Monkeying Around Party -6yr- Feed The Monkey Game

Monkeying Around   

Invitation : Monkeying Around! M’s 6th Birthday Party (Date/Time/Location/RSVP) I found a cute image of a monkey in a tutu and bow and a bunch of bananas and used fun, colorful fonts. Printing this on cardstock from my computer kept the cost very low.    Decorations : I printed a Welcome to the Jungle, We’ve Got Fun and Games with the image of the tutu-bedecked monkey for the front door. (Several parents were amused by this Guns ‘n Roses reference.) The bathroom was labeled Call of the Wild. My daughter has dozens of plush monkeys so she and her sisters set them around the house with our Thanksgiving décor and the effect was adorable and funny (a pink monkey riding a plush turkey was my fave) and I draped a 97 cent roll of green streamers/vines around the party space. A few balloons, some monkeys in tutus, and a 97 cent polka dot table cloth hung up in our Photo Booth space completed the cost-effective ensemble.   

Activities/Games : The tablecloth with a sign I printed out saying Monkeying Around with M on her 6th Birthday! A palm tree and a couple of monkeys hung on the wall and we had some little photo booth accessories on sticks and a few dress up items the kids used to pull monkey faces for the camera which resulted in hilarious photos to be used in thank you cards. We played Monkey in the Middle with a plush monkey (everyone stands in a circle with the monkey player standing in the middle trying to catch the toy being thrown between everyone else.) Also, we found small rubber banana-scented balls and I drew a monkey on a large piece of foam board, cutting a hole in the mouth and wrote Feed the Monkey.

They threw the balls into the monkey’s mouth and this was a big hit with everyone. Monkey See, Monkey Doodle was next, and with some drawing pads we got from the Dollar Tree, the kids split up in teams. I told the artists a word to sketch and if their team guessed first, they won. (The drawing pads and crayons were used later in the party by everyone to create masterpieces they took home.) The last game was a Banana Find one child hid bananas numbered 1-6 in our playroom and everyone had to find them IN ORDER. The bananas, cut out of yellow cardstock, kept being reused since this game didn’t really need to be supervised and my kids were still using them the next day.  I think I spent $10 total on all of the supplies for these games.   

Party Snacks : Monkey Mix (Chex mix with a cute sign with monkey stickers Dollar Tree Find,) Jungle Vines (green apple licorice Dollar Tree again,) Runts, Monkey Punch (Cherry Limeade.) Less than $10 was spent on these snacks.    Cake : Two tiers, frosted white with little monkeys in tutus and bows dancing on it. I made pink polka dots, green draping vines, and yellow bananas in buttercream. The top tier was banana cake with a caramel center, the bottom layer was chocolate chocolate chip with crushed oreos in the center.    

Favors : We found a wire trash basket that resembled a cage and I attached a sign that said Please Don’t Feed the Monkeys which we filled with Dollar Tree plush monkeys with Velcro hugging arms. I printed out colorful labels on cardstock that said Monkey Name: and Owner: and we filled them out and attached to each newly adopted monkey with a ribbon. The kids were CRAZY over these monkeys which ended up hanging from belt loops, streamers, tables, and ultimately wrapped around the neck of each departing party guest with wide smiles.     Overall, we kept the cost down by amping up the imagination, all of the kids had a blast, and my daughter labeled it the BEST PARTY EVER.