A Jungle Tea Party

We had a wet day last Thursday so asides from a quick trip to the supermarket, we enjoyed a day at home. I thought it would be nice to make a fun, themed tea for the boys and as we had been reading a new book we recieved called The Zebra Who Ran Too Fast by Jenni Desmond, I decided on a jungle theme. The book is about 3 best friends, Zebra, Elephant and Bird and they all had skills which the others liked. Zebra knew the best games and was always bouncy, cheery and lively; Elephant knew lots of facts and Bird was very funny and made his two friends laugh until they cried and hiccuped! However, one day Zebra becomes too much for his friends to bear and the go off on thier own wihtout him, leaving Zebra very sad and lonely. A passing Giraffe notices a sad Zebra and the two become friends and have lots of fun together, but meanwhile a storm is brewing and Elephant and Bird are scared and miss their friend. Will the friends be re-united? You will have to read the book to find out what happens!

Anyway, back to the jungle tea party, ages ago I had seen an image for a giraffe sandwich which I am sure many of you have pinned as I have, with good intentions of making it one day. Eighteen months later, and I have finally managed to do so! My boys always enjoy it when I make a themed tea for them, even if they look at some of the food suspiciously and wonder what it is I am trying to make them eat. Luckily, with my jungle themed tea,there was nothing on it they would not eat…….well part form the cucumber! Have to keep trying to get them to eat it though!

So here is how I made my Jungle Tea Party, inspired by The Zebra Who Ran Too Fast

Giraffe Sandwich
Cut out a head and neck shape from a sandwich and fill with your child’s preferred filling
Make the giraffe markings using sliced cocktail sausages, and the ends of the sausages for the eyes,and tiny bits for the nostrils. Use breadsticks and more sliced sausage to make the ossicones. Use cucumber to make the ears and the mouth.

Elephant Crisps
Found these in Sainsburys and taste very much like pomme bear crisps

Elephant Trunks
Cocktail Sausages

Zebra Cheese
Cover cheese with squeezable marmite

Bird Food
Cheerios (I would have added some raisins too but discovered I had ran out!)

Giraffe Swiss Roll
I made a chocolate swiss roll, but before I made my main batter I made some white patches on the baking sheet which you freeze for an hour to set, then you add your cake batter and cook as normal and then roll up as per a swiss roll.

Jungle Tree Pops
On a baking sheet, place a chocolate finger/breadstick/matchmaker down and then spoon on some yogurt and decorate with some chopped grapes. Place in the freezer for at least 5 hours (I did mine over night)

Jungle Juice
Smoothie

Put it together and what do you get?
A fun plate of food, which I think is well balanced too 🙂

This would also make a fun idea for lunch boxes, although the yogurt tree pop wouldnt make it until lunch time, so a pot of yogurt with grapes on the side would work ok as an alternative.

Why don’t you give it a try? My two loved me reading the book to them while they pointed out things on their plate!

I was sent The Zebra Who Ran Too Fast as part of a wonderful bundle of book and party goodies from Walker Books as part of their Picture Book Party Blog Tour. Please do not forget to visit the other blogs on the tour to see which books they liked and what they did to celebrate their love of books. 

I was sent a wonderful collection of Walker picture books and some party accessories for the purpose of a post.