Monkey Party with Funny Games and Real Baboon

This was a fun-filled birthday party for the 9-year-old daughter of friends that had 50 kids with many monkey themed activities. My husband and I helped with decorations and creating the games, but I've added some additional ideas here.

Real Primates

Monkey Business Productions based in Napa Valley, CA, gave a presentation with live baboons and birds which was fantastic! Call Martina and Kevin Keith at 800-278-0002 if you'd like to have them perform at your party in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Good looking, funny, fast-moving (both the humans and the primates). Very entertaining, informative and funny!

Rope-Climbing Contest

Tape yellow construction paper bananas to the top of an arbor. Tie ropes with knots tied in them about every 12".
Have teams race to climb up the rope, grab a banana, climb down and race to place banana in a basket.
First team with 5 (or more, depending on the number of kids participating) bananas wins.

Monkey Fur Preening Competition

Buy a piece of fake fur fabric with long hair. Cut up into equal-sized sections (large enough for all kids to comfortable sit or stand around) with one for each group and place on construction tables or the floor.
Toss a generous handful of rice across the fur. Set put a small bowl that the kids will use to fill with the rice (lice?) they collect.
Give kids 2 minutes to collect as much rice as they can. Weigh with postal scale or measure results with measuring spoons if it is too close to eye-ball. Team with the most rice wins.

Treasure Hunt

Created "clues" from clip art and photos of primates. Use clip art from the Microsoft Clip Art Gallery at http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/default.aspx?lc=en-us&cag=1.
Place clip art pictures around the house and yard that hold clues hidden behind them. Clues indicate location of next clue. About 25-30 clues would be appropriate for this age group. Be sure to put out decoy pictures as well to mix things up or add text clues such as Lemur when you have more than one lemur picture up on the walls. Adding text identifying each primate is educational without being obvious about it. Wear out the kids by alternating clues inside and outside, upstairs and downstairs.
Hide prizes for all the kids in the final location - we used a bread drawer this time, but a basket in the pantry or in the washing machine are also a good hiding place for prizes. The prizes were actually the party favor bags plus some squirt guns to play with as the party wound down.

Decorations

Monkey Decorations: Accordion-fold a long length of plain wrapping paper into 3' wide sections. Draw on a monkey with its tail touching the right edge and one of each of its hands touching a side. (See picture of red banner monkeys.) Cut out, being sure not to cut through the edges where the monkey is touching the edges. Unfold and draw eyes, mouth, nostrils, lines between fingers and ear details on each section. Tape to walls, railings and across windows.
String yellow and green colored streamers from the ceiling to look like vines.
Covered table with turquoise tablecloth. Add monkey-themed party supplies such as cups, napkins and plates, plus flatware in shades of green, brown or black.
Use inflatable plastic monkeys from party supply store online and hand them from chandeliers, railings, doorknobs, etc.

Monkey Cake and Monkey Food

Although the party we attended just had a store-bought cake with plastic monkeys stuck on it, I decided to try making my own monkey cake later as shown at left.

Monkey Cake: For cake making directions and pattern pieces, click on Monkey Cake Instructions.
Monkey Pizzas: For a smaller group, have kids make their own monkey face pizzas. Start with mini Boboli pizzas or use refrigerated pizza dough like they have at Trader Joe's and pre-bake about 10 minutes. Have each child decorate their own monkey face with pizza sauce, pesto, cheese, pepperoni and any other favorite ingredients. Have the kids press their initials into the side of the crust. Bake an additional 10 minutes and serve. Set out an example for them to get ideas to start. Use pizza sauce for the oval mouth/jowl area, pepperoni for the eyes, string cheese to create a smile, etc.
Monkey Food: Set out bananas around the party as decorations and quick snack food if the kids get hungry.

If you'd like to see our primate-themed gift and home furnishing ideas, go to Monkey Gifts and Decor or visit Creative Animal Gifts and Furnishings where we have unique ideas with images of more than 40 creatures.