Butterflies and Flowers First Birthday Party

Planning a spring party gives you many themes to choose from such as bugs, butterflies, gardening and flowers, baby animals and baseball!  I chose a butterflies and flowers birthday party for my little girl’s first birthday.  Sure, there are naysayers that insist parties should not be given for a baby since they will not remember the event.  I say, boo hiss, a first party is given for family and friends to celebrate friendship, community and surviving that first year with no sleep. So, I had to plan for various ages and food for whole families.

I started with the invitations and sent out 3 weeks prior to the party:

I learned to smile and laugh, then sit and stand
And I can walk if you hold my hand,

But the fun has only just begun
Because next I will be turning ONE!

You are invited for food and cake
And to help us celebrate!

Then listed the date, time and place.

Many store bought invitations are cute and save time for you to plan the activities and shop for food!

Activities:

Pot Painting

I purchased terra cotta pots for each child, outdoor acrylic paint and sponges and brushes.  I had this activity first so the pots would have time to dry before we planted flowers.Use a permanent marker to write names on the bottom of the pot before they start to paint.

Pot Flowers:

This is a two adult operation with little ones.  I had a tarp out for this activity which had potting soil, shovels, watering cans and blooming flowers. You could plant seeds.

Egg Hunt:

We did an Easter egg hunt since it was the weekend of Easter.  The eggs were filled with butterfly and spring themed items.  A special section was just for the one year old’s that had fish crackers in them.  It may not sound exciting, but they liked it.

Bubble time:  What little one does not enjoy a few bubbles.

Butterfly Waltz (preschool): Need balloons with butterflies drawn on them. Music. 1 balloon per child. Kids keep the balloons in the air until the music stops, then freeze with their balloon when off.

Butterfly Flutter:

Version of red light, green light where you flap your wings to run.

Coffee Filter Butterfly:

Use an eye dropper to drop paint onto coffee filter, allow to dry and then wrap pipe cleaner in the middle of filter making the butterfly wings. Leave two ends of pipe cleaner up to look like the antennaes.