All posts by Kirsetin

How to Throw a Jungle Party for Kids

birthday cakes, birthdays, food
As you may know, I’m not a big fan of the commercial party for kids.  I understand the appeal of the Sponge Bob et. al, parties—kids like the shows and the theme is ready-made.  Hit the party store and you’ll be hard pressed not to find napkins, plates and goody bags pre-printed with the logo du jour.  But something about the commercialization of children’s birthday parties rubs me the wrong way.  So we typically go with a general theme, and build from there, although I do confess to throwing a Superhero party one year, complete with a Batman Cake (I used black icing & made the bat signal in yellow – it looked very cool but what a mess those kids were!).  I also made capes for all of the kids, and by “made” I mean I cut the shape out of black fabric, attached some ribbon to tie them on, and called it good.  (The capes had names on them like Super Sam and Mighty Matthew, which sounds totally lame but the kids loooooved their personalized superhero gear.  They’re kids, remember?)
But, generally speaking, we skip a Sponge Bob party in favor of an Under the Sea party. Or we have a party with a Race Car cake.  Or, you might recall, we’ve had a  Pirate Party with this awesome Pirate Ship cake. 
This year, we went wild with a jungle theme.
Now, by wild, I mean that I wasn’t really planning a party and was caught by surprise when my youngest wanted one.  So I threw this together quickly, and cheaply, and as usual, the kids didn’t know the difference.  I love that.  So if you’re up for a Bungle in the Jungle with kids, here are a few ideas:
  1. Start with the cake.  Nothing screams Birthday Party quite like a Jungle Cake.  You can order it or make it, but I say make this one—it’s so easy.  Nothing creative, really, other than the fancy placement of jungle animals around the kingdom.  It was sort of fun, actually; channeling the inner child and all that, I suppose.
  1. Throw in some vine. I’ve been blogging long enough now to know that lots of you are very creative.  In that case, you will scoff at my party décor.  You will take this idea and run so far with it that your home or yard or garage will actually resemble Africa.  But party décor is not my forte, so I don’t mind, go ahead and scoff.  Improve on the idea-I’m all for it as long as I don’t have to do it, too.  Simply open up some paper grocery bags, cut them into strips, and twist the strips into vines.  I got fancy at the end and had my kids cut out green leaf shapes from construction paper, to add that authentic jungle feel.  Improve away, creative types.
  1. Find some Jungle Fabric.  For a quick and easy decoration, hit your local fabric store for an inexpensive tablecloth to help set the mood.  I scored this one for about $5 – and I cut a piece off the end to use as the blindfold for Pin the Leaf on the Vine (more on that, later).
  1. Indulge in a tatt.  Yes, my friends, I’m advocating tattoos, here.  And, guaranteed, this will be the only kind I will ever cheer for.  When kids arrive at the party, have them choose a couple of tatts from a jungle-themed assortment:  we had lions, tigers, monkeys, snakes—they loved choosing and showing off their new body art. 
  1. Pin the Leaf on the Vine.  This is the kind of game that drives my husband crazy, and I do them at every kid party anyway.  It’s the same old game, with a brand-new name.  For this one, simply pre-make a few leaves per child, with their name printed on the leaf.  Add a blindfold, a few spins, and they’re off to try to “pin” (double-sided tape) the leaf onto the vines (that you have already taped onto the door/wall/whatever).  I wasn’t sure about this one, but the kids were cracking up.  And, cheating, I’m pretty sure.
