Our twin girls turned three and we wanted to have a party for their third birthday with some of their friends (and ours too!).  We invited four families and their grandparents over to our small apartment to a birthday party.  It had both zoo animals and farm animals as part of an animal themed party.

I searched the internet, mostly via pinterest, for lots of ideas for how to decorate for an animal themed party and what food and activities to have.  I think that even though I didn’t get to implement all the ideas I had, it was a great party!

Animal Themed Party Supplies

For party supplies (tablecloth, cups, napkins, plates, utensils) we went with zebra stripes.  I would have bought other animal-printed ones, but they didn’t have any leopard prints, tiger stripes, or anything else!  It was kind of a let-down, but also good that both Target and Wal-mart had zebra print things.  We bought black and white utensils and called it good for party supplies.

Animal Themed Party Decorations

Animal Themed Party Food

Gummy Worms and Sour Gummy Worms = WormsGoldfish crackers = Fish

Peeps = Chickens/birds

Carrots = Rabbits

Bananas = Monkeys

Animal Crackers and Frosted Animal Crackers = Circus Animals

Peanuts = Elephants

Zebra Cakes = Zebras

Tostitos Cheese Queso Dip = Mouse (or cow)

Tortilla Chips = Parrot (a stretch, but crackers would be a good fit for a parrot)

Cake Pops = A variety of animals: Pandas, dogs, bears, sheep, and more!

Animal Themed Party Games

For games, we played “Duck Duck Goose,” and Animal charades (an idea we found over at  Local’s Entertainment Guide).  I’m pretty sure our kids hadn’t played either game before, so it was fun to teach them and some of their friends too.

I had bought a “Pin the tail on the donkey” game set for a dollar from Target or Wal-mart, but we didn’t end up playing it at the party.  We played it as a family later that day though and the girls enjoyed it.

After we played games, we ate food, and then opened gifts.  Our guests were very nice to get them gifts.  Thank you guys so much!  The girls loved their gifts, and opening them, way more this year than they did last year.

After that we pretty much just let the kids play until it was time to go.  We planned the party for only a two-hour window, which I think for this age, is pretty much the perfect amount of time.

Unfortunately the weather was cold so we couldn’t have any of the party spill out to outside.  I had come across some other games and ideas that sounded like a lot of fun, but we didn’t get to them, which is okay.  If you want some other ideas, you can check out my Party Ideas board on pinterest. For a “party favor” I sent each child home with a small zoo animal coloring book that I printed from twistynoodle.com.

I thought it was a very fun party and turned out really well.  A big thanks to our friends for coming and making our girls feel super special!  Three years old is such a great age to have a party; our girls have been looking forward to it for weeks now.  And thanks to my husband for making ALL of the cake pops ALL by himself.  He’s so creative isn’t he??  And thanks to my husband for putting up with my stressed self the morning of the party, and for Josh’s parents taking our girls a little over an hour before the party started so we could set it all up for them undisturbed.

Our girls had a great time! 

After the party, they crashed for a nap, even anti-nap Lisa:

Happy Birthday Lisa and Alison!  We love you and can’t believe you are already three years old!