Beautiful Butterfly Party

Last week my baby girl turned 3! No more babies in this house! As I have said before, our party philosophy is a big party bi-annually and every other year has a small celebration with family and 1 or 2 special friends. This makes it sustainable for elaborate party planners such as myself, and we also feel it demonstrates to the children that your party doesn't have to have 100 people at it for you to celebrate.

Excitedly awaiting the guests arrival...

Our children are responsible for a lot of the party planning and have a great sense of pride over the party when it is complete. This year Matilda choose a Butterfly Party. Her description was a "butterfly party and a butterfly cake with a princess and lots of butterflies everywhere. I want the party food to be watermelon and chocolate strawberries". EASY!! YAY!! My mind goes in to overdrive and the Butterfly Party takes shape. This year I invested in (and fell in love with) a butterfly paper stamp.... what fun you can have! How creative you can be!

So here it is..... Matilda's Beautiful Butterfly Party....

The Decorations
- White paper lanterns with tissue paper butterflies glued to the outside (very pretty in the breeze)

- Strings of butterflies made out of scrap booking card, hot glued along kitchen twine 









- Card butterflies on twisty straws
















The Cake
I had my first go at doing a 2 tiered cake, and once again really enjoyed the creativity that White Icing allows!




The Party Bags
I always have fun creating the party bags and so do the kids. We have a chat about what their friends might like as a thank you for coming to celebrate their birthday. There is always much excitement creating them. With this amount of thought and ownership, the kids then have a sense of pride as they excitedly present their friends with the gift. 

This year inside the party bags was: butterfly stickers, bubbles, balloons, glittery pencil, sparkly pen, a little chocolate, a lolly pop, a tiny glass jar with fairy glitter in it, and a few butterflies. 

Each of the guests also got to take home a set of butterfly wings, wands and headband. I got these from a bulk supplier and it was just lovely everyone being able to don a pair of wings and get in the mood :)


The Activities
Well having butterflies as the umbrella theme made this section of the planning rather easy! We don't do party games, particularly at this age. I want to enjoy the party to, not just be there as an 'entertainer'. So while at the party we: 


- Had pink sparkle play-dough with pipe cleaners and googly eyes



- Collaged big butterflies



- Made button and crepe paper flowers


- Made 'drifty' tissue paper butterflies



- Had water play, with plastic butterflies and real gerbras


- Had a wealth of dress ups, and,


- our usual cubby and sandpit, which is always a hit.










The Food
As requested we had the watermelon and chocolate strawberries that Matilda wanted, but we also put a butterfly spin on a few other choices. butterfly gingerbread, flower quiches etc... all a bit of fun :) 




















The Wind Down
The party went really well. The kids had a nice time and I think the adults did also. It was a VERY hot day but we survived and the party was lucky enough to be blessed by a few real butterflies who came to visit our garden during the party.


I always like that time in a party when the hype dies down and everyone relaxes into a spot or a game and really gets to spend some time with each other. 

So much fun! I love organising kids parties, the possibilities are endless!