  1. Lion, Lion, Hyena.  Yep, you got it.  Another game by a different name.  This is Duck Duck Goose with one variation:  when we were finished playing Pin the Leaf on the Vine, I folded the blindfold, and tied a knot in the end to make a lion’s tail.  The child who was “it” tucked the end into their pocket and when he yelled Hyena, the child he tapped had to try to pull the tail out of his pocket as they ran around the circle of kids.  They could’ve played this the entire time.  It added to the fun that the “big kids” joined in (my 10 & 12 year old, and a friend)—how cool was it to catch the tail when one of them was “it”?!
  1. Jungle Charades.  My older son found cartoon pictures of jungle animals online & printed them out for us.  We folded them, then the kids chose animals to act out.  Well, that was the idea.  We had the game ready but I forgot all about it.  And they were busy with the Jungle Cave.  You try it, though.  It sounds fun.
  1. Jungle Cave.  This one proves the theory that all kids need for entertainment is an empty box.  We got a couple of washer/dryer boxes from Home Depot and a couple of large boxes from a furniture store, taped them together, added some branches (what luck that our neighbor was pruning that day!) and called it the jungle cave.  If I were the more creative type, I could’ve added fabric inside, or hanging vines, or other scary nuances, but I’m not and they never noticed.  If you are, though, knock yourself out.  They had a blast with the cave.
  1. The Great Peanut Hunt.  Obviously, this only works if none of the kids (or their siblings!) have a peanut allergy.  In that case, you could probably use those orange peanut-shaped candies, but since they’re not wrapped…gross!  I’m not sure it would be worth the time to individually wrap them.  I’m sure you could find something else.  At any rate, my older boys ran around before the party, hiding peanuts (in the shell) around the jungle cave, play set, and backyard.  The kids were elephants, and all of the elephants received a paper lunchbag with their name on it.  Then they ran around like wild monkeys trying to find as many peanuts as they could.  Mayhem ensued.
  1. Coconut War.  This game exists solely because my son wanted water balloons at his party.  Since I have two older sons—and one of their friends—who were willing to play the lions, it worked.  The little kids, or monkeys, stood on our 2nd story deck beaming water balloons at the lions, who ran around in the yard below.  We couldn’t have made enough water balloons! 
  1. Party Favors.  I’m not very fond of the Goody Bag concept, and usually skip it in favor of handing out one of those huge twirly lollipops and a helium balloon as kids head out the door.  This time, though, I decided to buy plastic jungle cups & write the kids’ names on them with a Sharpie.  I filled them with bubbles, a candy necklace, a twirly straw, a couple of take-home tattoos, and a few jungle animals.  (You can see them in the photo above, with the cake & jungle fabric.) Next year:  the return of the large, twirly, lollipop!
Supply List:
    • cake, icing, & animals for the top
    • jungle fabric for tablecloth, blindfold, and lion’s tail
    • jungle tattoos
    • large furniture boxes or washer/dryer boxes (free at furn stores or Home Depot-just ask)
    • branches to decorate jungle cave
    • duct tape to hold cave together
    • lots of paper grocery bags, woven into vines
    • green construction paper for leaves – to decorate vines & to use in Pin the Leaf on the Vine game
    • paper lunchbags w/ kids’ names, for the Great Peanut Hunt
    • peanuts in shell (or substitute)
    • papers with jungle animal names (or cartoon pictures) on them, for Jungle Charades
    • water balloons
    • party favors of your choice; mine:  jungle cup, bubbles, candy necklace, jungle tattoos, plastic jungle animals
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Inexpensive Family Fun: 5 Frugal Ideas

