Our Safari Christmas

My Cousins and Cousin in Law are off to work in Kenya in the Spring so a Safari Family Christmas was the perfect send off!

I made crackers from toilet rolls, animal print tissue paper and ribbon with Kenyan phrases instead of jokes and a packet of animal print tissues inside!

We used felt rectangle sheets from Hobby Craft as place mats and strips of silver birch as mats for the curry, tagine, rice and cous cous. I used little plastic animals on top of strips of animal print card for table names and a large sheet of hessian burlap material for a rustic table cloth.

My Granny's silver cutlery and mis matched crystal glasses finished the table off beautifully. We toasted to absent friends and had a riot in the make shift photo booth complete with a leopard print duvet cover as a back drop and my charity shop haul of props.

I found this great site which sells all animal print decorations and couldn't resist the paper pompoms which would have taken me hours to make!

We have two new arrivals coming in 2013 ...

The boys were a scream and totally bought into the Safari experience! My two little tigers were terrific!

Of course we just had to have an animal wreath at the door and a tiger door man ready to greet the guests!

A wonderful family time. Of course it wasn't quite complete we were missing the American contingent! It is times like this that my heart aches for my brother.

Have you had an alternative Christmas this year?! We are having a traditional Christmas with my in laws later today and tomorrow so we won't miss out on a turkey!

Merry Christmas everyone! It's finally Christmas Eve!