Going Bananas!

What's a party without decorations and cake??  So, here's the rest of the monkey party I put together....
We had the party at a local park district building.  To jazz up the walls, I bought some palm tree decorations and some monkeys that were meant for a classroom bulletin board ( both found at Oriental Trading).

On the tables, I used white tablecloths and added runners that I cut out of some adorable monkey fabric that I found online.  I also had these monkey & palm tree centerpieces I also bought from Oriental Trading and added some baskets with raffia and bananas as centerpieces as well!

As added fun, I ordered a 5 foot inflatable monkey from Oriental Trading as well.  He was propped in the corner and the kids had a lot of fun with him.  He made for good photo ops too! 

Instead of one birthday cake, I decided cupcakes were easier.......no cutting, no forks, etc.  I made 9 dozen monkey cupcakes that turned out like this:

I made yellow, chocolate and of course banana cake, all frosted with chocolate frosting.  I frosted the top third of a Nilla Wafer for the monkey face and added the eyes, the nose and the smile with gel icing.  The ears are mini Nilla Wafers tucked under the face. 

For favors, I made monkey treat cups for the kids.  They were filled with monkey necklaces, banana candies and monkey tattoos.  I used brown paper cups and punched holes for the handles and tail, made out of brown pipe cleaners.  The face was part of a monkey door hanging craft kit I found at Oriental Trading and I just used the bits and pieces I needed to make the cups.

There were also chocolate monkey lollipops for the guests to take home.  It was so easy to mold the chocolate pops and tie them in a treat bag!  For display, I put floral styrofoam in a basket covered with raffia and stuck the monkey pops in so they were standing up and everyone could just grab one on their way out.