activities for kids, family, finances

Do recent economic woes have you wondering what to do with the kids this summer? Here are 5 ideas to help you forgo expensive camps and memberships and indulge in some old-fashioned, inexpensive, family fun.

  1. 1. Pack a Picnic. For the same amount of money it would cost you to eat at home, in the same humdrum kitchen, at the same humdrum hour, you can pack it all up in a basket and head out the door for a new adventure. Grab your basket and set out for the nearest beach, lake, or stream. Doing so also means free (or inexpensive) water fun – easy hours of entertainment for kids of all ages. If the cost of gas and/or distance of a body of water makes this idea prohibitive, forgo the water and find a nearby park. The simple change of mealtime venue is a surefire way to lift everyone’s spirits.
  2. Hit the Nature Trails. Grab your hiking boots or tennis shoes, pack some water and a camera, and head for the Great Outdoors. Not since Thoreau wrote Walden has anyone come close to describing the wonder of communing with nature. And though few of us will ever forsake civilization for the woods for as long as he did, his words help us understand the depth of this beauty. “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” We can help our kids develop a love for the outdoors by getting them out of the house and into the woods early and often. Let them lead a hike, explore the trails, discover new worlds: this is learning and living at its finest.
  3. Kitchen Concoctions. This idea isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s not my favorite, either, but the kids love it. Gather up some slightly stale marshmallows, old graham crackers, fruit, whipped cream, sugar, salt, vinegar and other inexpensive, or unlikely to be used soon, foods. Then let the kids mix and create to their hearts content. They can concoct some disgusting stuff, let me tell you, but they loooove this “game.” Just don’t hand them the vanilla. That takes frugal out of the equation.
  4. Kick, Serve, or Shoot a Ball. Research study after research study laments the growing obesity problem of America’s youth. Go against the grain and get out there and play sports with your kids. Take an hour—or a half an hour—to shoot baskets, kick goals, or volley at the net. You don’t need a fancy club membership. Most towns have free public tennis courts and basketball courts; plenty of schools have soccer fields that sit empty all summer long. Grab a few of your kids’ friends and get a game going. You’ll thank me later, I promise.
  5. Read A Book. Everyone knows that libraries lend books for free, but not everyone goes. Go! Choose a book you can read aloud to your kids and spend some time each day transported to another world together. A few suggestions: The Tale of Despereaux (Kate DiCamillo), A Cricket in Times Square (George Selden), The Magician’s Nephew (C. S. Lewis), Half Magic (Edward Eager).
These changing economic times don’t mean less family fun, but they might mean a bit more work on our part, as parents. The farm where we picked strawberries this year puts it like this:
You pick, you pay. We pick, you pay more.
I love that line. That’s life, right? When we do the legwork, we pay less.
What’s true for berry pickers is true for family entertainment: it’s more work to pack a picnic than to drive through McDonald’s, but it’s less expensive and, in the end, it’s better for all of us and a lot more fun. So break out the bread, folks, and get packing.
photo credits: Crystl, KitAy
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Strawberry Fields Forever (or U-Pick Strawberries with Kids)

activities for kids, nostalgia, summer

“Mom, that was so much fun,” wasn’t the reaction I expected. I expected something more along the lines of “It was so hot,” or “That made my back hurt,” or “Why can’t we just buy our strawberries at the grocery store like everyone else?” But, “That was so much fun!” wasn’t on my list of expected responses.

My memories of picking strawberries as a child are fond memories, but only because it was something my mom and brother and I did together. I’d be absolutely lying if I said it was fun. Hot? Yes. It was sweat dripping through my hair, sunshine burning my shoulders, hot. (It was the South, remember?) Back-breaking? Yes. Picking those berries in the Carolina sun seemed to take hours. For the record, we picked 8 quarts in 40 minutes today, so how long could it have been, really?

Nonetheless, I recall that from many years ago day fondly. (Did we go more than once? I couldn’t say for sure.) I remember that my little brother ate more than he picked and that he was covered with dirt and strawberry juice. I remember my mom, patient with us that day, encouraging us to choose the ripe ones. I remember how much better they tasted, because we picked them ourselves—my first inkling of the rewards of hard labor.

And so it happened that I decided my boys should try it, too. No matter that it might not be fun, or that today was our hottest day of the summer, or that only two of my three boys really like the sweet taste of strawberries. We would go. Picking berries would be part of their family tapestry, too.

It was a pleasant surprise that they were industrious. That they got right down and started picking with enthusiasm. That not one complained of the heat. I expected a few quarts and too many complaints to continue. Instead, they each asked if they could fill another basket. At $1.50 a quart, who am I to say no? Fill ‘em up boys. We’ll be gorging for days.

And we’ll be back again next year.

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