I’m so excited to be sharing Madeline’s sixth birthday celebration on here today. If you follow me on IG, then you’ve already seen a lot her party on stories, but I just had to share it on here as well. This was such a special celebration for my sweet, precious girl. It could not have been more perfect for her! She didn’t get to have a birthday party last year with everything going on, so I definitely wanted to make it extra special this year.
The inspiration behind her theme: Madeline has been saying for months that she wanted to have a Lion King birthday party for her sixth birthday. Last May, she saw the original Lion King movie for the first time and has been obsessed ever since! We have watched (both Lion Kings) countless times! When we have a movie night, it’s usually her first movie of request. She loves the characters, knows every song by heart and giggles her way through taking about Timon and Pumba. But it doesn’t stop with just Lion King. She also absolutely loves lions! She knows about every lion fact. She had perfect her pretty impressive lion roar, which has given her the nickname “MadeLION”. And y’all know, she is just crazy about animals! Giraffes, zebras, cheetahs, elephants, lions, you name it!!! When we visit the zoo, these are the ones she’s most excited to see with our first stop always being the lions. My girl’s love for all animals and her tender heart for all living things truly is so special, so this theme couldn’t have been more perfect!
I hope y’all enjoy this walkthrough of Madeline’s party. When she originally told me she wanted a Lion King party, I was thinking of lions, lion king colors orange and yellow, etc. But once I started planning, it hit me that I could incorporate more then just lions. I could include all animals and go to town with animal prints (balloons, tablecloths, treat bags, etc). Adding the prints into even the tiniest of details (note the borders of the food labels), added such a fun touch and texture. I also knew I could throw in one more theme/color palette and that was palm print/ombre green! This also added so much personality! So with the trio of Lion King, animal prints and palm print, it really made for a party filled with SO much personality for my girl with a personality larger than life 🙂 Whether you’re planning a “Wild One”, “Into the Wild”, “Lion King”, “Palm Print”, “Animal Print”, whatever the theme may be party, I hope y’all enjoy this post! I’ll include everything from what we wore, the menu, the decorations, activities for the kid and more. Every item and source will be linked at the end of the post.
The Main Table
I really wanted this table to to be the focal point of the party. I wanted it to include everything: the animal prints, palm print, MadeLION theme, Lion King and more. I figured that since it held the food, it would be the table receiving a lot of attention. I also made sure to place a “Sanitize Your Paws” station at each table, to make sure everyone was mindful of sanitizing before touching things.
I have always been a big banner fan! For all of her parties, I’ve always had a personalized banner made for her to add a personal touch to the theme. The ones I’ve done over the years have been keepsakes for sure, so I love including these. This year, I decided to do a leaf print backdrop and also a balloon arch, incorporating the ombre greens + gold. With having these three, I decided to purchase
this banner holder which was a life saver!!! It made connecting all of these so much easier than if I were to tie them to columns, use command hooks, etc. It’s a great investment that I wish I’d had for all her past parties.
For the
balloon arch, this one was gorgeous!!! It did take some time and effort to put together (it was my first one), but the statement it made was so worth it!! It comes with the long strand to intertwine the balloons, 120 balloons and balloon glue (which was such a lifesaver!!). I didn’t realize that these actually hold air for days, so I wish I hadn’t waited until the night before to put it together. Also, try to recruit two of so people to help you tackle the job much faster! Use a pump to get the balloons blown up in no time. And when putting it together, remember not to fill all the holes and leave some space! When I tied it to the banner holder the morning of the party, I ended up taking a lot of balloons off to attach it to the banner frame, then using balloon glue to place them back into the arch. I actually purchased two of these arches. There was a door on the opposite side of the party area that I actually cut the second balloon arch just to place a small strip of balloons over that door. And then I used some of the extra balloons from the second balloon arch pack to fill with helium for the balloon bouquets placed throughout decor. It was SO much cheeper just to use the excess balloons from the second arch. At Party City, the standard balloons are .99 each, and in the arch, I got probably 50 or so standard sizes in the pack of 120 ($12 for the entire kit).
I also wanted to incorporate
animal prints into each table with the leopard print table cloth for this one. I also loved including the
grass table skirts (think Timon when he’s trying to distract the hyenas). It was a fun touch for sure!
The Menu
Y’all we had SO much fun creating the menu for the party. My brilliant sister helped me come get creative with it, and prep the food. My friend Kimberlee of
The Pretty Party Shop did these ADORABLE and oh-so creative food labels. Fun fact: she’s actually done all the labels for all of Madeline’s birthday parties. She does all these by hand and goodness the details are amazing! They’re such a fun statement and add so much personality to the menu, helping the theme just come to life! Kimberlee is so talented! Amy from
Wild Flour Bakery did did Madeline’s bake and goodness is she so talented! She hand-painted the sunrise scene on the top tier. On the bottom tier, she did the leopard print and included Simba in leopard print just as it is on Madeline’s dress. It all turned out SO CUTE! And as I mentioned, I made sure to have “Sanitize your paw” stations with the food and utensils so none of the food was touched by hand.
