Buddy turned four in April, and he asked for a “Hakuna Matata” party to celebrate. Because the Lion King is an old movie, it was a little more challenging to find party decorations and supplies than it was for previous birthdays. (You can follow the links to read more about our Thomas the train second and third birthday parties.) Fortunately, Buddy agreed to expand our theme to include Lion Guard characters.

Food

I set up a sign that said “Timon and Pumbaa’s Grub” by our food table. Most of what I set out wasn’t specific to Lion King, but I did buy some gummy worms to be our grub. I also made chocolate pretzel bites with hugs to look like zebra stripes. Our drink station was labeled with a “Water Hole” sign to add to the Lion King theme. The cupcakes were labeled with a sign “Kion’s cupcakes”. I bought Lion King toppers on Etsy to go on top.

Activities

I made stations for different things the kids could play with during the party. That way all of the kids can play with whatever they want. We’ve done this at Buddy’s last two birthdays, and I thought it worked out great. The majority of the stations were related to Lion King in some way. Our stations were: Photo Booth, binoculars craft, play doh, Lion King bowling, Lion King ring toss, Magnatiles, and Legos. We didn’t intend for our play kitchen to be a station, but it was a very popular activity at the party!

I made binoculars by using duct tape to tape together two craft rolls. (Originally I was going to use toilet paper rolls, but I didn’t end up saving enough! So I bought craft rolls instead.) I hole punched holes in both and used yarn to make a strap. The kids had stickers and markers available for decorating. Once these were done, the kids used them to look for the Lion King and Lion Guard characters around the house.

Games

Buddy loves games, so it was important to me to include games in his party. The three games we did were a bingo game, a cake walk, and a piñata.

To make the bingo game, I found pictures of Lion Guard and Lion King characters, and put them in 3 x 3 tables. As I read the names, the kids put a bead on the picture. As they finished their pictures, they got to pick a prize. They had so much fun!

For the cake walk, I put out a picture for each kid. When I pulled a card, that child got to pick a prize. I used the same set of pictures for both the bingo game and the cake walk, so I only had to make one set of cards to call pictures.

Finally, for the piñata, I prepackaged a few toys and some “grub” gummy worms in individual bags. I couldn’t find a Lion King Piñata, so I glued Lion King pictures to a generic piñata. The kids took turns pulling strings, and when the piñata broke each kid got to take one bag.

It was a ton of work, but it was a great party! Buddy and his friends had a ton of fun, and that was the most important thing for me. If you are planning your own kids party soon and have questions, please leave a comment!