Hot Tip: Animal Masks Discounted ‘Til Christmas
We thought we’d pass a hot tip on to our teachers, librarians, party planning parents or those folks just looking for a cute holiday present for a young animal-loving child. Lakeshore Learning has their "Washable Dress-Up Masks," an adorable set of 8 cloth animal masks, discounted through December 24, 2009 — $14.99 for the set of 8 masks, instead of the usual $24.95 price tag. Great for kids ages 3 to 6 years [more...]
Host an Eco-Friendly Kid’s Party
Creating an eco-friendly party goes way beyond recycling gift wrap or reusing last year’s party streamers. Your child’s birthday may be the perfect time to teach about the importance of caring for the environment. You can use the the party as a way to demonstrate some simple, but effective, eco-friendly choices and explain how they benefit the world. Here are tips on how to turn your party ‘green.’
Invitations – Send a paper-free electronic [more...]
Top 10 – No, Make That 15 – Ways to Make A Successful Kids’ Party
It’s scary to add it up, but we’ve done animal programs at nearly 3,000 kids’ birthday parties. So, we have seen the best and the worst parties you can possibly imagine. Here are our top 15 ways to make a successful party that kids and parents will remember (for GOOD reasons) for years to come:
1. Limit the number of guests. Forget inviting the whole class – we suggest 10 or fewer guests for children below the age of [more...]
Forget the cake…do animal cookie pops!
This smart party idea came from one of my Zoo School moms who has an at-home baking business.
Forget the boring, traditional birthday cake with the tinted, whipped shortening they like to call frosting. Forget the aggravation of having to cut and serve the cake, as swarms of kids squeal around you and the frosting gets packed under your new manicure. Forget the mess of chocolate cake crumbs and overturned paper plates scattered all [more...]
“I need your help. I found an animal…”
Springtime is in full bloom here in Texas and our phones have been ringing off the hook with animal lovers who have stumbled upon a wild species that they think needs our help. Lots of baby bird, baby cottontail, opossum, and "I’m not sure what this is" phone pleas for help and "rescue."
Abandoned Babies: One thing we’ve learned at Zooniversity is that "rescue" is not only sometimes unwarranted, often it can [more...]
Know, Before You Hire Someone with Animals
So, you’re surfing the net, looking for a something special to bring to your school, library or your child’s birthday party. Animals! How cool. What a crowd pleaser. But, there are some important things to know before you book that animal show.
Are they licensed? Anyone who displays a mammal (something with fur, even a bunny in a magic show), must be licensed by the federal government – it’s called [more...]
Problem Party People
Zooniversity teaches about 600 wildlife shows each year and a big hunk of them are at children’s birthday parties. Ninety-nine percent of the party parents and guests are wonderful people. They follow our safety rules, they respect our expertise as wildlife professionals, they are polite and interested audience members. But, there is that remaining one percent that we in the business label as "problem party people." They are all the [more...]
