Need birthday party help please

littlestjerry

DS turns three soon!! He is obsessed with zookeepers and zoos so we're doing a zoo party at our house. I need a few suggestions.

1. He loves the snakes and spiders at the zoo, but I can't find any cheap realistic rubber snakes/spiders. Dollar Tree had some, but they were neon glow in the dark or something. I want real looking ones. The cheaper the better. No go at Target or Party City or Oriental Trading Co. Any other thoughts of places to look? 

2. Any ideas for activities? We'll have a water table and bubble machine, maybe that's enough? I'm thinking maybe an inflatable zoo animals "petting zoo" but those are also kind of expensive at Oriental Trading Co. 

Any other ideas as far as favors, food, etc. are welcome. For food so far, we've thought of "warthogs in a blanket" (pigs in a blanket), funfetti dip with animal crackers, some sort of "animal feed" trail mix, maybe these Nutter Butters that look like hippos I saw on Pinterest. 

[Deleted User]

At that age, give them a place to play and run around.  Structured activities are overrated for that age, imo.  No need to stress over it.  

phunkyphish

You could do the boxes of animal crackers for favors, they sell them in bulk on amazon. You could also get chocolate molds and make pops in animal shapes, I did that for a baby shower and it was pretty cheap and easy. I love the photobooth idea, and maybe you could make a craft station where the kids can make animal masks out of paper plates.

lollitots

I love planning parties that I don't have to execute. I would face paint their noses and whiskers on their faces. You also could add leopard spots or tiger stripes. It would be easy. Amazon has the face painting kits. I would order some ears on a headband or make them and take pics that I could send with the t.y. cards. Favors, boxes of animal crackers and eggs (paper mache (sp?) little plastic animals in ballons) that they could open up either at the party after an egg hunt or just take home and open. At that age you don't need too much in the way of games. They will just be happy running around. Both the above could suffice. For food there are a billion things on pinterest. One animal party we went to had the "zoo man" come out. He brought tarantulas, a tourtise, bunny, duck, snake and a few other animals that the kids could gently touch. It was done for this age group. The parents were freaked out but the kids loved it. I don't know if they have something like that by you. Have fun!

klondikebar

I'd just let them play and have an area with some themed tossing games. 3 year olds love throwing stuff.

Feed the animals- Make a board/poster/sheet with printouts of animals. Cut for mouths. Throw in plastic play food.

littlestjerry

Thanks everyone!! I saw an animal themed bean bag toss game in the Oriental Trading Catalog...that might be good, then it will hopefully last and entertain him beyond just the party. 

He really likes the fact that zookeepers sweep with brooms and feed animals, so a feeding animals type thing is a good idea. Oh, and zookeepers must wear boots-the MOST important part for him