Ladybug Party -2yr- Red & Black Balloons

For my daughter's second birthday, we had a ladybug party. 

For the invitations, I dressed my daughter in her Halloween costume which was a ladybug costume.  I took her picture in it, had copies of the picture made for the number of invitations I needed, and made the invitations.  I cut out large black circles from cardstock and then red circles out of cardstock the same size.  I had the picture of her blown up to match the size of the circles.  To construct the invitation, I laid the black circle down on the table, cut the picture to fit and placed it on top of the black circle, cut the red circle in half down the middle to form the "wings," held the red wings together at the top of the circles with tiny black brads so that the wings could open up. 

I glued tiny black pom poms randomly on top of each wing.  When the recipient looked at the invitation, it looked just like a ladybug, and when they opened the wings, they saw a picture of her in her ladybug costume.  At the top of the ladybug I punched two tiny holes and used black pip cleaner for the antennas. 

On the back of the ladybug, I printed out the party information on white vellum.  I found ladybug clipart on the internet, consisting of grass, flowers, and flying ladybugs and I used the clipart to decorate the borders of the vellum.  The invitation read:  This little ladybug flew by to tell you that (daughter's first and last name) is turning 2!  I had a clipart of a female ladybug with a little dashed trail behind her to look like she was flying by, and I put it at the top of the invitation.  I made my daughter's name in red and the rest of the text was black.  Under that was the date, infestation time, fly on over to (our address) and buzzzz us (our phone number).  We hope to "spot" you there!  My name and my husband's name, Head Gardeners. 

I bought large white vellum envelopes from a paper store and placed the invitation inside so the recipient could see the invitation from inside.  I bought red and black shiny ladybug confetti that I sprinkled inside each envelope for a little surprise when it was opened.  I used a red marker to address the invitation and sealed it with ladybug stickers. 

For the decorations, I had red and black balloons at the entrance of our subdivision attached to a corrugated ladybug cutout I made.  It looked like the ladybug was holding the balloons and I made her an arm that pointed toward the direction of our house.  When you got to the next turn, there were more black and red balloons and another ladybug pointing the way.  On our mailbox was the biggest bouquet of balloons, red and black of course. 

I lined our driveway with fake grass and used corrugated ladybugs to line the driveway.  Inside the house in the dining room where the food was, I cut out random strips of green corrugated paper about 4 feet high and placed them on the walls of the dining room so that the little ones felt like they were in grass.  I adhered all sorts of friendly little bugs and butterflies that I purchased from a school supply store (like a teacher would use on a bulletin board)in the grass and above the grass for a truly garden feel. 

The dining room table was covered with a rubber grass mat cut to fit the table.  There were little plastic bugs scattered around the table.  The kids had bug juice bottles I purchased from the grocery store.  We also had lemonade that was in a silver metal watering can I purchased new, and I decorated it with black and white gingham ribbon.  I made a white tag with a red border on the computer and laminated it with the word "lemonade" on it and used the ribbon to attach it to the can.  Chips and other snacks were served in sand buckets with trowels. 
We had worms in dirt as one snack. 

I bought small clear cups, filled chocolate pudding almost to the top, crumbled chocolate cookies, and placed gummy worms at the top.  I made rice krispie treats and used a bug and butterfly cookie cutter to cut out the shapes.  I also made sandwiches of all kinds and used the bug and butterfly cookies cutters to cut them out.  I had clear plates that I adhered black felt dots to the bottom of and had red, black, and white napkins.  I painted a large terra cotta pot black and painted white polka dots on it.  I wrapped the silverware in the napkins, tied them with the black and white gingham ribbon, then placed each set in the terra cotta pot. 

I also hung large corrugated birds, butterflies, and other flying insects that I made from the ceiling with fishing line.  I had a local artisan make her birthday cake.  It was a three dimensional ladybug cake based upon a drawing I had submitted to her.  It was wonderful!  I bought tiny souffle cups from our local party supply store and scooped out small scoops of ice cream the night before and placed them in the freezer so that when it was time to serve it with the cake, it was ready and each person had a little cup with the ice cream in it. 

I ordered live ladybugs two weeks before the party from an online grower.  The night before the party, I placed ladybugs in baby food jars with holes in the top(washed and without the label)with a water soaked raisin in each jar.  I made sticker labels on the computer for each jar thanking them for coming to the party and to release the ladybugs in their yard within 2 days. 

For party favors, each guest received a ladybug sand bucket filled with the following:  book aboutladybugs, ladybug bubbles, baby food jar with live ladybugs, ladybug coloring book and crayons, gummy worms, bug juice, and bug candy.  My daughter even wore a ladybug dress!  At the end of the party, we went outside and released the ladybugs that I had out in our yard, and the kids loved watching them crawl around in the grass.  The parents loved the food and serving container details, and the kids loved the live ladybugs the best.  Super party…lot of work, but well worth it!!!