Jungle Jake Turns One!
Last month, our new buddy Jake turned one! When his mom reached out to us about planning his party, she suggested a Safari/ Jungle theme, which is one of our favorites for a kid's birthday. We excitedly got to work planning a party fit for a Jungle King.
Jake's parents booked 202 East, an awesome raw venue space on the Upper East Side for the party. We worked with our contact there to secure tables and chairs for the adults and kids, as well as tables for our food and dessert.
Little Jake LOVES lions and the color orange, so we made sure that the party decor had plenty of both. For the kids tables, we set them up in front of where the band would be playing so the kids could be close to the entertainment. We covered the kids tables with orange table covers, and tied an animal print balloon to the back of each kid's chair.
At each child's seat, we set Jungle-themed coloring pages and crayons, a custom "Wild One" mini water bottle, and a child size safari pith hat. Down the center of the tables, we a styled faux jungle vine runner, with animal figurines nestled throughout. We also placed bowls with animal crackers and packages of goldfish along the runner for kids to snack on as they colored and listened to music.
We set a high chair next to the kids table with a jumbo gold "1" balloon for the birthday boy to sit at to do a cake smash during the party. We stuck a blow-up lion in his place to keep his seat warm until he was ready.
To entertain the kids, our client booked one of our favorite kids bands, Little Maestro's to play throughout the party. We set up a little area with rugs in front of where Little Maestro's played so the kids could get close to listen, complete with blow up safari animals for them to play with.
In addition to Little Maestro's, the kids were also entertained by our fabulous balloon artist, Donetta, of Melinda's Children's Parties. Everyone at the party was SO impressed by Donetta's amazing balloon animal skills!
On the adult tables, we styled a single jumbo orange balloon with a greenery tail on each, which we weighted to animal figurines and birch wood vases with orange flowers.
We served the food for the adults buffet style, on two tables that we covered with burlap linens. We had the food provided by one of our absolute favorites, Poppy's Catering, and had them make a variety of sandwich platters, charcuterie, crudité and salad. Maggie designed a custom menu, which we framed and placed on the food tables and surrounded with gold spray painted jungle animals.
202 East has a bar within the space, on which we styled beer from our friends at Narragansett, wine and water with zebra print cocktail napkins and bamboo straws. We also placed my pineapple ice bucket from CB2 on the bar and attached a cluster of the animal print balloons with a greenery tail. To the wall behind the bar, we taped gold letter balloons that spelled "Jake's Jungle".
Our favorite part of the whole party was the dessert station! On the wall behind the dessert table, Maggie made an epic jungle vine wall with faux greenery. Below the greenery, she stuck more gold letter balloons to spell "WILD ONE".
On the dessert table, we placed a bamboo leaf print table cover, on which we styled black trays with lion face cupcakes, and a green ombré smash cake, both of which were made by Making That Cake. In addition to the cupcakes and cakes, we also set up a serving station for Dō Cookie Dough... an absolute must have for Jake's Mom and Dad.
For a final little detail, Maggie designed custom signage for the bathroom doors - Lion for the Men's room and Lioness for the Ladies.
Once the party started and the band started playing, we served slices of pizza to the kids from Little Luzzo's. The food was a hit, and the guests had a blast dancing and playing with the balloon animals.
Happy First Birthday, Jungle Jake!
xo,
Abby