A Monkey-Themed Birthday Party

by Cait 6:16 AM 0 comments Birthday Party Monkey

When planning our son's birthday party, we landed on the monkey theme because we call him "Monkey" all the time.  We thought our theme could be "Our Little Monkey is Turning One!"  It felt odd to plan a somewhat tropical party when everyone in the neighborhood was starting to hang Indian corn on their doors and placing bright orange pumpkins out on their front steps, but we were going for it!

I'm pretty happy with how things turned out.  We found some pretty neat decor ideas on Pinterest, which I will post below.  We bought some of the decorations and cups/plates/cutlery on Amazon. The streamers and balloons were from PartyCity.  The paper bunting was a DIY and the materials for that were from A.C. Moore.  I like A.C. Moore because they always have coupons.

Please scroll down to see the decorations we made.  I have included steps.  They are really easy to recreate.  I hope these help if you are considering a monkey theme for your little monkey's birthday. Have fun!

Burlap and Paper Bunting

You Need: Scissors, various yellow patterned card stock paper, zigzag scissors, hole puncher, burlap cording, Pre-assembled burlap bunting, letter stickers

Assembly:
I made two different bunting-style signs for the party.  One of the signs was for the entrance to the party and read, "Our Little Monkey Is 1."  The other sign was for the candy table and read, "Go Bananas."  (This party was largely a family party and only three children were present, which is why I did a candy buffet, instead of goodie bags.  If it had been a true kids' party, I would have done pre-made goodie bags.)

Step 1: Lay out all materials, including the burlap bunting (I bought 2 sets).

Step 2: Cut out 9 yellow triangles with the zigzag scissors for the "Go Bananas" sign.

Step 3: Add the letter stickers to your bunting.  I needed an extra adhesive for the burlap. I also cut out little shapes to use as spaces on the burlap bunting. 

Step 4: Grab your trusty hole puncher and punch a hole on either side of the yellow card stock triangles. 

Step 5: Now, grab that burlap cording and thread it through the holes on the card stock triangles.  I put "Go" on one thread, and "Bananas" on the other. 

Step 6: Hang that ish up! 

Coconut Trees

You Need: Brown balloons, brown crepe paper, green construction paper, scissors, tape

Assembly:
Step 1: Take three pieces of construction paper and place them one on top of the other.  Fold the stack of paper in half.

Step 2: Cut half an oval/leaf shape. Now, cut little wave shapes along the edge of the folded half leaf shape.  (I tended to cut four or so "waves" on the side of the folded leaf.)

Step 3: Unfold the leaves, and voila! You've got coconut leaves!

Step 4: Blow up the brown balloons.

Step 5: Cut your brown crepe paper into four long streamer-like pieces.

Step 6: I usually used three to four leaves, bunched them together and taped them to the ceiling.

Step 7: Bunch three balloons together and tape under the leaves.

Step 8: Take three of the brown crepe paper streamers and tape them under the balloons.

Step 9: You've got yourself a coconut tree!

Candy Bar

You Need: A variety of glass vases for candies, candy scoops, your fabulous new "Go Bananas" bunting, a variety of yellow candies/candies with yellow wrappers, goodie bags, inflatable plastic monkeys (from Amazon)

Assembly:
Step 1: Hang bunting behind serving area.

Step 2: Inflate the monkeys and place on serving area.

Step 3: Place the vases on the serving area and fill with your yellow candies.

Step 4: Don't forget to set out the bags and scoops!

Don't forget the cake!