Fun Jungle Party Ideas to Set the Mood

Place large potted palms or other plants in the party area. (If you don't have plants throughout your house that you can move into the party area, borrow some from a friend or family member.) Alternatively, you can cut large leaves from green craft paper, fray the edges, and hang them on the walls of the party area. For an added touch, hang camouflage or mosquito netting above the table, and tie it off with animal print fabric scraps. Complement these decorations with animal print and shaped balloons.

Cluster a few coconuts, a bunch or two of bananas, a safari hat, and binoculars in the middle of the table to create a centerpiece. Hang bunches of bananas throughout the rest of the party area, too. You can also set out stuffed jungle animals and/or wild animal figures. Or, set up a stuffed animal petting zoo.

Use chalk to draw big gray elephant footprints on your driveway and the sidewalk leading up to your front door. Then, cut out construction paper paw prints, and tape them going up the front door and/or a wall.

Make a cardboard jungle using wrapping paper tubes to form palm tree trunks and green construction paper to make large palm leaves. (You can also purchase large paper tubes from a hardware store.) Use a brown marker to draw ridges on the trunks. Or, for ease, purchase palm tree decorations online.

Create Jungle Party Costumes for Your Guests

Make no-sew costumes for your guests using animal print fabric remnants. Just cut the fabric into jagged-edged rectangles, then cut a circle big enough for a child's head to fit through in the center of each piece of cloth. When the children arrive, slip the rectangles of cloth over their heads, and tie each at the waist using rope or cord.

You can also make individual animal headbands for your guests using wide construction paper strips. (It may be necessary to staple two lengths together unless you have access to long sheets of construction paper.) To decorate the strips, cut out different-colored ears and glue them on, then draw on patterns or glue on faux fur from a craft store. For instance:

• Create a tiger headband from orange construction paper with black stripes drawn on it.
• To create a lion headband, glue brown faux fur onto a strip of yellow construction paper.
• Make a giraffe headband from yellow construction paper with brown spots drawn on it.
• Create a zebra headband by drawing black stripes on a white construction paper band.

Feeding Your Famished Explorers

Serve small bowls of animal crackers, make homemade animal cookies using animal-shaped cookie cutters and Birthday in a Box's Animal Sugar Cookies recipe.

Serve Hippo Mud Puddles made from brownies cut into circles and topped with hot fudge "mud." If you want to go all out, add a candy animal to each (found at gourmet food stores).

Make a jungle cake using your favorite cake recipe or mix. After baking the cake, frost the top with green icing, and add a few blue watering holes and/or brown mud puddles. Insert pretzel sticks into the cake to create palm tree trunks, then make palm leaves on top of them using green frosting. Add plastic animal figures to complete the effect.