When planning the menu, I always like to have enough options that kids will love (Madeline can be picky!) and adults will enjoy too. Here’s what we had:
“I’ve Got A Lovely Bunch of Coconut Macaroons” (Coconut Macaroons)
“Simba’s Sandwiches” (Assortment of ham and pimento cheese sandwishes)
“Zazu’s Birdy Boiler Dip” (Queso Dip + Chips)
“Hakuna Matata Tastest Like Chicken Fingers” (Chick-Fil-A Chicken Strips)
“The Mane Attraction Carrots & Hummus” (Carrots + a few peppers mainly for garnishment and hummus to dip them in)
“Slimy Yet Satisfying Pasta Salad” (My sister’s special pasta salad recipe)
“Pumba’s Pigs in a Blanket” (Pigs in a blanket)
“The Water Hole” (special blue Kool-Aid punch to drink)
The Party Favor Table
For this table, I wanted it to include an assortment of fun crafts, decorations and favors for the kids. I knew I wanted to create a “MadeLION” banner above this table, and using the 16 inch blow up mylar balloons were perfect for creating this. I again incorporated animal print and a grass skirt to this table. Madeline and I had so much fun crafting these “SIX” paper mache letters for them theme. She painted them, we covered them in animal print felt fabric, added touches to turn the “S” into Simba (Mane and all), “I” into Pumba and Timon and “X” into Nala. They turned out so cute!!
To make it extra special for the kids, I included some fun things for them on this table. The “adopt a safari animal” basket where they could pick an animal to take home with them was a hit for sure! Meghan of the
The Sugared Moon Cookie Co. created these AMAZING cookies for the kids to take home with them. I mean y’all she thought of everything!! All the characters, the leaf print, the animal print, every. single. thing. I was so blown away by these. And they were delicious as well!
I also got these adorable
animal print treat bags for the kids to take their goodies home in. There were some candy surprises tucked inside these as well.
The Kids Table & Activities for the Kids
For all of Madeline’s parties, I always rent a bounce house for the kids to have fun with. It’s always a blast! I also love to put some extra thought into the table for them. Madeline loves her friends so much, and she loves having something special for them. I again used an animal print cloth. This assortment of animal print masks made for the perfect touch to add to the back of their chairs, and they could wear them + act out their favorite animal. Madeline also LOVES art! She loves to paint and get creative. These
safari animals to paint were so fun to include and made for an exciting activity for the kids to take home with them. If they didn’t get a chance to paint at the party, they took them home to paint later.
My dear friend Becky surprised Madeline with oh-so fun coconut cups! So, we added “a lovely bunch of coconuts” for the kids to drink out of. I also found these adorable paw print plates! They’re so cool. Each one “tells a story” and is made from fallen palm leaves (so cool right?!).
I also had SO much fun creating these adorable centerpieces for the party. I put them on the kids table, on the two tables I had set up for adults to sit around and one on the food table as well. I just went out and got some sandbox sand, filled these pedestal vases with it, added a metallic gold safari animal and the palm leaves for a final touch. They turned out SO cute and were so much easier/less expensive to do than using fresh flowers. I also thought I would have to spray paint some safari animals, but I ended up finding this pack of
metallic gold animals on Amazon. So easy! The leaves across the table were also part of the same
leaf set I used for the centerpieces.
In this photo, y’all can kind of see the details I added to the door I mentioned above (the one I used a portion of the second ballon arch for). This was after the party, so we were hot, sweaty and had been having a blast haha! But I used a “Happy Birthday” 16 inch mylar balloon banner for it, some leaf strands and the portion of the balloon banner, as I mentioned. It definitely made a statement, and turned out so cute!
Overall, it couldn’t have been a more perfect day celebrating my special Madeline! She said it was the best day ever. We’re so thankful for our friends and family that came out to help us celebrate. I had prayed about the weather because it had been forecasting rain, but God gave us a beautiful day without one drop of rain. It will be a day we never forget, and my heart was just so happy getting to put this together for her. This isn’t just planning a party for me. It especially allows me to plan something for her as magical as she sees it through her eyes. I couldn’t even being to say magic she has brought into my life, being a single mama and it being just me and her. So getting to give some of that magic back to her means the world to me. I know one day she’ll want a “cool teen party” haha so, I’m holding tight to these days I can plan something special for her 🙂 I hope y’all have enjoyed this walkthrough of “MadeLION’s Lion King Birthday Celebration.” I also have to say to all my mamas out there, once everything is set up for the party, snap all your photos, get some videos and put your phone away when the party begins. You”ll be so happy you did! Ask friends and family to take photos/videos of your little one blowing out candles, opening gifts, whatever! Enjoy the party with them.
I will link every single thing I mentioned in this post below.
Cookies (The Sugared Moon Cookie Co.)
Thanks for stopping by! Let me know if y’all have any questions 🙂
