With the Kratt brothers doing their summer tour at zoo's across the country and their new toys coming out, your kids might be talking a lot about the PBS show The Wild Kratts. My daughter just loves The Wild Kratts! She can watch the same episode over and over again. Sound Familiar? If your child is like mine, they might be convincing you they need a Wild Kratts birthday party. My five year old daughter really wanted one, and I found out that there really aren't that much as far as party supplies go. So I had to improvise. I thought I would share my experience with having a Wild Kratts themed birthday party, and give some tips or ideas to make it special!
First, I wanted to decide on a place to have the party. You could have the party at home, and that is totally fine, but I was inviting a lot of people, and thought having it somewhere else would be easier. I looked into a local zoo that my daughter loves, and was going to plan to have it there, but I ended up finding a pet store that does birthday parties and they had a better deal. I wanted more for the money, so we decided on the pet store. Any place with animals would be a perfect place for the party. Zoo, pet store, animal rescue, or the Rainforest Cafe. Keep in mind it doesn't have to be an animal themed place, and your home is a great place to do it as well, this is just what I wanted to do. I don't know if you have on by you, but we chose Petland. They gave us a room for 2 hours, an hour of visitation from any animals we wanted. My daughter got to pick out a few dogs, a ferret, and a guinea pig. Unfortunately we had picked out some reptiles and the lady doing the party was too afraid of them to bring them out and told us there wasn't enough time. So if you want reptiles, especially a snake, make sure that you request someone who is okay handling them. They also included gift bags for everyone, and a tour of the aquarium adventure side complete with a piranha feeding and a chance for the kids to feed and pet the Koi fish! All for a reasonable price.
Next, I thought that I wanted to incorporate the Wild Kratts show into the party decor, but finding Wild Kratts party decorations was a chore, seeing as there really isn't any. They do have birthday banners for purchase though through the PBS website, so I decided since it was almost the only party decoration, we had to have it. I went ahead and bought the banner, and when it came I was very surprised! I thought I would be getting one of those little plastic birthday banners, but what I got was a full size vinyl banner! It was gorgeous! I was very impressed with the banner, although I did wonder how I would hang such a heavy banner. This banner is something she can keep for a long time and hang in her room.
Here are links to Wild Kratts Banners.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Personalized-Wild-Kratts-Birthday-Adventure-Banner/30280479
There are a few other party supplies and t-shirts, and creature power suits also. I know if a lot of kids are invited and you'd like everyone to have a power suit to put on, it would be much cheaper to make them. My mother-in-law made my daughter a creature power suit for Christmas last year from Santa that she wore to her party! It was simple to sew a vest, and add on the details, and a pocket in back for the creature discs. The creature discs were made from fabric and she drew on the animals. There are many ways you can make your suit.
There are a few other party supplies and t-shirts, and creature power suits also. I know if a lot of kids are invited and you'd like everyone to have a power suit to put on, it would be much cheaper to make them. My mother-in-law made my daughter a creature power suit for Christmas last year from Santa that she wore to her party! It was simple to sew a vest, and add on the details, and a pocket in back for the creature discs. The creature discs were made from fabric and she drew on the animals. There are many ways you can make your suit.
I decided that since there weren't Wild Kratts decorations or tableware that I would do a blue/green and animal print theme. I got blue and green paper plates, and cups. I also got animal print napkins. I found zebra and giraffe dinner napkins and peacock and leopard beverage napkin prints at party city! You could find a lot online too if you're willing to pay shipping and have time to wait. For the party I stacked the dinner napkins together, and separately the beverage napkins together alternating prints.
I also bought a pack of 20 animal print balloons from Party City
and one #5 Balloon! I then separated the balloons so that there was one of each in a group and put them on different tables. Instead of buying weights, I used different stuffed animals to add to the Wild Kratts theme. I also hung info fact cards around them. (Read Below)
I looked up ideas for Wild Kratts parties on Pintrest and found a lot of cool ideas for themed food, so I decided to use some of the ideas. I then also named the food, printed out a paper that had a picture of the animal on it, and then wrote a fun fact about the animal. I thought this was a really neat way to tie the party together, although it was a lot of work, and I'm pretty sure no one read them. I recommend this more for a party at home where more time is allotted to the party and the guests may eventually read them. It was a really cool tie in to the party, but in the end, maybe not worth it. I did also however print out a picture of the Wild Kratts as different animals (carnivore, omnivore, and herbivore and at the watering hole) and taped that to the table near the food/drinks that went with it. That may be a cool tie in option that would take less time to make, and read!
Zebra Treats
Popcorn in individual animal print cups.
Chickens
Yellow Marshmallow Peeps and Jellybeans.
Luckily my daughter's birthday is in February, so we had the party at the end of March, and there were peeps and jellybeans available since it was so close to Easter. I just laid jellybeans on the platter and put the peeps on top in rows.
Caterpillars
Green grapes, skewers, and frosting.
I just poked the grapes onto the skewers longways, and then once I got to the head horizontally. Then just added a mouth and eyes.
Earthworms
I used sour gummy worms.
Ants On A Log
I used celery sticks, peanut butter, and chocolate sprinkles.
I made sure to be precise with the chocolate sprinkles, one at a time so it looked like ants in a line. You can also use mini chocolate chips, or raisins if you'd like.
Jungle Vines
I used green vines (like the red vines you get, they also have green.) from Walmart
Goldfish
I just got a huge jug of Goldfish at Walmart
I also got some animal cookies and put them in a basket, made strawberry, banana, and kiwi kabobs, a veggie tray with dip, and got some two liters of pop, water bottles and ice.
I also made a sign for outside the room, and taped it to the door so that when people came in they could read it and get more of a animal adventure/Wild Kratts theme feeling. I just used a brown paper bag, and crayons/markers. Used bubbles letters, and drew animal print inside the letters!
Jar of Fireflies
I got a container with a lid and enough glow sticks for each child.
I made a label which also said to "take one", poked holes into the lid to act as you would real fireflies, and then right before the party I cracked all the glow sticks to make them light up like real fireflies.
I also made a poster board full of pictures of my daughter from birth to 5 years old. Just random cute photos from different ages and made a collage.
Lastly, The cake!
I had the cake made at Jewel. They don't have Wild Kratts cake decorations, and won't put anything on that you buy yourself. I printed out a Wild Kratts picture, and had them put it on the cake. I told them to make grass and water around the picture and write happy birthday. I then went out and bought small animal figures. I got a variety pack of animals, and marine animals. After I picked the cake up, I put on my own little pieces. I also bought animal print candles.
So now that you have some ideas, go ahead and say YES to the Wild Kratts party your kid's been bugging you about!! All these food items went over very well! You can even use these ideas and be creative with it, make it your own. Yes, it will take some work, but it is do-able, and your kid will love ya for it. Make memories.