Need Craft/Snack Ideas for Animal Themed Birthday Party

Hi there! I love to throw parties and a website that i found to be great is: http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/party_ideas.html. You can find loads of lists of themes and then read the many entries. The other website to check is the family magazine website. They have a decorated cupcake feature in each month's magazine and i'm sure there's been animal ones. They also do feature articles on parties with LOADS of themes.
Also remember, the simple, basic games that we played as kids (pin the tail on the donkey - that could be changed to any other animal, etc.) the kids love!!! They've never seen stuff like that before - its not on video, tv, etc.
Have fun!

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You could make paper plate animal face masks. Have the kids paint the plates with either their fingers or brushes (have adult size t-shirts for them to cover-up with and keep their clothes clean), and construction paper, pre-cut (by you if they are little, by them if they have scissor skills) ears, stripes, noses. You could either pre-cut holes in the paper plate for their eyes, or big wiggly eyes could be glued on.

If they make masks, then when the kids are finished, sing a round of Old McDonald (or some other song featuring lists of animals), using the animals who "came" to you party. For the masks, have the kids wear the mask stand up and act out the animal part and/or make the appropriate sound. If you do the puppets (with wiggly eyes), hot glue popsicle or craft sticks to the paper plate, and have the kids hold up their puppet when the time is right.

Another activity could be to go to the library and find pictures of animals (or you could draw your own). Copy them (in color if you can) and make a bingo sheet. Use the animal crackers for bingo chips. You could get complicated and have the kids search their bowl of crackers for the animal you've called out and use only matching crackers for the "match."

I'm just brainstorming... but you could also create a game of pin the (something) on the (something)... like pin the Cow bell on the Cow, or Pin the Tail/Ears on the Rabbit, or ...

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Dear K.,

I love the website www.kaboose.com it is awesome. i don't know if that is the exact website but it will get you there.
B.

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I saw a really cute craft online a while back using fleece to make a lion's mane and other animal dress up items. You could do a search for "no sew fleece" crafts and see what comes up. They seemed really simple -- just cutting and tying (and the items for the younger kids could even be precut).

How about an animal hunt in the backyard? You could hide little plastic animals (snakes, dinos, etc.) and give the kids flashlights to find them. Maybe a craft would be to decorate a little canvas bag with animal prints to use for the hunt.

Jello cups might be a fun snack -- you could use clear plastic cups and 'hide' small snakes or gummy worms in it as it sets. I've seen gummy frogs at candy shops, too.

Good luck!
Aimee

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I just checked out from our library a childrens book, Alligator Cookies by James Young and at the end of the story is a recipe:

Corn syrup- put a tablespoon in a bowl as round as the moon. Add a spoon of peanut butter Creamy or crunchy it does not matter. And to give the proper hue- green food coloring- a drop or two. Now you need at least a cup or more of cornflakes, all crunched up. Pour them in and stir them in, stir w/ vigor, stir with vim. Mix them easy, mix them rough 'til you thime they're mixed enough. Add powered sugar if you wish. Form into bars and leave on a dish for an hour in the refrigerator, then gobble them up like an alligator.

Sounds fun. Good luck.

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K.,
Here's a great recipe from the 'Let's Eat!' kids cookbook from The Pampered Chef--it's called Crazy Caterpillars, but could be made into Silly Snakes!

Ingredients (per child)
1 bagel
1 hotdog
2 tbsp. ketchup
1/4 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 tbsp. mustard
2 pimento-stuffed green olives
4 thin pretzel sticks

1. Set the oven to 425 degrees. Slit the bagel in half. Using the serrated edge of the All-Purpose Spreader, cut each half into 2 equal pieces. You should have 4 half moon shapes. Cut the hot dog into 12 'coins'.

2. To make each caterpillar, place 2 bagel halves opposite each other on the Small Bar Pan so that they look like an 'S'. Make another caterpillar with the other bagel halves.

3. Spread 1 tbsp. of ketchup over each bagel shape. Sprinkle with cheese. Place 6 hot dog 'coins' on top of each bagel.

4. Bake the caterpillars for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Carefully remove the pan from the oven using Oven Mitts. Top the hot doges with the mustard. Cut each olive in half. Decorate the caterpillars with olive halves for eyes and pretzel sticks for antennas. Enjoy!

You could set up a station in the kitchen with the ingredients and have the kids decorate them themselves. I do a Cooking with Kids Show and we have a contest to see who can make the most interesting 'caterpillar' and we have mushrooms, mini pepperoni, sliced black olives, etc.

I've also done a 'sweet' one that's done very similarly, only instead of ketchup, we use cream cheese and a variety of fruits--sliced strawberries, grapes for eyes, roll-ups cut out with our Creative Cutters set and gummy bears cut up into small bits.

Hope this helps!
Live your dreams!
L. Kachinovas
Adv. Sales Director for PC
www.pamperedchef.biz/lorrikachinovas

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