Butterfly Garden Birthday Party

Pin It Now! Ok, let's talk birthday parties!  Anyone who knows me knows that I am ALL about coming up with themes for my kids' birthday parties, then making just the perfect cake and having decor down to the littlest details...it's just what I do :o)

I have a lot of party themes to share, but let's start with the Butterfly Garden birthday party theme that I had for my daughter's 4th birthday.

I should start by saying that this party was mainly for family (although several young cousins were in attendance), so there were not a ton of games and such involved as there would be for a "friend party."

When selecting a theme, I always think about what my child has interests in at that given time...and at that time, my daughter was ALL about butterflies!

So, let's delve into the details...

The CAKE:

I will start by saying that I'm not a fan of fondant, so I always find designs and such that I know I can accomplish by using just regular icing and decorating tools.  For this cake, I used regular white icing (I used store bought) and then used spray green icing over it for a fun effect, followed by swirls using a green gel icing pen. I finished the cake off by making icing flowers of various colors (using a flower tip)...then a white sugar bead in the middle of each flower to add a little *sparkle*. 

The butterflies are actually hairclips that I ordered online, but I felt fit the theme perfectly.  I simply wrapped the clip part in Press n Seal and that was the portion that touched the cake.  I wanted to ensure that once everything was said and done, that my daughter could still use the clips as hairpieces.

Next came OUTDOOR DECOR:

Since my kids birthdays are in months that the weather is generally nice outside, I always like to not only decorate inside the house, but also include some decor outside so that guests can sense the theme as they pull up to the house.

Wide angle shot of outdoor decor



Close up of butterflies

Butterfly #1

Butterfly #2

Butterfly #3

Above are some pictures of the butterflies we put ont he garage door. I simply purchased packets of plain white cardboard butterfly cut outs from Michaels Craft Store and the kids and I used our imaginations to color them in different designs/patterns.  I always try to incorporate the kids into the outdoor party decor in some way and they have now gotten to the point where they look forward to it each year...and we all have A LOT of fun doing it! Butterfly #1 was mine, Butterfly #2 was my son's and Butterfly #3 was my daughter's :o) 

Lawn decor

Here is a photo of the butterflies that we had in the lawn.  I actually found these in the floral department of my local grocery store for VERY cheap!  They were using them as decor in the midst of their flowers and I asked if they were for sale and she said yes, so I snatched a few up!  These later became decor in my daughter's bedroom...which has a summer garden theme.

INDOOR DECOR

Heading back inside, we incorporated the butterflies as well.  I apologize for the fuzziness of this photo, but I wanted to show you how we used fishing line to hang some butterflies (again, from the floral department of the grocery store) above our food area to make it look as if they were flying:

Hanging butterflies



It's become a tradition to get decorative balloons for the kids' birthdays, so for this party, what better balloon to get than a huge butterfly?!?!  It was incorporated into a floor height balloon bouquet and we had it sitting next to my daughter as she opened gifts...that way it would get in all of the photos as well (tying in the theme).  My daughter LOVED it!

Balloons



FUN
Since this party took place during the summer months, it was a perfect opportunity to take advantage of outdoor water activities.  We had our pool up, slip n slide and sprinkler available in different spots throughout the yard for the kids to run to at their liesure.  I'm a BIG fan of doing things such as these as opposed to feeling the need to play games. Let's the kids run and get some exercise!

Cannon ball!

Sprinkler



ARTS & CRAFTS
I do not have a picture of it, but I always try to have some type of art or craft type of item for the kids to create and then they can take home with them.  For this party, I purchased little notebooks with the foam covers (found at a craft store) and then bought a variety of foam stickers (ABCs so they could add their name, butterfly/flowers, googly eyes, etc.). I let them decorate however they would like (usually while I'm cleaning up from lunch, before presents). The kids are always proud of their work AND they have something useful that they can take home (and it's not a bunch of candy or goody bag 'junk' as I like to call it)!


CLOTHING
Last, but not least, a little girl cannot have a birthday party without the *perfect* outfit!  Here is the outfit that my daughter actually picked out herself (from JCPenny)...she has gotten SO much use out of this outfit (helps to have a girly girl ;o)

Party outfit

I hope this this helps give you some ideas!  Stay tuned for more party/theme ideas!...