ISO party favor ideas for a monkey theme (2nd birthday)

[CiderLogan]

DD's 2nd birthday is coming up, and she loves monkeys, so we're doing a monkey theme. The kids will range in age from 1 to 6ish. I'd rather give a couple of nicer things (or even one cute thing) than fill a bag with junk (although there's plenty of monkey stuff at Orient Express if I have to go that route). Any ideas for something that's just a few dollars (or less) per kid, that would appeal to all those ages (or that would be something comparable for the little ones and the bigger ones), and that's not too junky? My only idea so far is that Monkeys in a Barrel game, although I know at least a few of the kids already have that.

By the way, I ordered invitations from this etsy seller, and they are really cute if you want a monkey invite (and she has a boy version too):
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10182179

Also, if you have any fun ideas for the party in general, please do share! :) I will probably do yellow and brown plates and balloons, lots of banana-flavored stuff, and some tropical-ish food.

Thanks in advance! I always love the party favor ideas BBB moms (& dads) have!

Jenny

[tylersmama]

I did monkeys for DS's first birthday party. I did go with some of the stuff from Oriental Trading. I used their table cloth and plates and napkins. I also ordered the little monkey bubbles and the monkey hand puppets for favors. The puppets were a big hit! I walked around Michaels and found some cute foam-y monkey heads that were great for sticking on the walls for decorations. Oh, and I made a monkey cake for DS, too. I used the Wilton animal crackers pan, cut the ears off and moved them a little lower, and decorated accordingly. I thought it turned out great! Since all the kids were too young to notice/care, I used red velvet cake, so we had monkey brains when we cut into the cake. :ROTFLMAO: The adults thought it was hilarious! Here are a couple of pictures:

Monkey cake (I cut the leaves out of construction paper):

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t165/gbeckman/IMG_2456.jpg

And bloody monkey brains (ew....:D):

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t165/gbeckman/IMG_1939.jpg

[Tondi G]

We did a Monkey theme for DS's 1st birthday. We had mini banana muffins with chocolate chips, banana chips mixed with M&Ms etc out for snacky foods along with pizza and sandwiches, chips n dip, fruit salad, pasta salad. We got some of these picks and put them into the bowls of food... it was cute and festive

http://www.orientaltrading.com/application?namespace=browse&origin=searchMain.jsp&event=link.itemDetails&demandPrefix=12&sku=26/937&mode=Searching&erec=1&D=palm%2Btree%2Bpicks&Ntt=palm%2Btree%2Bpicks&Ntk=all&Dx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&Ntx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&y=0&N=0&x=0&sd=Palm+Tree+And+Monkey+Picks

I made little goodie bags out of brown paper bags. They looked like this...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y195/Tondi/Aidans1stBday120.jpg

this site was inspiration for the goodie bags

http://www.marthastewart.com/article/party-decorating-ideas-animal

we went with Yellow, green and brown for colors and I whimped out and bought a cake and got curious george monkeys on top

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y195/Tondi/Aidans1stBday069.jpg

for favors we put bubbles, little spiny monkey things, a box of animal crackers in the bags

we had some blowouts and party hats in this theme laying around for the kids to put on or play with

http://www.orientaltrading.com/application?namespace=browse&origin=searchMain.jsp&event=link.itemDetails&demandPrefix=12&sku=PT122&mode=Searching&erec=0&D=monkey%2Bparty&Ntt=monkey%2Bparty&Ntk=all&Dx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&Ntx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&y=0&N=0&x=0&sd=Neon+Monkey+Party+Theme

to dress up DS's high chair we bought a green grass skirt and wrapped it around the front of the tray and taped it on.... it looked really cute for pics while he was chowing the cake!

One thing you could consider for a favor would be a yellow pail/bucket and shovel set. They are all over the place now... party stores, kmart etc. Maybe get a green or brown paint marker and write each child name on the bucket with a cute bubbly font or print out a sticker with their names! If you want spend a tad bit more pop a container of bubbles in it! Perfect for summertime!

Have Fun with it... it's a really fun theme!

~Tondi

[traciann]

how about a bottle of bubble bath? I know target has curious george bubble bath for 1.67. I am actually planning to do this for my dd's favors. I know we go through alot of bubble bath here, so i thought it would be fun. I am going to put it in a clear bag and throw in some dum dums. For under 2 doallars per kid, I think that is cheaper than buying all the trinkets they usually get.

[lisams]

We were just at a Curious George themed party for a 3 year old and the party favor was a Barrell of Monkeys game. It was great - no bag of little trinkets that will all get eventually tossed, and DD has fun just linking them together and it can also be a game.

[galvjen]

The birthday party for my 2 DS is in May at an indoor play center called Monkey N Around. Rather than invent a theme, we're going to use the obvious -- monkeys. I'll be following this thread. Some great ideas already!
Jen

[DrSally]

how about a monkey bath puppet or just puppet. I might have seen one at Cost Plus.

[Jen841]

Prior to the movie etc we did this and I added some updated ideas...
Yellow Hat cake for 1st bday, and Sam's Curious George cake for 4th (they do cupcakes too)
Decorations- Curious George books tented through the house
Coloring pages available on-line
Jack Johnson music (movie soundtrack)
Fruit Snacks available in CG
Books for favors, there is a "CG Birthday Surprise" book

All sorts of things available now... socks, shirts, paper goods, rubber stamps, stickers, DVDs, costumes (Old Navy), monkey ear/tail costume parts....

[rupptopia]

We did a monkey theme for DS's 2nd b-day. I did similar things that other posters mentioned. Monkey cake, fake palm tree with paper bananas, brown & yellow m&ms, drew a monkey on brown paper bags, etc.

I had to share my best bargain though, monkey puppets for $15 a dozen!! They were from Rhode Island Novelty, here is the link: http://rinovelty.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/products.detail/item/PLMONPU/monkey_puppet_plush

I put the puppets & a monkey book from the dollar store along with some M&Ms and a banana in the goodie bags and they were a big hit.

We had 3 babies in attendance, little brothers & sisters of DS's friends, for them I did a Monkey rattle & a jar of pureed bananas.

It was such a fun theme :)

[MarisaSF]

Check the Target One Spot ASAP. I saw a ton of Curious George things in the dollar bins -- There were stickers and some other things. There were also monkey (not George) things in the $2.50 bins -- slippers, room decor stuff.

I love those monkey goody bags above!

This is the cake I made for DD's birthday last year:
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c274/mristhefish/MonkeyCake2.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c274/mristhefish/monkeycakeside.jpg
I made it from two round cakes. I made vanilla and chocolate

[Melanie]

How about bananas for favors?

[August Mom]

We did a Curious George party for DS. I gave out paperback Curious George books to the older kids and board books to the younger kids. I also gave out stuffed Curious George dolls (per DS's request). I was planning on a Curious George coloring book and stickers for the older kids. We also had little bottles of bubbles with a Curious George head for a cap/end of wand from the party store.

I had banana pudding as part of the food.