Ever since her big sister’s birthday party back in January, Sloane has been busy planning her own. When asked what kind of birthday party she wanted, she always replied a Butterfly Party. Well, anyone who knows me knows that whenever I can, I try to override the kids’ theme choices with something more original and creative (read: something *I* feel like planning), but because Jeremy always gives me a hard time about that, I decided I would honor Sloane’s decision this year. So I began researching all things butterfly and set the plans in motion for a fluttering extravaganza.
I found some paisley stickers at the dollar store and loved their designs and colors, so I scanned them, arranged them, and they became the butterfly for my invitation.
Well, about 3 weeks before the party, Sloane suddenly started saying she wanted a frog party. You see, she’s had this thing for frogs ever since they started hopping onto our porch last summer, but by this time, it was too late in the game to change the plans. I mean, for once, I was actually
ahead of schedule in my party plans! So I continued with butterflies. And where there’s butterflies, there’s usually flowers.
The flower garland was made from super easy templates found in Family Circle magazine (with tissue paper from dollar store). And this gigantic flower wall hanging proved to be just the right amount of busy work for Reid. The flower balls are whiffle balls covered with silk flowers and silk butterflies—all from, you guessed it, the dollar store! :)
Blair made this butterfly at school and let me use her little friend to greet everyone who fluttered in.
Her butterfly was the inspiration for a craft station where the kids could make their own coffee filter butterflies. In early test runs, we used markers to color designs on coffee filters, then sprayed the filters with water to make the colors run. After they dry, you cinch it in the middle with a clothes pin or pipe cleaner and voila, your butterfly is complete. However, setting out a spray bottle of water is just way too tempting for a house full of young kids, so we went with crayons and colored pencils instead. It still had the same effect.
So as I mentioned earlier, Sloane started saying she wanted a frog party… Not wanting to disappoint, Jeremy, our resident cake chef, decided he would incorporate a frog into a butterfly cake in any way he could. After much brainstorming, this is what he came up with: a cake with a butterfly…being eaten by a frog.
This was his first time working with fondant icing, and we found that it’s very tricky to get it just right. But we were proud of this first effort and are excited to try to perfect it in all the many cakes to come.
(Yes, we have another child, but she was being grumpy and wouldn’t get in the family picture.)
At the end of the party, each guest left with a candy butterfly (snack bag filled with candy and cinched with a clothes pin).
Ever since her big sister’s birthday party back in January, Sloane has been busy planning her own. When asked what kind of birthday party she wanted, she always replied a Butterfly Party. Well, anyone who knows me knows that whenever I can, I try to override the kids’ theme choices with something more original and creative (read: something *I* feel like planning), but because Jeremy always gives me a hard time about that, I decided I would honor Sloane’s decision this year. So I began researching all things butterfly and set the plans in motion for a fluttering extravaganza. 
