Ladybug Party -5yr- Garden Bug Pinwheels

When my daughter, Sophia, was going to turn 5 on June 25th, 2007, she decided she wanted to have a Ladybug party. Her nickname is Ladybug so it was quite appropriate! We invited 5 families (kids were ages 2 to 7 years, with 13 total children) over for fun, games and treats.

I decorated with red and black balloons and covered the main food table with a green tablecloth that looked like grass. I found it on sale at Party City - it was in their sports section. I found the majority of my supplies, prizes and decorations at the dollar store (i.e. green plastic tablecloths, poster board, red dessert plates & napkins, black forks, large bendable flowers and dragonflies, large garden pinwheels, bags of bugs, plastic bug boxes, prizes for the games, etc.)  Since we decided less than two weeks before Sophia's Birthday to have party and we had just gotten back from our annual beach vacation. 

I created a ladybug invitation where the ladybugs wings open with the party info. 

On the day of the party, Sophia dressed in a top and skirt my mother made her - the fabric was purple with ladybugs all over it!

When the kids arrived, they walked up our front path passing many spinning (because of the light breeze) garden pinwheels. The pinwheels wheels" were shaped like flower petals of various bright colors. I hot glued tiny ladybugs to the petals. 

They each received a set of antennae. To create these I cut one black pipe cleaner in half then attached one black pom-pom to one end of each pipe cleaner. I hot-glued the other end to the underside of a Goody headband (at Target I found different colored ones that were about 2 inches wide - which ended up being perfect because the girls matched their dresses with the color of the headband and the boys took the yellow or blue ones). After gluing the end I twisted the pipe cleaner around the band to cover the glued end. I did the same thing to the second antennae.

After putting on their antennae I took the kids photo in front of a make shift larger-than-life size window box full of bendable large flowers and bendable sticks with dragonflies on top. I created this window box with a large plastic tablecloth that I stapled along the railing of our screened-in porch - the flowers and dragonflies fit perfectly between the railing and the screen. With this photo I later created postcards for my daughter to write her thank you notes on - giving the receiver another nice memento from the party.

 After the photo session the kids did a craft. My husband made out of wood bought from Home Depot one ladybug house for each family then spray painted them red or pink - we asked each family their color preference a week before the party. I found the directions for these houses on-line. Each child painted a part of their house - some of the parents got in on the fun too! Later when the houses were dry I sprayed a sealant on them so each family could hang them outside.  

After the craft the kids played some organized games. They played pin-the-ladybug on its leaf. The kids stuck ladybug stickers I found at Hobby Lobby (or Michael's) onto a large leaf I made from a piece of green poster board. After they pinned their ladybug they each received a flower from the window box.

The second game they played was a search and rescue sort of game where they had to find two tiny ladybugs I had hidden in our screened-in porch. Among the obstacles of plants and sofa cushions were about 50 plastic bugs I had placed all over the place. They got to keep the bugs as they found them while searching for the ladybugs in a plastic bug catcher's box which they also kept. The two winners of this game received a small prize - ladybug socks and bee playing cards.

The last game was musical ladybugs. It was similar to musical chairs but the kids had to fly around the room. When the music stopped they had to find a leaf and stand on it. Everyone received a prize from this game as well - a curly straw.

An on-going game was a jellybean guessing game. I had one for the adults and one for the kids. The adults had to guess how many black and white jellybeans were mixed in a large jar of read jellybeans. The kids had to guess how many jellybeans were in a small baby food jar. Whomever guessed the right amount went home with the jar of beans! I served oreo cookie ladybugs ladybug cupcakes and ice cream and then Sophia opened gifts.

Each child went home with their own antennae bug boxes full of plastic bugs a large bendable flower or dragonfly a curly straw and a pinwheel from the front path. After I had sealed them I gave the ladybug houses to them a week or so later. It was such a fun easy and perfect party for our own Ladybug! Her little brother and his friend who were both two at the time still talk about it so I know even the littlest ones enjoyed themselves! "