Keri Jill is 8 Garden Themed Birthday Party & Chocolate Piped Butterfly Toppers

Preparing a sweet birthday party for little girls isn’t hard with a fun garden theme. Invite friends and cousins and watch their delight to see chocolate butterflies perched on frosted cupcakes, fruit skewers in rainbow colors and mini blueberry muffin bouquet treats. Ending with a fresh flower ice-cream sundae craft that doubles as a take-home party favor.

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August is an unbelievably busy time of year for us. Daughter, Jill and family headed back to New York last night but not before joining in the fun celebrating Keri Jill’s 8th birthday with a party.

For whimsical and inexpensive decorations, I made tissue pom-poms and streamers. Pinterest was my inspiration. The pom-poms where reminiscent of my childhood when I would fold facial tissues, back and forth, accordion-style, then tie and form into delicate flowers. For these giant pom-pom’s, I purchased gift-wrap tissue paper. Fold several layers of tissue paper back and forth in the same manner, tie with string in the middle and using scissors, cut a curve at both ends. Gently and carefully, to avoid tearing, separate the layers to form a huge pom-pom. Attach a length of string or yarn and hang from the ceiling.

Next, I went to my paper stash and used my one-and-only paper punch to make streamers.

After punching lots and lots of scalloped circles from solid color and patterned card stock, I simply machine stitched varying lengths to form streamers and then thumb-tacked them to the ceiling by lengths of thread. The dining room was readied the day before the party.

The Birthday Girl arrives

along with these sweet little ladies, her special guests

They ate, made a craft and had their nails painted in the prettiest shades of polish. Gifts were opened and then it was time for birthday cake!

Make a wish, Keri…

Hope all your dreams come true!

Little fingers could easily grab pieces from a large
Cheese & Grapes Sunflower

I sliced a block of cheddar cheese into 1/4-inch slices and cut each slice diagonally.

I arranged the cheese slices into a two-layer circle, the filled the circle with grapes. A piece of celery was added for a stalk. Super easy and fun!

All gardens need rain and if you are lucky, you might get to see a colorful rainbow afterwards.

Rainbow Fruit Skewers

I cut wooden skewers into 6-inch lengths and threaded on a raspberry, Mandarin orange, pineapple chunk, green grape, blueberry and purple grape.

Muffin Bouquet

Bake Blueberry mini muffins using two paper liners for each.

Using the same paper punched scalloped circles as those for the streamers, I threaded a circle and muffin onto a wooden skewer. I added ribbon bows to each and displayed the bouquet in a flower vase.

Cupcakes with chocolate piped butterflies

These are not at all hard to make and look really cute. The instructions sound way more complicated then it really is.

* First gather several pieces of cardboard or heavy paper. Fold in half to form a V-shape that will form the butterfly wing shape.

* cute several 5-inch x 8-inch (depending on the size of your shape) pieces of waxed-paper

*Draw butterflies (I used a google image) or whatever shape you like onto a piece of paper. ( I drew 3 2-inch x 2-inch butterflies, one below the other onto a strip of paper)

* Place the waxed paper on top of the paper with your drawn design. (you will pipe the melted chocolate onto the waxed paper)

* Place about 1/2 cup of melting chocolate disks into a microwavable bowl and melt per package directions.

* Fill piping bag fitted with a writing tip with melted chocolate and pipe onto the waxed paper following the design. Being mindful of the delicate, lacy design, try to fill so the butterfly won’t be too fragile and break.

*After piping the three butterflies, I placed the piece of waxed paper onto the folded cardboard making sure the center of the butterflies aligned with the fold.

*Pop the cardboard into the freezer or refrigerator of a few minutes until firm.

*I ‘glued’ the butterflies onto the cupcake with a little additional frosting.

~*~

NOTE: The butterflies held up well but a few lost part of a wing when the room heated up. (It was a hot, south-facing room at 2 o’clock in the afternoon in Mid-August!) I don’t think would be a problem any other time.

The butterflies will attach nicely if you place them on just after piping the frosting and while it is still soft. If the frosting has hardened, just pipe on a dab and gently press on each butterfly.

Chocolate butterflies all aflutter.

The girls loved making and taking home their ice-cream sundaes made with fresh flowers. A single blossom from a red geranium created the cherry-on-top and a plastic straw completed the craft. Click Fresh Flower Ice-Cream Sundaes for how-to instructions.

