Butterfly Garden Birthday Party and Pear Tree Greetings Giveaway!

November 18, 2014 // by Mama & Baby Love

How is my beautiful girl 5 years old?! What a milestone 5 is! She really is no longer a baby, and it’s hard to wrap my mind around that fact.

I have been feeling a big transition coming on in my life, and part of it is because of her fifth birthday. Being a mother to a 5 year old is so different than mothering a baby. It requires nuturing and love, of course, but the energy required is totally different, in my experience. I am still adjusting to the shift, for sure.

We had originally decided on a Minnie and Mickey Party when we were still living in South Florida since we had annual passes to Disney World. (We are back in Tallahassee, hallelujah!) It was only a two hour drive to Disney from our old place, just close enough for a day trip and we went at least once a month.

But then she fell in love with a butterfly piñata at Target and everything changed – now she wanted a butterfly garden party. Even though she may change her mind at times, you can tell when she means business and is set on what she wants. So I knew it was no more Minnie, and a Butterfly Garden party is what we would have to plan.

When I talked with Pear Tree Greetings and told them our party plans, they were excited to help me create an awesome party for my Sweet P. Pear Tree Greetings is an amazing online resource for photo cards, announcements, and invitations. They did our Christmas cards, Valentine’s Day Cards, and now birthday invites, and they have all been over-the-top in both cuteness and quality. Plus everything they make is printed on 100% recyclable paper.

Just like the last two years, I am doing an awesome birthday party bundle giveaway! This year Pear Tree Greetings is giving away a $250 Visa Gift Card AND a $200 Pear Tree Greetings Gift Card!!! *Giveaway closed*

And you can use the Pear Tree Greetings gift card on Christmas cards if you want!!

I am also giving away all of the party decorations I used for the party, about a $300 value! So total this giveaway is a $750 value!! Find out how to enter below.

Pear Tree Greetings has quite the assortment of kid’s birthday invitations. I almost got these flower birthday invites for my daughter, which would have been adorable, especially with all the coordinating decor options, but I made the mistake of asking her opinion first and when she saw these fairy garden invitations, it was over. The decision was made. Side note: this whole party planning thing has me wondering if I am creating a spoiled and entitled little girl, but hopefully I am being conscious enough to curb that – we are constantly talking about how having parties is a way for us to spend time together, to do something creative and artistic, for me to show my love for her, for her to spend quality time with her friends, and for her life to be celebrated by our friends and family in a beautiful and mindful way. My hope is that she is a little girl with a vision who already knows exactly what she wants. One day, she will be CEO of a huge company and run it with skills she started honing at age 5, instead of turn into what’s her face from Charlie and Chocolate Factory. 🙂

She is always excited for her birthday parties. It is normal for her to always be right by my side for any party prep, but this year she took it to a whole new level. I read an article a few months ago that age five is when kids really start getting into picking party themes and being involved. That started at 3, but this year she was super duper excited.

She loved her butterfly queen crown that The Enchanted Paisley Etsy shop made for her. Because of Frozen, she doesn’t like to be called a princess, she is the QUEEN. Again, I can easily see Founder and CEO on her future business cards.

For party favors, butterfly wings from the dollar store and Target, and goodie bags with all things butterfly. A bracelet, a ring, a pack of stickers, a necklace, a balloon, a hair clip and a butterfly wand.

One of our quality time crafts was painting some wooden butterflies from Michael’s. I put them all over my front porch potted plants with a couple of balloons for good measure.

One of the coolest things I made are these Martha Stewart pink lanterns from Michael’s that we put butterfly stickers on. So easy!

Tissue paper garlands made such a big visual impact! Glam Fete Etsy Shop is so great about matching a party theme. I gave her my ideas and she hands down delivered!

The table decor was a mix of things from my Grandma, Oh Joy for Target’s summer line, stuff from Target’s Spritz party decor line, and cheap floral and gold rimmed china I found at Home Goods. I liked that nothing matched, but it did give me some anxiety because I wasn’t sure at first if it was all gonna come together like I envisioned or turn into a hot mess. Thankfully it was a success.

Talk about anxiety, this cake was giving me some anxiety, for sure (Good thing I know how stop anxiety in it’s tracks when it starts, one of the techniques I use is tapping). Even after all these years of baking and cooking, there is still a little voice in my head that says, “You are going ruin everything!”

I went with a basic vanilla spice cake, gluten-free of course, and a simple, dairy-free icing of white powered sugar and palm oil shortening with a little vanilla extract. And it was a crowd pleaser. Phew! I didn’t tell anyone it was gluten-free and dairy-free and they had no idea!

I bought two dozen pink roses from Costco and put them in little vases. These floral and gold rimmed vases are my Grandma’s, I love that they made an appearence!

Another one of our quality time crafts was this sign – the same sign I have used every birthday party, except last year because I couldn’t find it post move to Jupiter. I got butterfly découpage paper and then cut the butterflies out (I did this part by myself while watching TV). Once the background was painted, I mod podged them to the canvas. My daughter loved it!

Her blue mason jars from last year’s mermaid party made a comeback.

So grateful to have friends that let us borrow their blow up stuff!

And beyond grateful to be back in Tallahassee, so that our dearest friends, our friends that like family to us, could be at her party.

A near hair burning incident happened here. Every year there seems to be some sort of candle drama that I just can not escape. 🙂

GOOD LUCK!

And big thanks again to Pear Tree Greetings for being an amazing company, long standing supporter of M+BL and helping to make birthday dreams come true.

About Mama & Baby Love

Mama & Baby Love helps moms make sense of motherhood by teaching women the skills they need to be healthy, happy, and successful mothers. M&BL is all about mothering mothers by providing support for the toughest job in the world - Motherhood!