15586

Butterfly Garden 1yr - Backyard of Pinwheels

April 2007

Jennifer in Austin, TX, USA

Special Mention

For my daughter's 1st birthday we decided to have a BIG bash! The theme that I went with was a Butterfly Garden theme. I love butterflies and they are very girlie, plus her birthday is in April and we have a big backyard. Also you can find tons of springtime supplies this time of year. Most of the supplies that I bought are from the Dollar Tree and the Dollar Spot at Target. I found many great deals. 

FOOD: We decided to BBQ type food, so we bought a couple of fully cooked briskets that you just pop in the oven the day of. The sides were pinto beans, potato salad, bread, and Spanish rice. Everything was served on brightly colored platters and bowls. I also bought brightly colored garden tools to serve the sides with. For dessert my daughter got her very own chocolate cake with chocolate frosting to dig into (family tradition) and we got two pull apart cupcake cakes in the shape of butterflies (one pink  and one purple) to go along with the ice cream for everyone else. The candle for her cake was a pink and purple glittery number 1. 

INVITES: I did a combination of regular invitations and evites. I found the invitations at Target. They were butterfly shaped and blank on the inside, so I typed up the info (using the cute wording that I found on this site) and pasted it inside the cards. I also added a shimmery butterfly sticker inside. I then put iridescent confetti hearts in the envelope with the invite and sealed the envelope with another shimmery butterfly sticker. 

ACTIVITIES: Since there were going to be kids of all ages at the party we decided to have several activity areas for them to choose from. We had a girlie colored moonwalk for the older kids and we made a mini ball pit out of a kiddie pool and 200 pit balls for the babies. For the little ones we also put a blanket out on the grass with several age appropriate toys on it. We had a face painting stand. A bubble area that included a bubble machine and different sized and shaped bubble wands. I found a couple of cute bubble wands that were in the shape of butterflies and dragonflies. We had an area where the kids could pay with sidewalk chalk and an area with outdoor type toys including a jumprope that has caterpillar shaped handles and a couple of shimmery hula hoops. I found an iron garden stake that has a hook on the end and a butterfly on it to hang the hula hoops on. We also had a coloring section with crayons and sheets that I got out of a bug coloring book. At one point in the party we also had lots of fun cracking confetti eggs (about 13 dozen) on each other's heads!! For the adults we just had various board games set out on the tables. All of the different areas were marked with signs that I had made. 

DÉCOR: We had several balloons tied to our fence so that people knew where the party was. In our yard we had several long plastic tables and chairs set up. We also had put up a gazebo tent to put the tables under. The tables were covered in solid colored table cloths and I had made centerpieces out of small colored tin pails which I stuffed with iridescent Easter grass and put 5 solid color lollipops and a pink Gerber Daisy in. I also bought four large bud vases that were in springtime colors and they each had a bug or bird of some sort painted on them (there was a butterfly, dragonfly, ladybug, and bird), in each vase I put a bright pink Gerber Daisy.

Outside I also lined our walkway with a total of 8 flower shaped pinwheels. In our garden area I placed 2 garden stakes with dragonflies on them. From our patio area I had hung a pink and purple butterfly windsock, a silver and green butterfly shaped wind chime, and various colored wind spinners. At the back entrance to our house I set up an easel and bulletin board that I had decorated with spring time colored scrapbook paper and collages of pictures from my daughter's first year. I also had a table set up with a birthday wish tree on it. I got a clear vase and put pink and clear decorative stones in it, then I placed tree branches that were painted white inside. I had square pieces of cardstock with ribbon tied through that they could write a wish for the birthday girl on and then place on the tree. The pens that I had available were wrapped in green ribbon and had silk flowers on the ends. In different places around the party were butterfly shaped mylar balloons that said Happy Birthday on them. 

Inside, was where all the food and presents were. The decorations included brightly colored streamers, butterfly garland hung like streamers, a tin flower box filled with iridescent Easter grass and flower shaped lollipops, flower and butterfly picture clips with various pictures of the birthday girl. I had a giant pink Gerber Daisy sitting in one corner. For the presents we pushed our coffee table against a wall and decorated the wall around it with brightly colored butterfly, ladybug, and flower wall clings. In the bathroom I put a purple plastic watering can filled with Gerber Daisies and some soaps that were packaged in springlike paper, and also a bowl that had some of my daughter's bath toys (butterfly, ladybug, sun, flower, etc.) in it.  

FAVORS: I found 3 different goody bags. One had butterflies on it, one had ladybugs, and the other had dragonflies. For the older kids I put in a butterfly blowout, a crazy straw, colored lollipops, candy necklaces, and colored bouncing balls. For the boys I added some plastic insects and insect gummy candy and for the girls plastic bracelets with butterfly beads, and butterfly shaped hair clips. For the babies I had different age appropriate finger foods on their bags. I also had bags filled with candy for everyone and I placed those bags in a lime green mini laundry basket. I then had mini bubbles tied with lime green and pink polka dotted ribbon in a pink plastic basket that had butterfly cutouts in it. And lastly I had spring colored Hershey's Kisses wrapped in yellow tulle tied with white ribbon in a green plastic  bucket with butterflies and flowers on it. In that bucket there was a sign that said Birthday Kisses from Audrey".  

DRESS: I put my daughter in a light pink sundress and bloomers that had different colored butterflies embroidered on it and put a butterfly shaped clip with rhinestones in her hair."

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