Eden requested a birthday party based on the Scholastic kids' book series "Spirit Animals." These books follow a group of warriors called "Greencloaks" who battle evil with the help of their spirit animal guides. Eden is, perhaps, the first child ever to request this obscure party idea so I had zero help from Pinterest. Here's what we came up with on our own:
We decorated the garage using green Dollar Tree tablecloths as backdrops and plenty of green balloons and streamers. We also created a banner that read "Welcome to Greenhaven Castle" (the name of the castle where the Greencloaks have their homebase). I printed the banner with a gothic-looking font from MS Word and used a castle photo I found online.
As guests arrived we had each one decorate a green cloak of their own. Here is Faith modeling hers. I raided the remnant bin at Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft in Holyoke and came out with lots of different shades and textures of green fabrics for the cloaks. All of the remnants were an additional 50% off, so I was able to get enough fabric for all of the cloaks for about $13. The kids decorated them with fabric markers and we used safety pins to keep them on. They had a great time creating their own cloaks and each one came out so unique.
We lucked out with the weather and the kids would have been happy just battling evil around the yard for two hours; but we had a few activities planned. Since the Greencloaks are always going on quests to find powerful animal talismans to help them conquer evil, we created a scavenger hunt with clues hidden around the yard. The kids followed the clues as a group, and at the end they uncovered a bag of tiny plastic animal "talismans" that I purchased at Party City for $.59 each.
We also purchased these small stuffed animals from amazon ($18) and held a "nectar ceremony" (the official ceremony of the Greencloaks where a spirit animal is assigned). The kids sipped lemonade from plastic goblets and decided which animal would be their guide by picking one of the stuffies out of a drawstring bag. After the nectar ceremony, we applied temporary jungle animal tattoos in following with the storyline where the human receives a tattoo of their spirit animal.
For the cake, I printed out tiny covers of the Spirit Animal books and taped them to toothpicks for cupcake toppers. I added green frosting and the kids each picked their favorite book.
Including pizza and drinks for 8 kids, this party totaled about $75. Not bad considering what venue parties can run. And, Eden and I had a lot of fun coming up with ideas for the party together, which of course, is priceless.
Love your ideas!!!! My son will turn 11 on his birthday in November. We have read all the spirit animal books together, that is what he wants as his party theme too! I look forward to planning and original ideas since there is not much out there about this theme! Thanks!
Posted by: Laura Yarbrough | 08/19/2015 at 02:42 PM
Thanks, Laura! We are making our way through all the books together as well. I hope she always wants me to read with her. Enjoy the party! Greencloaks rule!
Posted by: Valerie | 08/19/2015 at 02:46 PM
such great ideas. my almost 8 year old is having a spirit animals party and requested a nectar ceremony and henna tattoos-- love your ideas for designing cloaks and a scavenger hunt for talisman! brilliant!!
Posted by: JMG | 08/31/2016 at 12:46 PM
You are a genius! My daughter has a book club every summer and we're reading Spirit Animals books this month. Your ideas are fantastic for our "Club meeting." :) Thank you so much!
Posted by: Elizabeth | 06/21/2017 at 05:52 PM
You're SO welcome! I'm so glad to know somebody else will benefit from our obscure party themes. Hope you have a wonderful party & summer!
Posted by: Valerie | 06/21/2017 at 08:13 PM
This is great! I love the scavenger hunt. I am looking for ideas because my almost 7 year old just requested a Spirit Animals birthday party!
Posted by: Heather | 05/02/2019 at 01:15 PM