January 19, 2023
Review RecipeA Reptiles and Amphibians Birthday Party
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When her son begged for a reptiles and amphibians birthday party to celebrate his 5th birthday, Gretchen Brittain, mom and owner of Three Little Monkeys Studio, felt a little squeamish.
Reptiles and snakes…oh my! With the happiness of her son Zach in mind, she obliged and created the most incredible printable decorations, sourced and made yummy vegan cupcakes and treats and sent guests hopping home with creative party favors.
Come see how they “partied their tails” off, reptile and amphibian style!
See also:
- You may turn green with envy over the creative ideas in this frog themed boy’s birthday party!
Gretchen combined her son’s love for nature and all things that slither and hop and designed a birthday party she knew would bring a smile to his face.
Gretchen loves for her parties to tell a story about the guest of honor so she begins party plans by jotting down the celebrant’s favorite things.
Then she sketches ideas.
The end result of her creative planning this time inspired her to style a dessert table that resembled a herpetology professor’s office (herpetology = the branch of zoology concerned with reptiles and amphibians).
Guests received incredible invitations inviting them to “hop, crawl or slither on over to celebrate”. I love the vintage, scholarly feel Gretchen achieved with muted colors and text.
Gretchen pulled the party together using an old desk, galvanized serving pieces, vintage books and crates—many things she already had at home.
She added succulents as critter habitats, her son’s favorite magnifying glass and then arranged reptile and amphibian figures.
Always a fan of simple DIY projects, Gretchen made a colorful garland. An assortment of felt balls from TaDaa Studio Felt complemented the colors of the printables Gretchen designed.
Additionally, she made her own German Jung-Koch- inspired pull down chart, saving hundreds of dollars. Gretchen (and her son) loved that this particular party decoration could be used again in her son’s room post-party.
Gretchen’s awesome collection of coordinating printables includes the invitation, mailing labels, napkin rings, party circles, favor tags, fillable food labels and even customized “Junior Herpetologist” badges. So fun!
Gretchen’s son has a dairy allergy, which made planning for and sourcing treats a little tricky. She focused her ideas on things her son loves and could enjoy—OREOs, pretzels and Zevia soda.
Gretchen used Mud Pie Vegan Bakery & Coffeehouse to bake up her son’s favorite cookies ‘n cream cupcakes, which she dressed up with printable party circles.
A printable cake bunting topped a vegan cake, embellished with chocolate rocks and a toy frog.
My favorite treat on the table was the vegan sugar cookies made by Compassionate Cake—talk about perfect cookie specimens! Lizards, turtles, snakes and even a red-eyed tree frog, were flawlessly replicated in cookie form. Impressive!
Another addition to the dessert table was OREO truffle turtle eggs. Gretchen got creative with vegan white chocolate chips and vegan substitutes to create these turtle eggs.
I love how she served them in a brown sugar nest with (plastic) turtle hatchlings.
Pretzels were decorated to look like “lizard tails” using the same vegan white chocolate chips. I love the creative food labels that accompanied each sweet treat.
For beverages, Gretchen dressed up Zevia cream soda by tying long paper straws (Cranky Cakes Shop) to the bottles with twine. Look how cute the straw toppers are!
Gretchen wanted to be able to relax and enjoy the day with her son so she chose to hire reptile handlers. They introduced the kids to box and painted turtles, a king snake, ball python, leopard geckos, a skink and a baby alligator. The kids loved it!
Following the reptile and amphibian show, there was a great lineup of planned activities. Kids could adopt and name their own lizard and then decorate the lizard’s “habitat” using washi tape and markers at a Lizard Adoption Station.
Older guests also enjoyed working on their draw-a-frog activity sheet.
As guests left this hoppin’ party, they were given favor bags which included reptile-themed bouncy balls, grow reptiles and a small magnifying glass. I just love the adorable favor tag: “Thanks for partying your tail off! Catch you later!” So clever.
Planning a reptiles and amphibians birthday party? Check out these party supplies:
(Amazon Affiliate Links)
- Inflatable Snake Swords
- Rubber Snakes
- Reptile Pack
- Stretchable Flying Frogs
- Alligator Pinata
- Insect and Reptile Tattoos
- Alligator Birthday Balloon
- Frog Cupcake Picks
- Frog Cone Hat
- Birthday Frogs & Lizards
- Square Paper Plates
- Paper Napkins
- Snake Bouncy Balls
More reptiles and amphibians party ideas:
- Alligators, Turtles and Frogs, Oh My Party
- Bayou Party Supplies {Frog Fondant Toppers}
- A Dino-Mite Dinosaur Boy’s 2nd Birthday Party
- Boy’s Dinosaur Birthday Party Ideas
Check out this Boy’s Rad Reptile Birthday Party…
