The brief
A fourth birthday at a villa with a lawn, a pool and a great deal of green already around it. The family wanted the safari properly built rather than suggested — and, more importantly, they wanted to be inside the day rather than serving it.
What we built
A full safari set against the house: a grass wall carrying his name and a gold four, a garland of green and bronze running over the top of it, and hand-cut animals standing out in front — an elephant, a giraffe, a toucan, a crocodile, a parrot and an explorer duck in a safari hat. The white bounce castle went out on the lawn under a garland of its own in teal, cream and terracotta.
How the day went
Our host had the entire garden sitting in a circle on the grass inside fifteen minutes — parents included, hands in the air, balloon animals being twisted and handed out one at a time. After that the jungle games ran across the lawn, the bounce castle never emptied, and a berry cake came out at dusk with the whole family filming. Somebody called for a jump photograph by the pool and all three of them left the ground at once.
What the parents got
A set good enough that the photographs still look built rather than decorated, a son who did not stop moving from the first guest to the last, and an afternoon in which the only thing they carried was the cake.
