My daughter loves koalas. Ever since she started watching Izzy’s Koala World on Netflix, she’s been fascinated with them. She loves to tell people that koalas are not indeed bears, but marsupials! So it shouldn’t really have been a surprise when she asked for a koala themed birthday party this year. My first response was that I don’t think that sort of party decor exists, but oh how wrong I was!
I tried not to go too overboard and keep things as budget friendly as possible. So I thought I would share with you what I ended up putting together, in case you’re also planning on throwing a koala birthday party for your child.
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Koala Party Decorations
Koala Balloons – I purchased a pack of two large foil koala balloons from Amazon. They were really effective and helped make it obvious that this was a koala themed birthday party. We didn’t bother with helium and just pumped them up by hand.
Balloon Arch – This was my first time creating a balloon arch and I’m quite pleased with how it turned out. I debated whether to do it, as I felt guilty about using loads of balloons and the waste it would cause. The description says that they’re biodegradable and I really hope that’s the case. We only used about a third of the pack and this was plenty to make half an arch, but still make a really big impact. The balloon arch was also from Amazon.
Koala Paper Cups – This was another cheap and easy way to incorporate the koala theme. Again, I found this pack of 8 cups on Amazon.
Koala Paper Napkins – Likewise the koala paper napkins were another great way to decorate the table. These came in a pack of 16 from Amazon.
Ombre Rainbow Plates – I could have gone the whole hog and bought koala paper plates too, but I thought I would mix it up a bit and purchased these lovely ombre rainbow plates from Sainsburys.
Ombre Rainbow Party Bags – Sticking with the koala/rainbow theme, our party bags were also from Sainsburys. If you’d like to see what we included inside the party bags, please check out my post ‘Eco Friendly Party Bag Fillers for Kids’.
Koala Cupcake Toppers – The cupcake toppers were such a cute addition to the theme. I found this pack of 24 on, you guessed it, Amazon.
Koala Cake Topper – I also purchased an adorable personalised cake topper from Etsy.
Koala Party Games
Pin The Nose on the Koala – For this game I purchased a lovely PDF koala watercolour from a seller on Etsy. I then printed it off on to A3 size paper and stuck it to the wall using blu tak. I had my daughter cut out nose shapes for each of her guests. My daughter put each of her friend’s initials on the noses, with some blu tak on the back of each one. We used a sleep eye mask as a blindfold. They then took it in turns to try and stick their noses on to the koala. A nice and simple party game, which they all seemed to really enjoy!
Pass the Parcel – For the main pass the parcel prize I wrapped up a koala stuffed toy that I found quite cheaply at The Works. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be available anymore, so here is a similar alternative from Amazon. You could also have a look on Vinted for a second hand cuddly toy that looks as good as new. I used some wrapping paper that had already been used to wrap my daughter’s birthday presents in, along with some colourful tissue paper. Each layer then had a small koala clip inside. Unfortunately my daughter didn’t want to do it the old school way, aka Lucky’s Dad’s way (if you know you know), and have just one main prize in the middle. The koala clips were again from Amazon.
Canvas Painting – My daughter loves to paint, so I bought some mini canvases from The Works and set out some brushes and acrylic paint for them all to do some painting. I was hoping the weather would be good so they could do this activity outside. We live in England though, so it was raining! So we did the painting inside and it was pretty messy! They all really enjoyed it though and produced some lovely art work. They then took these home with them as an additional party favour.
Koala Mask Decorating and Wearing – I purchased some PDF koala mask templates from Etsy. I then printed them off and cut them out, ready for the guests to decorate and wear. However, we ended up not having enough time for this activity, as they were too busy eating, dancing and playing.
Koala Party Food
Koala Birthday Cake – This didn’t quite turn out as I had hoped, but it’s not bad for a first attempt at a quick DIY version of a koala cake. I ran out of time to make my own sponges, so I bought two chocolate sponge cakes from Tesco and stacked one on top of the other.
After rolling out two packets of grey Renshaw Ready to Roll Icing I placed it over the top of the sponges. I gently pressed and folded the icing as neatly as I could around the side of the cake. Using a sharp knife I then cut off the excess around the base.
Using the excess grey icing, I formed two circles to create the ears. I then used a some white ready to roll icing for the inside of the ears. The ears then attached to the side of the cake using cocktail sticks. I also used a bit of the cardboard from the cake box to prop them up slightly at the back.
To draw on the eyes, nose and mouth, I used a Dr Oetker black food colouring gel. I found it easier to paint this on with a thin paint brush, rather than trying to squirt the gel straight out of the tube on to the cake. In hindsight, I wish I had drawn the face on the side of the cake and had the ears sat on top. That way you could see the face from a side view, but nevermind.
The pink cheeks were made from a small amount of white icing mixed with some red food colouring gel. My daughter then added the pink flowers in between the ears, which we had left over from some costume. I think her addition of the flowers were probably the best part of the cake!
Other Food – We kept it simple and opted for the standard sort of kid’s party food. This included ham and cheese sandwiches, crisps, carrot and cucumber sticks, sausage rolls, cocktail sausages, cupcakes, Oreos, Jaffa cakes, party rings and flapjacks. Not the healthiest of food options, but stuff they all enjoyed eating. Oh and there were also cheese pizzas.
Koala Party Invitation
I created the koala party invitation below using a template on Canva Pro. I sent the invites to the children’s mother’s via Whatsapp, rather than getting them printed out. It’s nice for your child to be able to hand out their party invites, but it can also cause upset if anyone sees them doing this and feels left out. It’s also a bit less wasteful to not get them printed and there’s less chance of the parent losing the details.
If you don’t use Canva, there are some lovely alternatives that you can find on Etsy. You can personalise your invitation and then download it as a PDF.
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Let me know in the comments below if you’re planning a koala themed birthday party for your little one!
Thank you so much for stopping by!
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