Keep reading to see how I pulled off the Butterfly Party, as well as other ideas I came across but wasn't able to (read: was too lazy to) incorporate this time around.
Decorations:
Anything butterfly will do. I hung two of the wind socks (shown below) outside to greet the guests, and had each child's name written on a foam butterfly and stuck to the windows. These were later decorated by the kids as an activity.
I took the photo before I wrote the full names (for the privacy of the guests!)Activities:
Face painting (butterflies, of course!) and butterfly tattoos
Butterfly colouring sheets (make it a colouring contest if you feel like it)
Pin the antennae on the butterfly
"Butterfly landing": Make flowers out of large paper and spread them on the floor. Play the game like musical chairs: the kids flutter around when the music is on, and when it stops they have to land on a flower.
At our party, the kids decorated the butterfly with their name on it (using markers, stickers, glitter, etc.) and also did a foam butterfly craft (I bought a kit at Michael's, and it came with everything but the glue, and enough to make 24 complete butterflies. The little pieces were self-adhesive, so only the clothespin had to be glued on.)
Food:
Gummy worms (caterpillars)
Sandwiches, pancakes, pizza, jello jigglers etc. shaped with a butterfly cookie cutter
Bowtie pasta
Honeybee crackers
(We had non-butterfly-shaped pizza, pasta, salads and biscuits. Not everything can go with the theme, especially when you're feeding more adults than kids!)
Cake:
We enlisted our fabulous baker to make a cake in the shape of a butterfly. I wasn't sure if it would be enough to serve everyone, so I ordered a dozen cupcakes to go along with it...which was smart on my part, as everything was eaten. (Ordering three pizzas too many wasn't so smart...but you never know!)
Loot bags:
Here are some pics of what our party-goers fluttered away with (the wind socks were from Zellers, everything else from Dollarama):
Butterfly net
Wind sock
Wall stickers (the lone little boy got car stickers instead. He was not the least bit upset that they didn't match the theme.)
Butterfly hair elastics
And Smarties. No loot bag can be without them, theme or no theme.Other ideas include butterfly stickers, clips, cookie cutters, and flower seeds.
This was a fun, girly, springtime party...and it was very easy to find supplies and decorations. Pulling this one off in November, however, might be a little more difficult.
Please feel free to add any other Butterfly Party ideas you've used or seen...or just comment to let me know what a fantastic party planner I am! (Hint: my three subscribers who were at the party are obliged to comment!)
