Wild & Three Adventure Birthday Party

by blchargraves

I’ve discovered that I really like to choose a cutesie theme for my son’s birthday parties, and I will take full advantage of that while he’s young enough to just roll with it! This year, I had my heart set on Wild & Three, but with a more woodsy-adventure feel rather than safari like you usually see.

Location, Location, Location

We decided to have the party at our local petting zoo/party barn, the Bacchus Family Adventure Farm. The “wild animals” and the rustic feel of the party barn fit well with our theme. They have everything from normal farm animals to camels, zebras, and porcupines…OH MY! They also have a huge section with a jungle gym(next to the lemurs) and all kinds of games to play. The kids loved it, but man it was so hot this summer!

They have handy little spoons to feed with
Baby camel!
Choosing the best steed.
The corn pit is always a favorite!
Duck races!
Petting a chinchilla!

Wild & Three Decor

I usually try to make a lot of things or buy stuff second hand when it come to decorations in order to save some money. I did find some good things on Amazon for this theme though which I will include links to.

I made the Wild & Three banner in MS Word. Collected the baskets, lanterns and such from things we already had and thrift stores. (If you aren’t a thrifter, you REALLY should be!) All the stumps and interesting wood pieces came from my MIL’s wood pile. The super cute lantern lights came from Amazon. Looking at it now, I wish I had strung them along the table because they would have been more noticeable. Oh well. The tablecloths were also from Amazon.

Check out these amazing tree slice plates! These were a little pricey, but they fit so well with the look I had going. They were my “splurge” item at $18.99 for 24 plates. They were sturdy and good quality! The cups, checkered napkins, forks and black plates came from Dollar General. I put theme related stickers from Hobby Lobby on the cups! Time consuming, but super cute!

Wild about…the FOOD!

The food was my favoite part of this whole shindig! I wanted all the food to fit with the Wild & Three theme, so we had things like firewood, sticks & twigs, tree bark and tree slices. All the kids at the party loved the themed food!

Turkey club pin wheels. I will try to add the recipe later!
S’more on a stick! Big hit and super easy!
Swiss Rolls as Fire Wood!
Hedgehog cheese ball. My Aunt’s recipe and it’s amazing. I will post that one as well.
My favorite! Bacon Tree bark! Just bake in the oven on the skewers.
Assorted berries and fruit dip.
Plain potato chips as “wood chips”. Could also be wood shavings!
These are Great Value thin pretzel sticks as “sticks & twigs”. These are SO delicious! My favorite kind of prezel for sure!

Let Them Eat Cake…

I used to bake specialty cakes semi-professionally. I say semi because I just did it out of my home and mostly by word of mouth. Anyway, that has slowed down considerably over the years as life got busier, but I do still make cakes for family and close friends. Here is the Wild & Three cake I made for my boy!

I made the topper in Canva, printed it, laminated and then cut it out with an Xacto knife. The trees are white almond bark with green food coloring piped over lollipop sticks and hardened in the freezer. The tree bark on the bottom tier is chocolate almond bark poured onto parchement paper and “distressed” to look like wood. The moss is made from toasted graham crackers with green and brown food coloring. The moose was just a sticker!

Here he is blowing out the “campfire” candles!

I had so much fun with this party and my little dude is definitely living up to the Wild & Three moniker! Next year, I’m thinking “I’m Four and Digging it” construction theme or “Truck Yeah! I’m Four!” monster truck theme!