I really don’t know how Lisa from Good on Paper does it. Every year she comes up with the best themes for her two boys’ birthday parties and then completely knocks it out of the park with the invitations! For her older son’s 5th birthday (BTW – how is Lucas FIVE already??? You can also check out birthday invitations 1, 2, 3, and 4), Lucas requested a Wild Kratt’s theme for a shared party with his friend Judah. The resulting invitations and party paper are all so much fun!

From Lisa: For Lucas’ 5th birthday party he asked for a “Wild Kratts” party. If you haven’t seen this show, it’s an educational animated series on PBS, created by and starring brothers Chris and Martin Kratt. The show is full of fun facts about animals, ranging from polar bears to geckos, and each episode features a particular critter’s unique “creature power.” Lucas gets really excited learning about animal powers and defenses, and I love when he enlightens me with new animal facts! This year we decided to throw a modern animal-themed birthday party together with Judah, Lucas’ good friend from school, who turned five the day before.

Starting with the invitation design, I painted abstract animal patterns using simple black watercolor paint, and hand wrote “Go Wild” which would later become a logo for the party. I took a cute photo of Lucas and Judah and used it as a custom envelope liner. The envelopes were finished with matching wrap-around address labels.

We originally scheduled the party for Saturday, and had all the invitations printed up. We later changed it to Sunday due to Little League conflicts. I didn’t want to waste the old invitations, so I cut off the old RSVP information, and used the top half to make “creature power” trading cards that accompanied each t-shirt. Each trading card had fun facts about different animals. Cute AND educational! The bottom of the invitations were used to create name tags and were handwritten with each kid’s name.

If you’ve seen our other birthday parties, you know that donut holes are a Jackson family tradition. This year’s donut cones were made with the animal printed recycled paper.

One of my favorite ideas for the party was to make “polar bear ice,” aka popsicles. There’s a Wild Kratts episode called “Polar Bears Don’t Dance,” and I wanted the “polar bear ice” to tie into that. The team at Whole Foods Market Gilman made custom paletas in three fruity flavors (blueberry cream, apple/pineapple and fresh strawberry). All were a huge hit on the warm day.

I designed some packaging for the pops using wax food bags, snipped at the bottom and  sealed on top with a hand lettered label. The package kept the pops from sticking together in the cooler, and also doubled as a place for the melty drips to fall. They were devoured in seconds!

Yay! Thanks Lisa! And happy 5th birthday to Lucas!

Photo Credits: Good on Paper