Ladybug themed 1st birthday - need suggestions

[c2lane]

My DD's favorite book is "10 Little Labybugs" and she was a ladybug for Halloween. So... in keeping with the theme, we're going to have a Ladybug party at the park (weather cooperating).

I found some adorable ladybug invitations on eBay along with matching bubble labels, both will be personalized with her name.

There are 10 children invited to the party, ages ranging from 6 months to 5 years old. Do I need to have more than just bubbles as party favors? 2 of the children invited are boys, both are 5. The rest are girls; 1 - 4 yr old, 3 - 3 yr olds, 1 - 2yr old and 3 who turn 1 in January and then the 6 month old.

Help!

Carrie & Dillan Rose 01/02/04
http://lilypie.com/baby1/050102/2/2/0/-8/.png
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_amber_9m.gif 11+ months and going strong

[lukkykatt]

Hopefully Cindy will see this because she was just telling us about all of the things that she did for Anna's ladybug themed bday. I'm sure that she made a heck of a cake - maybe she'll post a pic of that one too.

[phirey]

DD's 1st Birthday (2003) was ladybug!

I made a chocolate cake, which I baked in a pyrex glass bowl. I was able to flip it upside down on top of a single 8" layer (to make her taller), and iced it with RED homemade icing. I bought the red coloring in a tiny little vial at Michaels. Careful, because the red has a funny taste, so use as little as you can to get it red, and no more! I used junior mints for the dots, and storebought chocolate mint icing for other black accents. The chocolate mint was the darkest storebought I could find, but they also make black decorating icing. Then I made large "Texas muffin size" cupcakes, and iced most of them with leftover red, except one. I iced it with the chocolate mint and snuggled it up next to the ladybug to be her head. I put a very amateurish face on her, but DD liked it. Her head (morbid, I know) became the "smash cake" for the party, and the other kids ate cupcakes as well.

I bought a plain red tablecloth and plain red plates and cups. the preschool kids played "pin the dot on the ladybug." I think I got some other ladybug stuff at party city, but it was a,oittle hard to find for a fall birthday, much less january!

Anyway, here's some pics, hope they're not too amateurish for you!



http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/18211.jpg


http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/18212.jpg


http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/18213.jpg

[Tondi G]

I found these at Oriental Trading Company and thought they might be suitable if you wanted to give something in addition to the bubbles.... they are only $3.95 for a dozen!

http://www.orientaltrading.com/otcweb/application?namespace=browse&origin=searchMain.jsp&event=link.itemDetails&demandPrefix=12&sku=24/1324&mode=Searching&searchDestinationJSP=/search/searchMain.jsp&erec=4&D=ladybug&No=0&event=button.search&Dx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&namespace=search&Ntx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&Ntt=ladybug&N=0&origin=searchMain.jsp&Ntk=all

Go to their website and put ladybug into their search engine.... they have a bunch of craft kits and such that are all ladybug themed!

Here is a cute ladybug themed party goods pattern

http://birthdaydirect.com/cgi-bin/cart/cart?cart=Search&Pattern=LADY+BUGS&title=Lady%20Bugs%20theme%20birthday%20party%20sup plies

or the ladybug princess party goods

http://birthdaydirect.com/cgi-bin/cart/cart?cart=Search&Pattern=PRINCESS+BUG&title=Lady%20Bug%20princess%20theme%20birthday%20p arty%20supplies


Good luck, HTH's ya!

~Tondi
Mommy to Mason 7/8/01
and lil man #2 edd 5/5/05

[geochick]

How about sending some live ladybugs home as favors? Seriously! They make great pets and when you get bored with them you can set them free in your garden. They eat aphids and other bad bugs. :)
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/insectlore/livladbeet.html

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/18230.jpg

[cinrein]

I did a ladybug theme for Anna's 1st birthday too. Our party was just family and there were 7 kids ranging in age from 1 to 10. These were all Anna's cousins, so I probably spent more on their goody bags than I otherwise would have.

For goody bags, I got some ladybug stuff from Oriental Trading, plus some bug stuff like a magnifying glass. I found some ladybug small notepads and pencils at a party store and put those in too. I rounded it out with ladybug stickers and made some ladybug lollipops (Wilton candy). I also bought some cheap plastic headbands and covered them with black pipcleaners. I glued black pom-poms on both ends of 1 pipecleaner and then wired that onto the headband to make antenna.

For games, we played bug hunt. I ordered a load of plastic bugs from Oriental trading and hid them around the house. The kids have to find all of them. Whoever found the 1 ladybug got a prize and whoever found the most bugs got a prize. The kids loved this game---I actually had to hide all the bugs again because they wanted to play again! I made a pin the spot on the ladybug game out of poster board. I got a ladybug pinata from a local party store that DH modified to have it burst open when the right ribbon is pulled on (rather than having to beat it). I also ordered some beanbag ladybugs from Oriental trading and we played a ladybug toss game. I basically designed the games so each kid would win something.

The plates I used were these:http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/18251.jpg

I got them from www.simplybabystuff.com. I just got a few plates and napkins and used red plates/napkins too. I bought a cheap red/white gingham tablecloth which went nicely with the red/black theme. A red plastic tablecloth colored with black dots would be cute too.

I needed a really big cake, so I made a huge round cake and decorated like a big flower. I then used a ball pan (or a pyrex bowl would work just as well) to make a ladybug that sat on the flower. I also made a mini baby ladybug out of a smaller ball pan (like cupcake size), which was the piece Anna got.

If you check out birthdaypartyideas.com, there are a ton of ideas for ladybug parties. I basically copied everything from there.

Cindy and Anna February 2003

[blnony]

We did a Ladybug 1st Birthday Party for Audrey. I had so much fun with it.
Here is a pic of our Ladybug cake (I had it made, I am no where near this talented in the baking dept.) and I had Lavender, White, Red and Black Balloons everywhere of varing size, and Lavender and White Streamers up. I found a Birthday sign and Hat that were neutral in white and gold b/c I plan to use them every year. Then I found cardboard Cut out Ladybugs that were about 12 inches Tall and decorated with those too. I had a red/lavender and white Gerber Daisy centerpiece with decorative Ladybugs done for the food table, and the cake was on a separate table and I decorated with fresh daisies too.
For favors, I did the 10 Little Ladybugs Board Book for each child, with a Cute Cardboard Bookmark with thier names printed on it. We only had 5 kids at her 1st b-day, so it wasn't too expensive and they were all under 2. A book idea would work for you too, you could just pick out books in that child's age range about ladybugs.
Have fun with this...I loved this theme, it was so much fun!!
Edited to add: The little Gift cake was her "smash" cake.


http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/18271.jpg

[c2lane]

Great suggestions and ideas. Thanks for all the links to the different sites too.

There are some very creative and talented Mama's on this board. Both the cakes are adorable! Unfortunately I'm all thumbs but lucky for me a good friend of ours owns a bakery and has volunteered to make the birthday cake, so that's one less thing to worry about. I think I'm going to send her this link so she can see the pictures of the 2 different cakes. I also like the flower idea with a small ladybug too! Lots of good ideas. This board is great!!!

I'll post pictures after the final day! Thanks for all you help!!!

Carrie & Dillan Rose 01/02/04
http://lilypie.com/baby1/050102/2/2/0/-8/.png
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_amber_9m.gif 11+ months and going strong