Z’s Wild one Safari/Jungle party

My son turned one this past weekend . He’s my one and only child so obviously I had first time mom syndrome and decided to go all out. The theme was “Safari/jungle”. I know...it’s been done so many times and I honestly wanted to consider other ones but the up side was, there was an endless supply of inspiration online for this particular theme. I chose to have it at the Botanical gardens near me, there are no zoos or petting zoos in Northwest Arkansas unfortunately, so their venue was the closest ideal place for the party to happen. Since this was the first decorated event I was attempting I needed to make sure it didn’t look boring or was just a simple copy cat of someone else’s. I did use certain inspirational items and ideas from other parties I saw on Pinterest and party websites. I have amazing friends, so, many of them also built or crafted many of the items shown in the pictures for free! Before the party I had made a to do list for each one of them who were helping with the setup so I wouldn’t feel overwhelmed that day and they all knew their tasks.
I tried to use as many of my personal stuff from home to incorporate in the set so I could save in cost. There were a lot of snacks “ Safari sunset jello cups, hungry hippo dip( spinach dip), gorilla grub (fruit cups) Cheetos for cheetah, crackers and Haitian patties. (I’m from Haiti and his dad from Liberia,Africa ). The two of us wore custom made Haitian outfits from TISAKSUK and Zael wore a safari romper from old navy. We had a face paint artist come in and the kids and parents loved it. The park has a children friendly area with all sorts of attractions for them: sand box, tree house, pond, butterfly house and trails to run around. The main course were pizza and wings and we had Capri sun pouches, soda, and water for them. The age groups were from 2-8 years old. Besides the outdoor cabin we also rented an indoor area to keep the cake and sweets cool. But if I had to do it again I would just have those delivered closer to when we planned on serving them so I didn’t have to rent two spaces. The cabin had a custom made booth for “camp supplies” and some tree props. outside we had 2 custom made cornholes with banana and coconut rice bag. The indoor area had the sweets table and we hung vines and monkeys on the ceiling beams. I added some exotic animals besides your familiar safari animals like the South African penguin, the Indian wild peacock and its bengal tiger as those aren’t found in the African wilderness. The kids had a lot of fun playing around and all the parents were happy.

Venue: botanical gardens of the Ozarks
Photography: Vladphotography

Vendors:
Shindigz: all the props
Oriental trading: safari hats, sunglasses, binoculars, animal frosted lollipops, fake grass
Amazon: safari balloons, vines
Dollar tree: hanging monkeys
Walmart: plastic safari toys, plush Melissa and Doug animals
Zeckos: wood carved animals centerpieces
Krauft cookies: safari theme cookies
Vintage confections: custom lollipops
Bliss cupcakes: s’mores cupcakes
Fat bottom girls cupcakes: lemon vanilla and banana pudding cupcakes
Rick’s bakery: cake
Springdale parks and Recs

• What People Ate

  Pizza and wings

• What People Drank

  capri sun for kids, soda and water Watermelon sangria for the big kids

• Desserts

  Krauft cookies: safari theme cookies Vintage confections: custom lollipops Bliss cupcakes: s’mores cupcakes Fat bottom girls cupcakes: lemon vanilla and banana pudding cupcakes Rick’s bakery: cake

• Party Favors

  safari hats, sunglasses, binoculars, bubbles bottles , "thank you" burlap bags

• Activities / Games

  corn in a hole, sandbox, face painting