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Arjun’s First Birthday Jungle Party … The Food!

I think it’s definitely safe to say there was no shortage of food! Most people left on their way in to a food coma! A happy and content belly is definitely a success in my book!

For the adults we had a catered BBQ by Masala Creations who we’ve worked with before – they are always so professional. I decided catered food would be best given the volume of guests. It also meant one less thing to worry about. Masala Creations took away all my worries and instilled me with the confidence that they’d take care of all on the food front. And they did. I dealt with Harpinder and Ruby who were really helpful. They did a site visit to walk through the day and were really great at reassuring me they were also there to support me as well as taking care of the food. That reassurance went a long way! 

We’re vegetarian and don’t drink alcohol so don’t serve meat or alcohol at our functions. The adult menu was:

Starters:

  • Paneer shashlik
  • Pizza samosas
  • Vegetable spring rolls

Mains:

  • Vegetarian burgers in buns
  • Chilli paneer
  • Chips
  • Noodles
  • Corn on the cob
  • Sweet potato
  • Garlic bread
  • Salad
  • Potato salad
  • Coleslaw

Dessert:

   
   

We were really pleased with the service. We’d hired four waitresses to hold the fort on the food side and to ensure plates and things were picked up as they were used. I didn’t have to worry at all about the adults being fed – it was completely taken care of. 

I decided to make the children’s food myself at home. I really wanted to present it beautifully and so focused my attention on that. The design and detail of the kids food was probably the part that I invested the most time in and I was so pleased with the end result! It was totally worth it! 

I created homemade signs for each dish (again all vegetarian food) by creating fun names for the food. I then included animal pictures on each and  backed each sign on to safari print card which I purchased here. I then folded over so that the signs were free standing. I love how colourful and vibrant they looked. 
   
 

I had created homemade safari table curtains for three round tables which were displayed next to each other to display the food.

   

 I purchased safari print wrapping paper which I used to wrap random boxes (thank you Amazon! Your giant boxes for the diddiest things came in handy!) to display the food on at varying heights. I ensured these were stuck down to the table and to each other with tape for health and safety reasons. This was probably my favourite bit – I’m so glad I’d thought of something to give the display height and even more colour!

  

I reused leaf shaped trays which were purchased for my baby shower. I love how effective they were at tying everything together and they kept with the theme and were the perfect size for the purpose. 
  

I also purchased inflatable palm trees, a zebra, a lion, a monkey and a giraffe to use for display around the kids food to bring it all alive. 
   

I purchased animal shaped plates for the younger babies and safari truck party trays for the older kids to eat their food from. I also purchased animal cups and straws and animal napkins for the children. There’s such a wide array of party supplies you can get, but this particular set was my favourite. 

    

My friend Sav and I used to do fruit displays for weddings and parties years ago and we decided to do a dinky one for the children at the party. It was so much fun to do a (much) mini, less stressful display after so long! Our fruit display skills came in handy after years! Here are a few pictures from weddings and parties we’ve done previously..

   
    
 

For the mini fruit display, I carved a hippo head out of a watermelon which was filled with cantaloupe, papaya and watermelon balls, a crocodile out of pineapples and kiwis, papaya baskets filled with green and red grapes, and “palm trees” out of pineapples. My friend Sav also helped to create strawberry and pineapple and cheese “hedgehogs”.

   
    

 

In addition to the fruit, the children’s menu consisted of:

  
 

  • Chocolate Cheetah/Jammy Giraffe/Cheesy Snake Sandwiches: chocolate spread, strawberry jam and cheese sandwiches using assorted animal cookie cutters to shape the sandwiches in to safari animals.   
  • Snake Spiral Pasta: tomato fusilli pasta.  
  • Elephant Trunks: Bird’s eye veggie oven cooked fingers. 
  • Cheetah Chicken Nuggets: Oven cooked Quorn nuggets.   
  • Cheeky Cheetah Waffles: Oven cooked carrot and potato waffles purchased from Asda kids range.  
  • Monkey Smiley Faces: Oven cooked McCain potato smiley faces. 
  • Parrot Pizza: Oven cooked Tesco’s cheese and tomato mini pizzas.   
    • Tiger Tails: Wotsits
    • Critter Crunch: Quavers
    • Zebra Chips: Tortilla chips  
    • Roar Vegetables and Humous: Humous with sliced peppers displayed in the shape of a lions head.   
    • Jungle Fruit Display: as detailed above 🙂
    • Lime Slime: mixed jelly   
      • Hungry Hippo Hummous Dip
      • Big Bear Breadsticks
      • Cub Corner: For new eaters, I had Ella’s Kitchen pouches and Organix crisps  
      • Watering Hole: Drinks included Capri Sun, Fruit Shoots and bottled water.         

      For our gluten free friends, I had arranged for separate food to be made which included paneer, chips, corn on the cob, and gluten free pizza. 

      I hired mini children’s tables and also purchased safari themed activity placemats for the children which you can read more about here

        

      In addition to the above, we also had a crepe and waffle stall, a slush puppy stand and a hot dog stand. The ice cream van we hired also went down a treat!

       

         

      Hope you loved our food ideas as much as I enjoyed planning them!x 
      Next post to follow: The Party Bags

      You can also check out my Pinterest board for more of my favourite party ideas!