Sweet cousin working on her craft project.

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Comments

marie says
August 12, 2012 at 3:52 pm
I'm not sure how I missed this post…thank goodness for "linked within"!
You created a wonderful birthday memory with this party Lorraine. Everything is so fun…from the food to the decor. LOVE the sunflower and the pom poms and streamers. I'll be saving this inspiration for sure!
Adrienne says
August 23, 2011 at 6:50 pm
What a wonderful, magical party! I love the way you put it all together. You are an inspiration!
~Adrienne~
Kim@todayismysome-day says
August 23, 2011 at 4:10 pm
Gorgeous color scheme! I love love love the chocolate butterflies! They made those cupcakes perfect! And your pictures are really well done. I love the one of the birthday girl getting ready to blow out the candle. Came over via FToes, where I posted a my daughter's Pinkalicious party. Check it out.
Kate@TwentySixToLife says
August 23, 2011 at 1:20 pm
What fun!
Just a little something from Judy says
August 23, 2011 at 11:19 am
I feel like I just opened my new Martha Stewart magazine and was eagerly turning each page. What a beautifully, lovingly, and creatively done party for a pretty little girl! I am sure she will never forget it. I am so impressed and so thankful you shared it all with us. Great post!
crochet lady says
August 22, 2011 at 9:50 pm
What a blessed girl to have such a fun party! Love your decorations.
amy @ Life in Pink Hi-Tops says
August 22, 2011 at 4:02 pm
So cute! What a wonderful party! Love those butterflies–exquisite.
Maggie Ann says
August 22, 2011 at 1:30 am
You are the most!!! I love everything you did. The paper flowers are sooo pretty and I love the chocolate butterflies! Your Birthday Girl is adorable…I love the pic of her gettiing ready to blow out her candles. btw…is there any way of signing up for pinterest without going through facebook? I came across it recently but don't want to do the facebook thing.
podso says
August 21, 2011 at 9:39 pm
What a fun party! Lots of fun work on your part. It all looks special and I love the colors … must try muffins on a stick!
Julie says
August 21, 2011 at 12:04 pm
What a lovely party! The sunflower is so neat!
Viv says
August 21, 2011 at 8:13 am
i gotta say i havent seen such a beautifully organised party like this for a while…you're so talented lorraine! love the blue theme and blue pom poms and cupcakes (that butterfly idea is a keeper!)
The Procrastobaker says
August 21, 2011 at 7:45 am
Your decorations are BEAUTIFUL! You are just so creative, and the cupcake toppers especially are magical, i bet the birthday girl was elated 🙂
Tara says
August 21, 2011 at 3:56 am
Cool beans! You did an A+ job on the entire party. I love Pinterest too.
Hugs,
tara
Petra says
August 21, 2011 at 2:28 am
When I grow up I want to be a grandmother like you! 🙂
Ann says
August 21, 2011 at 1:11 am
Isn't Pintrest the coolest place? Love the ideas you found. That looked like one fantastic birthday party. Happy Birthday to keri
Lemon Lane Cottage says
August 21, 2011 at 1:13 am
What special touches for a "kids" party. I am sure they all thought it was just beautiful. I know I would have loved it and those butterflies turned out so pretty especially with that aqua blue frosting. What a good mom-mom you are.
stefanie says
August 20, 2011 at 10:53 pm
what a beautiful party and beautiful birthday girl!!!!
FABBY'S LIVING says
August 20, 2011 at 10:40 pm
Keri is so beautiful like her grandma! What a great birthday, wow! I'm getting ideas to make for my Victoria's 8th.,…maybe I should just hire you and be done with it! LOL! Beautiful, thanks for sharing. Happy b'day to your sweet Keri. FABBY
NanaDiana says
August 20, 2011 at 10:02 pm
Lorraine- I think you are one of the best grandmothers I have ever known. Your love for those children just shines through everything you do…from the stitched hangers to the piped butterflies…what a labor of love.
I haven't been to Pinetrest yet-other than to pop in- I am afraid I will get "hooked"-lol But the ideas you found there are fantastic.
Your little Keri Jill is just a beautiful little girl..and what a great looking bunch of guests!;>)
Anonymous says
August 20, 2011 at 8:26 pm
Keri looks beautiful and it looks like a wonderful party with lots of unique touches. Thank you for sharing the fun with us!

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