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.
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!
