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Flower Power 1yr - Pin the Petal

May 2003

Joanne in Killingworth, CT USA

Honorable Mention

 Flower Power.  For my daughter's first birthday, we had a "flower power" party.  Since my 3 year old son and cousins ranging from 2--6 also came, most of the games, crafts etc were geared for that age group.  

I started by sending out homemade invitations showcasing the birthday girl.  I found a cute picture of Juli's face and had nickel-sized copies made. I then  cut brightly colored foamy paper (available at any craft store)into petals, stem, leaves.  For each invitation, I glued the foamy paper on bright card-stock to make a daisy. For the round center of the flower, I glued the photo of Julia's face.  The invitation read, "Julia is Blossoming into a 1 year old".  The inside of the card read, "PETAL  on over for lunch, cake and fun".  I gave the details of party (time, date etc) and ended with "WEED love to see you there"..Everyone loved these and I framed one and  put it in Julia's room.  I cut out tons of flowers from flourscent poster board and had them taped all over the place. 

For her cake I made a white cake (bake it for 15 minutes on a large cookie sheet so you end up with a nice size sheet cake).  I frosted it white and then put frosted cupcakes on the cake as the flowers. I made the leaves, stems with green icing and then decorated the flowers with colored M&Ms.  It was very cute (make sure you make enough "cupcake" flowers for each kid since they all want a flower!!). You can use regular size cupcakes or mini ones..I also had cookies in shape of flower.  As the children arrived they were given a Flower Power necklace (I made these by mixing flour/salt/water into a dough.  I then cut them into flowers with cookie cutter. Don't forget to stick a straw thru top before you bake them  so you have a hole to string it with)..After baking them, I painted them in flourscent, sparkly paint.  The kids loved these.  I also did face painting by painting (what else?!) a flower on their cheeks as they arrived.   

We played "Pin the Petal on the Flower".  I glued flower petals on big poster board for 1 big flower but left big gap where one petal was missing.  I had cut out petals with each child's name on it.  Each child had chance to try to pin the petal to complete the flower.  They got flower stickers as their prize for trying. 

We also did a craft (which was good for 4--6 year olds but could have skipped with younger kids).  They made flower frames with foamies cut in the shape of flowers.  I took polaroid photos of each child so he/she could glue into middle of flower. 

For favors, I picked up some plastic flower pots at AC Moore that came with clear plastic around it that held a paper insert that the kids could color.  I expanded on that by adding flourescent poster board on top of the paper insert. On the posterboard I wrote "If cousins were flowers, I'd pick you.   Thanks for making my 1st birthday such a special one. Love, Julia"…  I glued a flourscent flower to a craft stick and stuck it in the pot with flourescent tissue paper.  I had these up on the mantle during the party (they made great decorations) and each child got to take his/her home at the end.    Everybody had a great time.  I repeated the theme with our playgroup friends later that week (skipping the craft) and my sister borrowed all the flower decorations to use at her daughter's 4 year old party. 

It was a lot of fun, inexpensive and easy to do (If I can do it, anyone can!)..Have FUN  PS For older kids you could actually plant flowers at the party or add seed packets to the party favor to plant later.