12689

Butterfly Party 4yr - Butterfly Sandwiches

January 2006

Lorraine in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland, Canada

Runner Up

Butterfly Birthday Party 4 year old:  There was 14 children at the party ranging in ages from 2 to 9, both boys and girls. I normally never do this but, I had butterfly invitations bought at the dollar store for the party. Sorry no helpful ideas there!!

DECORATIONS:  There was three colors used for the party, yellow, fuscia, and purple. All solid colors, not pastels. I had streamers in those colors, twisted hanging from corner to corner, meeting in the center of the livingroom, and in the kitchen. There were groups of 5 balloons in those same colors at each corner and in the center. At the center I had streamers coming down and at the end attached butterflies at various lengths. The butterflies were made from a kit bought at walmart(will discuss later). My daughter had the anne geddes butterfly dolls, so I put them around the room as well. The table was set with a fuscia table cloth (from the dollar store). I had butterfly metallic confetti sprinkled all over. I had clear plastic cups which had a yellow napkin stuffed inside (unfold paper napkin, grab the middle, and put this end in the cup first. Arrange ends to look like a flower)a green cup would look nice too! Then placed in the middle (like a stamin) I put the fork,spoon and straw (in the three colors).

There was purple plates at each place setting. In the middle of the table I made lollipop flower pots: I painted several terracotta pots in my three colors, put florists foam in the bottom and stuck my flowers at various depths to make a flower pot arrangement. I used yellow,fuscia and purple fun foam and cut out flower shapes (I used a daisy type of pattern), cut each petal 3/4 of the way to the center so they will curve around the lollipop when they are all placed together. I used green fun foam for the leaves. I cut out three leaves leaving one end attached, sort of like a peace sign. The lollipops I used had the colors already in the wrappers, so I didn't cover them. But you could just use what ever color tissue paper and cut out squares and cover the sucker part and twist the ends around the bottom. I took the lollipop and poked the stick part through the fun foam flower and then the leaves.pull them up until they are under the sucker part. I used the card board from a cereal box to practice with first, then used it as the template so all of the flowers/leaves were the same shape. I put three flower pots on the dining room table and the others on the coffee table.

GAMES:  As everyone was arriving I had them go into the kitchen for a craft. I bought a fun foam butterfly craft kit that had 30 butterflies to assemble and decorate. For $10.00 (Canadian).I made some prior to the party and had them hanging from the streamers and a couple on the fridge for inspiration for the kids. I am glad I did, as I soon learned how long it took to feed the wings through the bodies. So I pre assembled the wings to the body and glued a small magnet to the back. They could use glitter glue and foam pieces that were all peel and stick. The children decorated the butterflies and put them on our fridge so that the glitter glue could dry.

Then we played three games, the fist one was CACCOON: I cut out one small butterfly out of fun foam and 13 caterpillars  I painted cute little faces on the caterpillars with little dots all over them. I rolled them up and stuffed them inside green balloons. I blew them up just until they started going clear, you want them to be opaque, so the kids can't tell what one has the butterfly. I then attached the balloons to twigs that I found outside. I had all of the twigs in one hand and the children had to choose one .The children had to sit on the balloon and pop the caccoon to see if they had turned into a butterfly or if they were still a caterpillar. This was hilarous to watch as the balloons were hard to pop by sitting on them. The winner received a crayola butterfly painting kit ( dollar store).

The next game was MUSICAL FLOWERS: I cut out 14 flowers from poster board, in of course my three colors! I cut out leaves from poster board and glued them to the back of the flowers. The flowers were about a foot across. I then painted the numbers 1 to 14 on the middle part of the flower. The flowers were placed all over the floor and the game was played by playing music and everyone had to fly like butterflies from flower to flower. When the music stopped they had to find a flower. I then drew a number from the bag and who ever was on that number was out. They got to pick the next number. That number and flower was put aside. So there was always a flower for the people playing. That way no one was pushing anyone out of the way and no one was hovering around one flower. They could then get into the spirit of it! The winner ( who was a boy) got a bug collecting kit(dollar store).

