Lion Guard Birthday Party

Our little guy is officially four years old, so we threw him a safari birthday party themed to The Lion Guard!

The Lion Guard is my son’s latest obsession.  This Lion King spinoff series introduces Simba’s son, Kion, and his team of friends that form the Lion Guard.  As leader of the Lion Guard, Kion is tasked with protecting the Pride Lands and defending the Circle of Life.

I knew my son would really love a Lion Guard cake for his birthday party.  But as I reflected on last year’s Star Wars party (and all the extra work I created for myself!), I decided to take it easy with the party planning this go around.  The cake would be enough!

Inspiration struck, however, and I couldn’t stop myself from putting more and more Lion Guard party elements together.  So, here we are again with a full-blown birthday party themed to The Lion Guard!

*This post contains affiliate links.  That means, if you click a link and make a purchase, I earn a small commission at no additional cost to you!

Décor

Since we were celebrating a fourth birthday, I created a “Four Ever Wild” party sign featuring the Lion Guard characters. 

I used Canva to create the design, then had it printed and framed.  You can download the free image below!

To jazz up the party space, I ordered a set of tropical leaves off Amazon.  These were great for placing in vases as well as creating table runners.

And what’s a party without balloons?  I found Jungle Safari Balloons on Amazon that fit our theme.  I had them filled at our local craft store and made into an arrangement for the party.

We also had a selection of animal masks for the kids to play dress up with!

Food

And now for my favorite party element – the food!  I prepared a selection of dishes inspired by The Lion Guard as well as the original Lion King.

Homemade Cheese Lion Crackers

The first thing I made for our Lion Guard birthday party was homemade animal crackers.  I used a recipe from Hello, Yummy to make our crackers, and ordered Zoo Animal Cookie Cutters off Amazon to make lion shapes.

The recipe directions were super simple to follow, and the crackers turned out great!  They were a hit with the kids at the party.  And at one-point, they even made great playthings.

Lion Guard Cheeseball

It should come as no surprise I also whipped up a Lion Guard themed cheeseball for the birthday party.  The kids love them, and they’re so easy to make fun designs with!  This time, I wanted to create the Lion Guard symbol on our cheeseball.

As always, I used my go-to recipe from Build Your Bite.  After the cheeseball was shaped and chilled, I topped it off with a stencil of the Lion Guard symbol I made with wax paper.  Then, I sprinkled paprika over the cheeseball to make our design. 

It turned out great!  This cheeseball recipe never lets me down.

Lion Mane Veggies and Hummus

We needed a healthy dish for the party, so I also served a hummus and veggie tray in the shape of a lion.

I considered making my own hummus, but then remembered my original promise to keep this party as simple as possible.  So, I cheated and picked up a container from the store.

I used carrots and bell peppers for our lion’s face and mane, and black olives for the eyes. 

He looked pretty cute, and I was delightfully surprised the veggies were a hit with the kids!  Four-year-olds and raw peppers – who knew?

Grubs – Slimy, Yet Satisfying

Our next dish was inspired by the iconic grub-eating scene from The Lion King. 

When debating how to emulate grubs on our menu, gnocchi and pesto immediately came to mind to create that green “slimy” effect.  So, I took to Pinterest searching for a recipe to fit the bill. 

Luckily, I came across a recipe for Pesto Caprese Gnocchi from Lemon Tree Dwelling.  This dish is made with gnocchi, grape tomatoes, mozzarella pearls, pesto, and pine nuts.  I made a slight tweak and eliminated the pancetta from our grubs and substituted yellow tomatoes hoping they’d look more “grub-like.”

Our grubs had the intended effect I was going for.  Initially, the kids thought they looked gross and wanted nothing to do with them.  But after explaining they were all ingredients they liked, the kids gave them a try and exclaimed, “I love grubs!”

Dirt and Worm Cups

Our grubs weren’t just limited to gnocchi, we also had them for dessert too! 

We made Dirt and Worm Cups for our original Lion King dinner in my very early days of blogging, so I decided to make them again for our Lion Guard party!  I used the same recipe from Shari Blogs to make our dirt cups.

Dirt cups are such a nostalgic treat – it was fun to see the adults loving them just as much as the kids!

Lion Guard Cake

And finally, we come to our final party menu item – the cake!  My original goal was to make my son a Lion Guard cake for the birthday party, and I’m happy to say it came out great!

I started out baking a vanilla sheet cake as well as a second mini layer of cake to create the top of the waterfall.  Once the layers were cooled, I frosted them with green and blue buttercream to create my grasslands and waterfall plunge pool.  I also piped some grassy patches using a grass piping tip, and then covered the water areas with blue piping gel to create a reflective quality.

I used pirouette cookies to decorate the outer edge of the cake (which was also a great way to hide my frosting mistakes).  And finally, I topped it off with my son’s favorite Lion Guard characters that I ordered from Amazon.

He loved it! 

I’d say it was a successful Lion Guard birthday party!  Maybe next year I’ll actually take it easy with the party planning, but probably not. 😉

Looking for other themed party ideas?  Check out our SpongeBob SquarePants Birthday Party and our Alice In Wonderland Tea Party!

Like what you see? Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to receive our printable Walt Disney World packing list. We’ll also keep you up to date on new posts from Inspiring Magical Memories!