How to Have a Monkey Party

I debated a long time over the theme for the Spud's birthday party this year. He is an avid lover of cars, trains, and really anything with wheels; so any of these seemed natural choices for party themes. However, the Spud just happened to born at the same time as a bunch of girls in our group, and I wondered how many of his little girly friends would enjoy a car-themed party. I finally settled on a monkey party, since he wanted to have his party at the local park. (Plus, we call him "little monkey" all the time!)

The invitations were handed out a few weeks in advance, all tied up with monkey ribbon.

We asked guests to come join us at our favorite local park for some "monkeyin' around" at the playground and the splash park. All they needed to bring was some stuff to get wet in and a wrapped squirt gun or water toy for the gift exchange.

Food and treats were super easy to make for this theme. The monkey cupcakes were the stars of the show - made with chocolate-frosted cupcakes, nilla wafers, and marshmallows.

I used a simple styrofoam cone from the Dollar Tree to create a monkey lollipop tree. The little monkeys were hot-glued onto the suckers and then stuck into the tree for party favors.

The funky monkey leis made of froot loops and string were a big hit with the party guests. They could run around and play while carrying their snack with them wherever they went. These actually did not take too long to make, and as a bonus, the Beast helped me and got a fine motor skills activity in for the day.

The day turned out slightly cool and overcast - not ideal for getting wet. Still, friends buddied up quickly to tackle the slides and monkey bars and swings.

The Spud was overjoyed that his friend Pursy could come to his party. (Apparently summer birthday parties are harder than I thought - everyone is already on vacation or committed to something else when you invite them!) Pursy and Spud chased each other all over the playground, and that girl never let that balloon out of her sight.

Little friends hung out near the picnic tables with the grownups and waited patiently for snacks and cupcakes.

I tried to make the snacks not only coordinate with the theme but also with the Spud's favorite treats. Besides the cupcakes, lollipops, and froot loop leis, we had "monkey munch" (chocolate animal crackers and marshmallows), peanut butter and banana sandwiches, and fruit snacks. The tables were decorated with red streamers, colorful balloons, and an inflatable monkey. (all from the dollar store - cha-ching!)

At one point, all of our monkeys were in a huge tree on the playground property.

The gift exchange went over well. Everyone got to open one wrapped water toy - we went from youngest to oldest. After all the gifts were opened, the trading commenced until everyone was happy with the toy they received.

Later, after everyone left and we had finished cleaning up our party area, the weather warmed up enough for our three kiddos to quickly change into their swimsuits and go play in the splash park for ten minutes or so. We ended our special day by driving over to the local Burgerville, where they were featuring "throw-back prices" for one day only. Three very tired and happy littles munched cheeseburgers and fries and slurped their chocolate milkshakes before heading off to bed.

Success! I still can't believe my little monkey is three! I must admit though that this preggo momma is exhausted from all the party planning. No more parties for a while!

How to Have a Perfect Penguin Party

First, make invitations for all the little guests. These funny penguins were made out of construction paper shapes, felt scarves, and star brads for their party celebration hats. All of the party information was written on the back of each penguin.

Next, make cupcakes for your child's class to help them remember that a penguin party is coming up. I made these clever cupcakes following instructions at Family Fun; only we substituted candy orange slices for the dried apricots and mini chocolate chips for the brown m'n'm's.

Then, begin making some special treats for the party. A healthy and almost unbearably cute snack to serve are these black olive/cream cheese/carrot penguins. I found instructions to make these cuties here.

And what's a party without cake? I made an ice cream cake following an old recipe I found in a Better Homes and Gardens cake decorating book and made it look like a frosty igloo. And don't forget to make up some "penguin food" to delight your little guests! It's easy to make up some blue jello jigglers with swedish fish inside!

Hot cocoa is the proper drink for a penguin party (although we did serve up "ocean juice" for those who didn't care for hot cocoa.) I made up a hot chocolate bar so the kids could customize their own hot cocoa with chocolate chips, marshmallows, and candy canes.

Decorating for a penguin party is super easy! We made pretty snowflakes out of coffee filters and hung them from the ceiling along with several blue streamers. My daughter strategically placed a few stuffed penguins around the room, and viola! the room was decorated!

When I googled the words "penguin party games", I found several ideas that sounded like a lot of fun. However, we chose to stick to just a couple of activities for these 5 and 6 year olds. When guests first arrived, they got to play a fun interactive video game called "Start the Party" for the Play Station Move. I originally intended it to be a time-filler until all the guests arrived, but it proved so popular that we abandoned some of our game plans so the kids could have more time playing this game. :)

Then, to get some of that crazy energy out, we staged a giant "snowball fight", in which two teams competed to keep the "snowballs" (balloons) away from their side of the room. Mass chaos and crazy fun!

I personally am not a big fan of having all the party guests sit down and watch the birthday girl open a huge pile of gifts. We always try to do a gift exchange with some sort of theme instead. For our penguin party, we asked each guest to bring a wrapped small stuffed animal. The kids all drew numbers and then got to open a stuffed animal to take home.

The kids liked all the treats, but it seemed that the "penguin food" and make-your-own-hot-cocoa were the biggest hits. We sent those kiddies home happy, a little sugared up, and one stuffed animal richer.

And that's how you have a perfect penguin party!