Pink and Yellow Butterfly Birthday

Earlier this month my baby girl turned one!!  We had a fun little party for her with the family and a few of her playgroup friends.  It was just a casual affair with BBQ and swimming.   The theme was butterflies with pink and yellow accents. 
I tried to keep it pretty simple because I didn't want to spend a lot of money.  I didn't want to be too stressed out on a day that she wouldn't even remember.  Sure, she'll see pictures, but the party is more for the us then for her. 

I picked butterflies because I went to the Dollar Tree and they had a cute set for cheap.  It had invitations, plates, a banner, party hats, and cups.  I also picked up some coordinating streamers, balloons, tablecloths, and cake plates. 

And then I decided to get crafty.

Tissue Paper Butterflies: I was going to hang those cool looking pom pom balls but when I went to make them them, they didn't quite turn out so I decided to make butterflies.

• I took 20 x 20 size tissue paper and cut them in fours.
• I stacked four pieces of the 10 x 10 squares and folded them like an accordion. 
• I then twisted pipe cleaners around the middle like a body and made atennaes. 
• I pulled the papers apart a bit to give the wings some body. 

I then hung them up all around the yard and deck, so we had a little butterfly wonderland with them all flying in breeze. I'm sure I didn't make this up and you can probably find it somewhere, but I just improvised with what I had.

 I also saw this fun idea on pinterest.  There are a dozen such sites which show these cute little baggies so it was hard to find the original source, but I think this is it.

Butterfly Snack Bags from Family Fun Magazine

I painted the bodies pink and yellow to coordinate with the colors of the party, and then I used hot glue to put on the eyes and atennaes.  I didn't want any little parts coming off when the kids tried to stick the clothespins in their mouths.  I filled them with goldfishes for the kids and M & M's for the adults. 

These cute butterfly bodies make great chip clips afterward, so they have a two in one purpose!

I don't think cake decorating is my specific talent.  I discovered the hard way how difficult it is to decorate when you don't have the right tools or ingredients.  The writing fudge I bought was too runny so I just used it for the bodies... as you can see in the top left corner, I tried to outline the whole butterfly and it just ran, so I nixed that idea.  I also had bought this weird frosting pen that I thought would make it easier, but instead I just was up to my elbows in frosting and all my butterflies came out looking like a five year old drew them.  I finally figured it out when I only had one or two left to do.  See if you can find the 2 good ones in the picture.  :)

If you want to learn from my mistake this is what you do...

Cake decorating the inexpensive way:

• Use the tips from one of those aerosol frosting cans. 
• Mix the colors of frosting you want by combining food coloring and white frosting in different bowls
• Snip end off of one corner of Ziploc baggy
• Put tip in hole in Ziploc bag
• Squeeze frosting toward tip and decorate!

By the time I got to the second batch, I had wasted too much frosting so had to do something a little different.  In the picture below, some of the writing had peeled off, but you can still get the idea.  Again, the fudge being runny was a problem, but I had to make do with what I had.

 I also made her an individual mini cake which I was actually pretty proud of.  I didn't have the right size cake pan and didn't see one at the store that I liked, so I had to get inventive.  I had these pancake molds on hand that were the perfect size and shape.  I put the molds on a cookie sheet, sprayed it with PAM and filled them about a third of the way up with some extra batter. I ended up with 3 thin cakes that I stacked on top each other.  Her cake was actually layered chocolate, yellow, and chocolate.  The mini cakes had a slightly raised top which actually made the perfect shape, like a giant cupcake.  I frosted it with a big butterfly, dusted on pink sprinkles and voila!!

There were a few more little details here and there.  I made lemonade with floating rasberries and slices of lemon, which I forgot to take a picture of.  My little girl wore a frilly party dress and shoes, both with butterflies on them.  For only having planned it in a little over a week, it all came together well.

We had fun celebrating her birthday and I know she had a good time.  She ate lots of watermelon which is her favorite and enjoyed smashing the cake to bits.  I can't believe how time has flown!  Happy Birthday to my baby!