Our Little Leopard’s Big Cat Birthday Party

We celebrated the sweetest little leopard’s 6th birthday this weekend with a big cat inspired party! And yes, it was a roaring good time!!!

Isla became obsessed with big cats this year, and has dedicated lots of time to learning about them. So, lions, tigers, leopards, and cheetahs were the inspiration for the party– the decor, the face painting, the crafts, and even the food!

We were able to keep the party decorations relatively simple and economical. Here’s how:

We used items we already had on hand. My mom had a huge bolt of this leopard print upholstery fabric (so convenient!), so we used some for the table cloth and propped the remaining fabric up behind the desert table.

Dollar Store, baby! Plates, napkins, and silverware all came from the Dollar Store– such a great place to get these consumables!

Homemade decorations. We framed and displayed some of Isla’s big cat drawings and used them to decorate the food and dessert tables. Isaac made all of the signage and we printed it at home.

We ordered 8 take and bake cheese pizzas and I decorated each to look like the patterns of different cats’ coats– tiny pepperonis for the cheetah pizza, minced olive stripes for the tiger pizza, mushrooms and olives for the leopard pizza, and I left a few plain cheese for the lion pizza.

I had so much fun making Isla’s big cat birthday cake and found the BEST tutorials for creating tiger stripe and leopard print cakes! The patterns were surprisingly easy to make. I used a simple vanilla cake mix and food coloring, whipped up a homemade caramel frosting, and sprinkled mini chocolate chips between the layers. Lastly, I topped the cake with graham crackers and this sweet little cheetah family.

We kept the food simpler for this party, so we had a little extra time to create these tiger tails (chocolate caramel pretzels) that our sweet neighbor often makes for us. It was a super fun project for my mom, Isla and I to tackle together.

We planned a few crafts for the kids, including a station where they could create their own big cat ears (with the help of their parents). I bought simple black headbands and cut out little ears from different colored felt. We printed cards with each of the cats’ patterns and placed them next to the ears for reference, along with a few black paint pens for the details. It took just a couple of minutes and a few dabs of hot glue for these darling ears to come together!

Supplies needed:

colored felt
black headbands
scissors
hot glue gun
fabric paint pen (like this)

The absolute highlight of the party was bringing in a face painter to transform the kids into big cats. She did such a fabulous job, and I can say, without a doubt, that getting to look this much like a real leopard was one of the most thrilling experiences of Isla’s life!

We set up a second craft station so the kids could make leaf lions– the perfect activity for a big cat celebration taking place in the fall. Isla sketched a lion face and we photocopied it on to sheets of watercolor paper for the kids to paint. While the faces dried, we took the kids on a walk around the neighborhood to collect leaves (and burn a little energy!). Then they used the leaves to create manes for the lions.

Supplies needed:

lion face on watercolor paper (use a template or draw your own)
watercolor paints
watercolor brushes
liquid glue
scissors
colored construction paper
leaves

After Cole woke up from his nap he joined the party and had his face painted like a tiger!

Love these sweet little cubs SO MUCH!!!

Then, upon the suggestion of some creative parents, Uncle Tristan had his face painted as a zebra, the big cats’ prey. So, of course…

the big cats all chased and mauled him!

I’ll tell ya, the secret to a great birthday party is having an Uncle Tristan who doesn’t hesitate to play like a big goofball with the kiddos!

After chasing the “Uncle Tristan zebra” all over the neighborhood the kids were ready for cake! Isla was absolutely beaming as everyone sang to her. She then turned and invited Cole to come up and blow her candles out with her– and our hearts exploded with love!!!

Don’t worry, that’s graham cracker dust, not spit!

Isla was thrilled to open all her thoughtful gifts and cards! She has so many great books and new crafty activities to enjoy.

It’s hard to believe our sweet girl is turning 6. Isla has grown so much this year and we are madly in love with the thoughtful, creative, passionate, and imaginative little person she has become. We have so much fun crafting birthday celebrations that reflect Isla’s interests— each party becomes a nostalgic time stamp of who she was during that stage in her life. And believe it or not, Isla is already dreaming up ideas for her 7th birthday! Of course she is– she’s so my girl! I can’t wait to start planning with her!