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Sometimes the things my kids are interested in amazes me. I mean I was obsessed with dinosaurs and horses as a child, but penguins and owls?
Well, my son is.
And he has been for years! A couple years ago he even had a Penguin Themed Birthday Party.
This year, he happened upon the book series, Guardians of Ga'hoole. An entire series about owls!
We listened to them all on audiobook since he isn't reading that level yet. The whole family got to adventure with Soren and the other owls of Ga'hoole.
And then we found the movie, Legend of the Guardians. Which was not nearly as good as the books, but of course he loved it. And the Owls of Ga'hoole Birthday Party was born!
Owl Themed Decorations
Since owls are nocturnal, and I am obviously a science nerd, I went with night colors. Dark blue tablecloth and streamers with metallic tableware and stars!
In the center of the light I hung a simple white lantern with owl silhouettes taped to it to represent the full moon.
Since the Great Ga'hoole Tree is such a big part of the book, I tried to make my own tree to stand behind the cake table.
I taped several pool noodles together and wrapped with brown craft paper to form the trunk and branches.
Green streamers made up the leaves. Really pretty quick to put together!
And of course Stuffed Owls! Simplest decorations for us since my son has a ridiculous collection of them.
Owl Themed Food
I had 2 trains of thought with the food. First, foods themed to the book.
For these we tried to include things to go with the multiple ceremonies of an owlet as well as a couple other book themed goodies.
- First Insect/Worm (gummy worms)
- First Meat (popcorn chicken)
- First Meat on Bone (chicken wings)
- Battle Claws (Bugles)
- Milkberry Tea (Pina Colada Punch; non-alcoholic of course)
My second thought on food was owl shaped food. Mainly because this seemed the only way to get fruit and veggies on the table and in the theme.
Owl Themed Cakes
All along, I had planned to make really simple cupcakes with Oreos and M&Ms for eyes. I thought he would think they were cool, plus how easy!
As you can see, I did make them, but a couple days before the party he decides to tell me he wants a cake, with an owl on it.
One that stands up.
Luckily for him, and me, his dad was able to make one out of clay.
So, all I had to do was make a log cake and stick it on.
Owl Themed Party Favors
Again I let me science nerd come out and ordered barn owl pellets for all the kids to take home and dissect.
Included in our Owl Pellet Favor
Included in our Owl Pellet Favor
- instructions (you can print the ones we made here)
- a bone chart (grab them here)
- a pair of gloves
- a popsicle stick to break apart the pellet
These actually went over surprisingly well with the kids. Some even sent me pictures of their finds.
Who knows what this kid will come up with next year, but since both his current obsessions have been turned into parties already, it could be interesting!
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