      Want to read about the rest of Arjun’s first jungle themed birthday party? Check out the following posts in the series:

      The Build Up
      The Decor
      The Outfits
      The Cake
      The Entertainment
      The Food
      The Party Bags

      Baby Brain Memoirs
      Modern Dad Pages

      Mummascribbles

      Modern Dad Pages

      Brilliant blog posts on HonestMum.com

      Cuddle Fairy

      42 thoughts on “Arjun’s First Birthday Jungle Party … The Food!

      1. […] Build Up The Decor The Outfits The Cake The Entertainment The Food The Party […]

      2. Wow! they all looked amazing, from food, party decors and basically everything…. They’re all beautifully done! You should be proud of yourself! For sure your little boy had a fab birthday! Great post! #BabyBrainMonday

      3. This is amazing. The attention to detail is just jaw-dropping. I’ll bet it was a very special day. #BabyBrainMonday

      4. Thanks Hun, and thank you for linking up 🙂 x

      5. Wowza, another stunner – such lovely ideas, you’ve got some great ones! #babybrainmondays

      6. Thank you so much!xx

      7. Thanks so much Hun xx glad you like x

      8. This is outstanding!! I am actually at a loss for words. How long did it all take to plan? We’re all the children well behaved?! #babybrainmondays

      9. What a fabulous array of food, I will defiantly be pinching some of your ideas!! #babybrainmonday

      10. Absolutely amazing! The detail of everything is fantastic, I want a birthday like this for me never mind my children lol x

      11. My word Harps, you put me to shame. What a party you threw for Arjun! Amazing hun. xx

      12. Wow that looks amazing! Love the theme and everything you did! I bet the kids (and the adults) loved it! #BabyBrainMonday

      13. Wow! I actually am in awe of this! I also find it cute that all of the tigers, lions and other jungle animals were vegetarians for the day 😀 Your hummus lion is champion, by the way.
        #BabyBrainMonday
        x Alice

      14. This was seriously the grandest first birthday party I have ever seen! The food looks absolutely AMAZING! I’ve got a late night food craving right now and reading this blog post is not helping haha. Love the vegetarian adults menu and the kids stuff is SO cute xx

      15. This looks amazing!! I have never been to a kids party like this before! My two are having a joint party in a couple of weeks for their 3rd and 1st birthday. Every year I try and out do the party the year before so I have a lot to do.
        I hope he had a fab birthday, all the food looks and sounds great xxx

      16. Wow! This is amazing! What a fantastic party 🙂 Hx #BabyBrainMonday:

      17. You are so completely amazing! Your mind is so creative. What a lucky boy Arjun is- his whole birthday was just so epic!

      18. Such a cute birthday party!! I really love the animal print wrapping paper! #TwinklyTuesdays

      19. Oh wow, thats all I can really say and it doesnt come close, what lovely memories you have created and all the hard work and effort looks like it paid off. What a fantastic display 🙂 x #BabyBrainMondays

      20. Wow, this is simply amazing! Seriously it is gorgeous, what a special day. We had a jungle themed first birthday to Zach but it looks lame in comparison now I’ve seen this! Thanks so much for linking up with #TwinklyTuesday

      21. wow! now that’s impressive. i’m in total awe at the extent you went for all that! Congrats, I hope the kiddo had an awesome time too. #twinklytueday

      22. Everything looks fabulous! SO MUCH food! I admire how incredibly creative you are…well done 🙂 #foodpornthursdays

      23. Your food looked AMAZING! That must have taken you an enormous amount of time. I remembered with my son’s bd party, I had to cater 25 kids, (no adults food), I found it really exhausting at the end, but totally worth it. I love your little touches to the labels and the sandwiches are so cute! #babybrainmonday

      24. Incredible party! It was gorgeous and fun. The food looks fantastic. Happy Birthday to your little one! Great job.

      25. WOW! I am speechless to all the effort you put into this birthday party. My first born and the two that followed got a cupcake and presents for their first birthdays. Love all your pictures. Thanks for linking to #foodpornthursdays.

      26. Thank you Hun. I’m a sucker for parties – it’s what I love! Glad you liked xx

      27. Thank you so much 🙂 Planning the kid’s food was my favourite part! I hope your party went well 🙂 x

      28. Thank you hun – I don’t do things in halves (unfortunately!). The food was yummy x

      29. Hehe! Anything’s possible 😉 x

      30. Thank you. I think the adults loved it more than the kids! Lol x

      31. Not at all hun! You know I get carried away! Thank you xx

      32. Lol! Me too! Kid’s parties are so much fun to organise though x

      33. Thank you hun. You’re welcome too – that’s why I share them 🙂 x

      34. Thank you lovely. i started planning 6 months in advance! Just because I wanted to give myself ample time to enjoy the build up to the party. The other kid’s were – Arjun though was teething so was only really happy around the animals! x

      35. Thank you Nikki 🙂 x

      36. Hey Su, it did take a while but thats why I got the adults food catered and I was very lucky to have my sisters and friends to help with the prep 🙂 x

      37. Thank you Jennifer 🙂 x

      38. Thank you Orana xx

      39. Hey Lisa, I’m sure it was amazing! Thank you for hosting 🙂 x

      40. Thanks Trista. That actually sounds sensible given Arjun isn’t even going to remember his first! lol. Thank you for hosting x

      41. Wow! I’m speechless!! It all looks soo amazing!! I love it! You really are a super mum! My little one loves lions etc so thinking of doing a jungle theme thanks for some great ideas! You should be so proud! Xx

      42. […] Source: Baby Brain Memoirs. […]

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