First I cut out the head. My husband traced the hole, then cut and sanded the wood to match. I used spray glue and worked one section at a time. It’s important to smooth it down as you go. It’s OK if there are a few little flaws. Most parents have camera phones, but I printed out photos of each guest and included them in our thank you notes.
As I write these instructions, I’m remembering standing outside our garage at night, figuring out how to do these projects with my husband. The kids were asleep inside. Some people think planning a party is too much trouble, but it’s always brought us closer together and been a fun creative outlet for me. Have fun!
I love all of your ideas! I am in the process of planning my son’s 2nd birthday party…zoo themed. Will you please tell me a bit more on how you made the cutouts…Where did you find the posters? How did you adhere them to the wood? The details are appreciated. Again, your party turned out sooo well!