Anne's Odds and Ends: Butterfly Themed Birthday Party

Last year was a Fairy-Princess Party and this year my daughter chose Butterflies. So two years in a row with wings! ;)

The Birthday Girl

A butterfly themed party was actually quite fun and relatively easy to prepare for. This year was her first girl-only party with kids her age (6 girls for age 6!) so I was brave enough to do crafts. Yes, crafts. I'm not the most crafty mom in the land, mostly b/c I hate cleaning up messes! However, I decided to go for it this year! Of course I did hold the party in the backyard, but still, it's progress!

We had two butterfly themed crafts, a butterfly game and of course cake! In between crafts the kids played in the backyard playhouse.

It was a simple party and everyone loved it!

Art Project Supplies - from Hobby Lobby

Games & Activities

Butterfly Letter Craft

I purchased cardboard letters for each girl (Hobby Lobby $2.97 each). First they painted the letters, then later they decorated them with a variety of flower and butterfly stickers. A fun take-home item to decorate their rooms!

Butterfly Canvas Bag Craft

Now this craft was a learning experience. I had purchased colorful canvas bags ($5.59 for 4), puffy paints and felt stickers to decorate them. I thought the girls could make butterflies and their names on the bags. What I didn't realize is that puffy paints are not exactly age-appropriate for 4-6 year olds. Lets just say they enjoyed squeezing the entire bottle out on their bags! I have a feeling it will take days for these lovely creations to dry!

If I did this activity again I'd choose fabric markers or fabric stamps instead. Live and learn!

Pin the head on the Butterfly Game

What is a birthday party without a pin-the-something-on-the-something game? I made my own butterfly by putting butcher paper over a piece of cardboard then free painting. I painted the butterfly myself and had my daughter decorate it. Then I cut out heads (using a glass for a template) and added happy smiles. Easy-peasy! The winner received a butterfly bubble wand for a prize!

Decorations

Butterfly Banner

I bought a package of precut butterflies ($1.99), but if you're handy you could cut out your own. This was a perfect way to involve my almost-6 year old in preparing for the party. A couple weeks before the event I gave her a stack of them and told her to decorate them. After she was done coloring, stamping and writing on them I punched holes on each side (with a heart punch) and tied ribbon to each one. We created a l-o-n-g banner. So long that I had to wrap it around the side of the house! It made a cute decoration but was also a fun project to do ahead.

Butterfly Wings

I found yet another use for my beverage bucket! It was a wing and balloon holder. :) I bought a bunch of butterfly/fairy wings and masks for the girls to wear at the party (mostly from the Dollar store). They kept switching out wings and had the bucket to keep them in. I even had a big pair of wings to wear.

Butterfly Tree

My mother found some cute little butterfly decorations that were attached to a long wire. I simply fastened them to a tree near the birthday table for decoration. Now this time of year real butterflies are also flying around our neighborhood (monarch) but it was nice to have some fake ones too!

Butterfly Cake

Of course we needed a butterfly cake with the birthday girl's current favorite color (purple). It was an ice-cream cake because although it is November it was about 86 degrees the day of the party! Only in Arizona do you wear a sundress to a birthday party in November. The cake had little plastic butterflies on it to decorate.