Ella's 8th Birthday Bug Party

The second I asked Ella what birthday party she wanted, she said A BUG PARTY.  of course, this girl loves bugs and has for quite some time.  I thought perfect, love it... as long as we can make it fun and girly, so it became a garden bug party and all were happy :-)

So, the party was all about ladybugs, butterflies, bees and flowers.  Perfect for a little 8 year old girl.

I wanted to the house to feel like the outdoors, so I brought the outdoor inside.  The decorations were really about clouds, grass, flowers and bugs (mostly butterflies since I order a ton of them on accident).  

Some details about each set of pictures.  I looked all over the place for butterfly nets, but couldn't find any for under $6, so I decided to have the girls use these Kritter Keepers as their favors and to help them catch bugs as they went on a bug hunt.  

I used vinyl to put their name on each bug cage.  For one of our activities, we hid plastic bugs outside in the yard and the girls had to go and find the bugs and put them in their bug cages. 

One of the games we had was guess the bugs in the jar.  Each girl got to make a guess.. they loved seeing if they were the one that guessed correctly.  The simplest games sometimes are the best.

I really tried to grow real grass as part of the decorations in the planters.  But I didn't start soon enough, so I couldn't get the grass to grow in time.  So, i had to improvise.  I decided to get some green tissue paper and cut strips half way down the sheet and then I rolled it up and put it in paper cups and placed them in the planters.  It wasn't really grass, but I like the way it turned out and looked.  And it was a lot easier :-)

As you can see from the pictures, there were a lot of tissue flowers all over the house.  I think I made 24 of them... let's just say I won't be making tissue flowers again any time soon.  But I love them and how dramatic and eye-catching they are.  And really they weren't hard to make at all.  here is a tutorial.

The table was set for the first activity which was decorating lady bug houses (that I got from Oriental Trading company).  The black plate was for the paint.  The pink polkadot plate was to keep the house on to dry and move.  The red plastic plate (from Target) was their plate to use for the food.  I love the look of all three layers, but that each one had a specific use and was practical (not just for looks).

A few items and where i got them:  the paper grass was from amazon (it really was the coolest stuff), the big flower plates in the middle from the Dollar Tree.  The bug headbands were from Oriental Trading Company and the sticker ladybugs (all over the party) were from Amazon.

Inside the red basket (with the flower) was a beaded ladybug bracelet that the girls got to assemble.  I didn't get a picture of the, but they were so cute.  And those I got from OTC.

Some other details of the party were the paper clouds I made.  Like I said, I wanted the inside of the house to feel like the outdoors.  I got a big roll of white butcher paper, drew some cloud shapes.  Cut out two pieces. Then I sewed the two pieces together leaving a section open to stuff with batting and then sewed it shut.  

I used my Silhouette machine to cut out lots of bugs and made garlands with the bugs. 

My big project for the party was to make these bug pillows for each girl. I made either a ladybug, bumblebee and a butterfly.  Each girl got a bug and we used them to play "musical bugs" (otherwise known as musical chairs).  

Here are the invitations I sent to each girl.  I had these cute boxes I picked up a target on clearance and so I thought how can I use them.  I filled them up with easter grass and put a magnifying glass with a flower and ladybug and then attached the information to the lid.  I love how they turned out.  I always say, the invitation to a party is like a pair of shoes.  they make the outfit... well the invitations help make the party.

For the different games, I had prizes.  I bought giant wand bubbles (it reminded me out the outdoors and candy and tied them up with a big gerber daisy and ribbon.  The girls loved these, I felt bad I didn't have one for each of them, but it meant winning the games were all a big deal :-)

The food for the party ended up being just as fun to create as the rest of the party. 

I didn't make labels for each of the items (I ran out of time), but the girls all kept asking me what each food was (or they gave their own guesses).  It was so cute.

So, for those that want to know what they were supposed to be.....

the cheetos were those orange furry caterpillars (do you know that ones I am talking about?)

the baby bell cheese were ladybugs.

the grapes are caterpillars

the pasta salad were bowtie

I cut up sandwiches in butterfly shapes and the carrots... not sure what I was thinking for those :-)

For the cupcakes, I bought terra cotta planters and baked the jumbo cupcakes as you would normally and then plopped them into the planters.  They fit perfectly (except that second one in the picture, that didn't fit perfectly :-).  I loved these little garden cupcakes.

There you have it... the party in all its fantastical, buggy, flowery glory.  Hope you enjoyed it :-)