Buggy Outdoor B-Day Party

I should have posted this a long time ago.  This was my daughter's birthday party in August, I called it the Pintrest party because there were so many things I wanted to try out... and did.  It could have also been called the dollar store party because those folks came to recognize me too.  I wanted everything to be perfect (which never happens for a procrastinating perfectionist) so, needless to say I got a late start.

First I had hubby cut 3 holes in a thin piece of scrap wood to make a photo prop.  If I attempt this again I will be sure to draw the circles, men need guidance sometimes (the holes were huge).  Mom painted the board blue and I cut out and glued construction paper for the design (easier, faster, cheaper than painting).  I covered each hole with a piece of paper so it would be pretty while no one was getting pictures.

 

Then, I enlisted hubby's help again to build the water blob I had discovered on Pintrest.  We went a step farther since this was a garden/outdoor type party and added 'earthworms' (fishing worms) and fake flower leaves as well as glitter.  The water blob was a hit!

Yes, yet again I asked my husband to complete another project... the PVC mist sprinkler found on Pintrest.  We found all of the parts at Lowe's and he completed it quickly.  I painted it bright yellow and it just about glows in the dark (which is another fun idea).  The sprinkler was another big hit.

 

I bought a whole bunch of sponges and cut them up to make the sponge water bombs I found on Pintrest.  Used a zip tie to hold them together and placed them in a basket near the sprinkler so they would get wet.








We purchased a small plastic swimming pool and a hula hoop to make the human bubble I found on Pintrest.  I used a lot of the world's best bubble mix (found on Pintrest) and gave it a try on my daughter.  I now understand why there is a sheet in their picture now.  Our yard is open and it took a lot of work to make a bubble with the wind blowing.  So this was a terrible idea for our party.  The kids became a soapy mess from playing in the pool full of bubble water and we didn't have a second pool for them to rinse.

 



It became the suds pool.

 

We had 'bug bash' where the kids got to attack bug shaped balloons with pool noodles that had been cut in half.  This was a hit but the balloons popped so fast it only lasted about 60 seconds.  I got the idea from Pintrest and changed it up slightly.  I would do it again with more balloons.

 

We had bubble art that combined two pintrest ideas, one for the art and one for the straws.  I created the backdrop with my kids chalkboard and a piece of construction paper.  Then I attached some wire to each side and used paperclips to hold on the paper butterflies.
 

 

Below is the table holding the paper butterflies, colored bowls of soap for bubbles, fake butterfly in a jar, the straws and bubble blowers in mini flower pots and the bubble refill jar (yep, Pintrest).  The biggest downside was some kids had a habit of sucking in on the straws (ick).

 

The straws I used were small so they had more of a splatter effect.  The butterflies easily detached from the white paper they were on and made a nice display.  This was a hit with the girls and there were some pretty butterflies...

 

There were many other things... an invincible butterfly pinata, a bubble blower that continued to blow bubbles throughout the party, we had our small playground including a digger, a sand a water table with blue and green sand, etc....

 

Then there was the food.  Where I love to create and where I failed to take pictures.  Below you can see the bowl of worms, grape caterpillars with icing and small candies for eyes (mini M&M's would have worked), the bug juice and of course no garden is complete without the flamingo (ha ha).  He became my daughter's best friend after the party.

My husband made the hedge hog watermelon seen on Pintrest and it was so cute and I made the Nutter Butter flip-flops but never got any pictures of those.  I made the ladybug pretzels after a couple of failed attempts.  I used red melt able candies that came out pinkish and milk chocolate with a touch of black color gel for the rest and white chocolate eyes.  There were a ton of these so what you see are thee leftovers here.  There were big and small and they didn't like the hot day at all.  We also made the edible compost thanks to my sister's input.  Each item in the cup symbolizes something used for compost...worms (gummy), grass (coconut colored green or candy grass from Easter), sticks (pretzels), sun (yellow M&M's), dirt (ground cookie), wet dirt (pudding).

 



These Wilton cupcake wrappers were a lucky find at Wal-Mart and matched the theme perfectly.  The Pintrest inspired sunflower cupcakes were my first attempt at 'fancy' icing and I did not have mini chocolate chips so I used Oreo crumbs.  I have since seen the sunflower with the whole chocolate wafer which would be easier. My ladybugs were inspired by the same website but I was not going to attempt to ice them like they did so I used a toothpick and black food color, then let sit a few days to dry.  Some looked great and some not so much (pictured). 

 

Instead of gifts I asked everyone bring a wrapped outdoor, animal, or bug themed book. Before each child left they were given a wrapped book and an outdoor themed party favor pictured below. This worked out well so I didn't have a ton of toys to deal with and each child received a gift. My daughter received her gifts from the family after the party so she was happy.

 

Everything except the flower seeds in these were bought at the dollar store
and the seed packets were even cheaper from Wal-Mart.

I am sure I missed something but if I remember I will add it later.  The dollar store played a huge roll in this party as did Pintrest lol.  There are things I would eliminate if I did this again but overall it was fun and a learning experience.