Jungle Safari Birthday Party

Last month I put together a very fun jungle safari birthday party for my little guy who just turned two years old.  I LOVE the way that everything came together, and I wanted to share some of the details and photos of the party with you!

This is part one of the jungle safari party, which will mostly cover decoration and food. You can find part 2 here, where I share the games and activities, outfits, the cake, and more fun details about the party, including free printable safari passess for the kids!

The African jungle safari party was soooo much fun.  I tend to go overboard on my parties, and love to DIY everything, which worked out really well for this theme.  My son loves animals, so my inspiration for the party was the jungle cruise at Disneyland.  I wanted the look of an old vintage safari camp, complete with wood crates, old signs, lanterns, etc.

One of my favorite elements of the party was the Safari Expedition Base Camp, which was the first thing that guests saw as they came in through the back yard.  This is where the little explorers were able to spend their tickets that they were given on supplies for their safari expedition.

Does this structure look familiar?  You might recognize it as my DIY Lemonade Stand made from 3 wood pallets that I created.  I gave it a little makeover- a new coat of tan paint, a new burlap awning (instead of the pink and white striped one), and some jungle safari accessories (like lanterns, binoculars. signs, magnifying glass, butterflies, snakes, etc.) all helped add to the theme.  Fun, right?

Supplies included cute DIY binoculars (tutorial here) that I made out of toilet paper rolls and duck tape (you can check out other ways I decorate for parties with duck tape here), safari expedition passes to go around their necks that I created, and little frogs and lizards and snakes.

The mosquito bites were free (see on the sign above?), which some of the adventurers weren't excited about!  After a little reassurance from me that it was just a joke, they were ready to move on to the rest of the party ;)

To add to the whole jungle atmosphere, I stuck lots of tall bamboo plants right into the grass for the party, and it made areas of the lawn look nice and lush.  I painted some of the David Tutera butterflies I had left over from my DIY mason jar lanterns and DIY candles (made in toilet paper rolls).  They were originally white with little pearls on them, so I took off all of the pearls, and painted each butterfly with bright colors of paint.  The butterflies already had clips attached to them, so it was easy to clip them right onto the bamboo and other areas of the party.  I love the color that they added!

The food tables were a lot of fun to set up.  I used a lot of burlap, nets, crates, wood bowls, and woven Pottery Barn boxes (not sure what they are made out of)- all natural, and brown and green.  

I used some old distressed wood that I had and stenciled the "Tyler's Safari" sign, the "Base Camp" sign, and a "Beware of Tigers" sign.  I also stenciled the above crate with the word "Fragile" that the cake went on later in the party.

I served nachos, salad, a lot of fruit (regular and dried), and had a candy area with green candy all in apothecary jars.

We have a bird of paradise tree and a palm tree in our front yard, so I cut off tons of huge, green leaves, and laid those out over parts of the food tables.  I also wrapped some Pottery Barn wheat grass that I had (the little square of grass in the back) with some of the leftover David Tutera burlap from my DIY mason jar lanterns.  

I found this amazing elephant dish at World Market, and had to have it- the perfect dish to hold peanuts!  

I created these "Do not feed the animals" bags to hold peanuts or candy by printing directly on the paper bags... tutorials and template coming soon!

If you follow me on Instagram (@makelifelovely) you might have seen the amazing globe that I scored for only $5.99 at Goodwill!  I bought the crates at Michael's and Jo-Anns, and found the ball of jute rope (that is actually a doorstop) at World Market.

I was so busy with the party that I missed getting some pictures, so you're only getting a little peek of some of the candy and treats that I served in jars and wood bowls.... "worms" (gummy worms) "sticks" (pretzels), animal crackers, "alligator eyes" (sour apple rings), Eiffel Bon Bons (left over from my World Market Lemonade Stand), dried papaya, "fried ants" (raisins), etc...  The kids LOVED this area of the party the most!!  All of the amazing apothecary jars are from World Market as well.

I got some incredibly cute little kraft colored bags from Wholeport that have a sealable top, and put zebra and leopard (or is it cheetah?) duck tape around it for instant little candy bags.  The kids filled them up with their favorite treats, and carried them around with them throughout the party.

No jungle safari party would be complete without monkey food, right?!

My little birthday boy.... what a cutie :)

Thanks for letting me share my son's jungle safari party with you!

Be sure to check out part two of this jungle safari party that shows you the outfits, the games and activities, the cake I made, and free printable safari passes you can use if you plan a jungle safari party!  What's your favorite birthday party theme?

If you liked this project, please follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

xo, Laura

Linking Up Here: Tidy Mom, 30 Handmade Days, Whipperberry, Tatertots and Jello, A to Zebra Celebrations