Ladybug Picnic -8yr- Ladybug Bingo

My daughter decided that she wanted a ladybug party this year since she is called bug" and when I looked for ladybug ideas most were centered around babies/baby showers so I had to get creative. I decided to call the party a ladybug picnic & served lunch as part of our activities…so here is what I came up with.

INVITATIONS: I found some red gingham paper and used it as a back ground and printed wording on white paper that was about an inch smaller in diameter than the red check paper.  I left a little room at the top of the page and put a cute ladybug sticker on each invitation. For the wording I said "BUZZ" on over for a "SPOT" of lunch and some "HIGH FLYING" fun at a LADYBUG PICNIC.  I then included my daughter's name the time date place etc. 

DECORATIONS:  Since the party was in our yard I kept the decorations pretty simple.  I decorated the tables with disposable tablecloths in red and yellow then put a runner of cute ladybug wrapping paper down the middle of each table.  For centerpieces I just used giant mylar balloons that looked like ladybugs & smaller mylar balloons that said "Happy Birthday" with ladybugs on them & weighted them down with some stuffed ladybugs my daughter already owned. 

ACTIVITIES:  I used a whole bunch of ladybug stickers through the party (I found them on clearance at a local store) & the activities were no exception.  As the girls arrived I set them at a craft table to decorate their own take home bags with markers stickers glitter etc.  And was pleasantly surprised with their creativity.  They drew flowers ladybug houses and other darling things to go with the stickers.  Once the bags were done we had lunch & decorated cupcakes (more on that later). 

Then we had a ladybug toss (I found a garden flag with 3 flowers on it at the dollar store & cut the centers out of each flower and had the girls toss some "Bling Bug" ladybugs that I also found at the Dollar Store through the holes.  While the girls were doing the ladybug toss I took them aside one at a time and gave them each a ladybug pedicure.  I painted their toenails red & then took black detail polish to draw a line diagonally across their big toes and then painted the black ladybug heads on the corners of the toenails.  I added spots and white eyes & the girls thought their toes were fantastic.  I then gave the girls their choice of red or black flip flops to wear while their toes dried.  (You could also have the girls decorate their flip flops with craft flowers and bugs while you were painting the other girls' feet). 

Following our pedi's we played ladybug bingo.  I just made up cards on the computer with 5x5 ladybugs without spots and the letters L-A-D-Y (and a picture of a bug) for my columns.  Then using a sharpie I put zero to five spots on each ladybug in each column and made calling cards that said "L-5 A-2 Bug 0" etc. Our final activity was a "ladybug hunt."  Again I used the ladybug stickers and put one sticker on each clue of a treasure hunt to find the next ladybug.  I had the clues lead all around my yard and made stops at the mail box cherry tree swing set strawberry patch yellow daisies and other easy to find places.  The girls liked hunting through the foliage for the hidden clues the most. 

FAVORS: at the beginning of the party I gave each girl a ladybug apron (also found at the dollar store) and told them they were now part of the bug world.  For each of the party games I had different ladybug prizes I handed out--all also from the Dollar store--There were bugs that crawled down the walls sidewalk chalk ladybugs and more "bling bugs" that were just sparkly rubber bugs.  At the end of the treasure hunt I had a basket of goodies that included a stuffed ladybug a ladybug picture frame (I took pictures of each girl at the beginning of the party and printed them at home while they were eating lunch)and giant bug bubble wands with bubbles. 

FOOD/SNACKS:  For lunch I let the girls decorate their own PBJ (that I had cut in an oval) with strawberry jam raisins chocolate chips and M&M's to look like a ladybug.  I then got red checked fish & chip baskets and loaded them with "french fry sacks"  that I had cut out of paper & decorated with more ladybug stickers.  I filled the french fry sacks with: carrots cherries "Bug Bite" graham cracker cookies & chips.  I also included in the basket a string cheese (also decorated with a ladybug sticker). 

My daughter wanted to decorate the cupcakes as part of the party so I had prepared disposable icing bags with yellow green and black (fudge canned) frosting for each girl.  The idea was to make sunflower cupcakes with M&M ladybugs resting on the petals.  So I showed the girls how to frost the cupcakes green put an Oreo cookie in the middle pipe yellow leaf-tipped petals around the cookie place a couple regular and mini M&M"s on the petals & pipe tiny black spots & stripes to turn them into ladybugs.  Again I was impressed with the precision with which they decorated.

So that was it.  A "grown-up" version of a ladybug party where even the "more mature" girls we invited were sad to see it end."