The last game was BUTTERFLY HUNT:I Cut out over a hundred small fun foam butterflies and hot glued them to candy(small boxes of nerds, taffy candy and sweet tarts etc.). These were placed all over the house, some hidden, some in plain sight. The children were given a butterfly net each (my husband cut the ends off to make it a better length for them). They were told to hunt for butterflies and put the ones they found in their nets, and that all the candy would be collected and evenly divided between everyone and put in their loot bags. BUT, there was a rare albino butterfly hidden some where in the house and that they had to try and find it, who ever did would receive a prize. Every piece of candy was found! The prize was a butterfly book with stickers.

Food:  It was now time for the FOOD!  I made various types of sandwiches in the shape of a butterfly( I cut the bread separately using a large butterfly shaped cookie cutter, I even cut the ham first too. I then assembled the sandwiches together. The sandwiches tended to tear or squish together if you do it all at the same time). These were arranged a platters for the children to choose from. I had home made turkey soup for the adults (the kids too if they wanted some). I made butterfly shaped butter cookies that I decorated with sprinkles and icing (use merique powder to make it go hard). I also put one cookie each into a cello bag and tied it with curly ribbon, these were put in with their loot bags. I served pink and purple juices.

Cake:  The cake was of course in the shape of a butterfly. I used a 12 inch spring form pan. Using one box of cake mix (which usually makes two cakes). Cut the cake in half, cut the uncut sides to resemble two wings(larger wing on top) use a sheet of paper to practice on first, place the halves on a platter a couple of inches apart, put the cut pieces in to the middle to make the body of the butterfly. Make sure you have the ends poking out for the head and tail. This will all be filled in with icing so it looks like one big piece. I used a star shaped tip to decorate the cake.  Purple was used for the body and pink,yellow and purple for the wings.(I used the recipes on the Wilton cake website for the icing and cookies.) I took some purple chocolate wafer and put it into a plastic sandwich bag, melted it in the microwave, and cut the tip off. I poured the chocolate out on some waxed paper in the shape of the feelers. When they were cooled I stuck them in the top of the head.  I also made caterpillar cupcakes. I iced them in green icing. I decorated them with skittles and made two faces with licorish and skittles. I then had one face to five body pieces . These were put next to the birthday cake.

The ice cream was also in the shape of a butterfly, As we didn't have ice cream that came in a rectangle container I had to partially thaw the ice cream ,press it into rectangle plastic container about an inch inch 1/2 thick. Refreeze, then take out, pop it from the container and then use the cookie cutter to cut out the butterflies. I had cut out squares of waxed paper to place each slice of ice cream on. These were then put back in the freezer until cake time. Simply peel one layer of paper off then place on the plate and take the remaining layer off. I refroze the leftover pieces and reused them in the next batch.

There was lucky plates and a napkin for which they won  the same gifts as before.(I boght two of each) After the food we opened presents. I asked the children to find the present they brought and had them sitting in a semi circle around the birthday girl. They each took turns giving their present and got their picture taken. Once the present was opened the got their loot bag. Who ever was the quietest got picked first. That way the weren't yelling to have their present picked next. This was a much nicer way to open gifts and you had a reminder who gave what!

LOOTBAGS: they got to keep the butterfly net. The butterfly fridge magnet,the butterfly cookie , around 6 pieces of the candy from the butterfly hunt, two flower suckers from the arrangment, butterfly stickers, butterfly coloring pages (downloaded from the net) and butterfly hair clips for the girls, were all put into a large cello bag tied with a ribbon with a piece of paper ( done up on the computer in victorian font) thanking them for coming. This was plce in the nets to take home. ALL of the stuff for the party was bought at the dollar store(except for the food).

This party involved alot of cutting out. So you need to give your self time for this. An older child could help.  Using the same color theme throught out really ties the party together, and makes it look like you spent a lot more money then you did!! I hope these ideas will inspire someone to have a butterfly party of their own!!

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