Butterfly Birthday Party

My daughter Elizabeth is a girl who knows her own mind. 

And when it came to her sixth birthday party she had some pretty clear ideas. 

It would be a "butterfly party" (whatever that is!) and the girls would make "butterfly jars" (what?) 

and there would have to be a butterfly cake (that's easier to picture). 

I loved the challenge and together we brought her ideas to life. The main decorations were paper butterflies on branches. I asked Elizabeth to gather twigs from the yard and then she helped me trace and cut out various sizes of butterflies from leftover scrapbook paper we had on hand.

We hot glued the butterflies to the twigs and they made the centerpiece for the table...

until it was time to make the craft.

 

It seemed pretty obvious to me that "butterfly jars" would be like a terrarium for butterflies. 

We had to prep a few supplies: name tags, paper "grass," and a decorative cover for the lid.

The girls handled the assembly--and each girl got to use one of the butterfly branches for her jar.

 

We used feather monarch butterflies from Michael's 

to create themed napkin decorations and cake toppers.

I made flowers out of lollipops and green laffy taffy, cut into leaf shapes. 

The butterflies hovered over the cake on their wires.

 For the game, the girls (in teams of three) 

raced to encase one girl (the caterpillar) in a T. P. "cocoon." 

 The first team to finish won the game. 

Then the caterpillars broke out of their cocoons 

and all the girls flew around the yard like butterflies.

Sequined butterfly masks were a lucky Target find and worked great as favors.

We gave each girl a gift bag as they left...

...and so another year has fluttered by.

Linking to Funky Junk Interiors SNS#71.