My baby girl was born on April 22nd, Earth Day…this year she turned 4 and we thought it would be so much fun to plan a theme that would work well with what is to be celebrated on Earth Day!  We decided that a ‘Garden’ party would be perfect, and to make it totally princess worthy we added some Butterflies!  Well, one butterfly anyway:

Her birthday was on a Thursday so we scheduled the party for the following Saturday.  On her actual birthday though, we made sure to celebrate in true Earth Day fashion.   We started the day opening presents, of course,  and then went on a trash pick-up, followed by a Nature Walk.  I was so happy to see how much she enjoyed making sure we kept our sidewalks and grass areas clean and beautiful!

We ended up with 2 bags full of trash, and we didn’t go that far…I couldn’t believe how much stuff people just throw on the ground!

Down the street from our house is a wooded area that has a trail running though it…it’s perfect for us since this ‘city mama’ isn’t much of a nature girl.  My idea of  being ‘outdoorsy’ is a day at the beach The kids got to explore a little and I didn’t have to venture too far!

The P’s got to see a caterpillar, butterfly, birds, squirrels, a small creek, and lots of different plants including some honeysuckle!  It’s the little things that really interest them…Preston’s favorites were rocks and fallen acorns

For the party, we tried to stay with the Earth Day theme as much as possible and created these really cute invitations out of brown paper grocery bags.

I decorated them with flowers that I cut out from some colored paper that I had on hand.

For food we did a selection of healthy appetizers with orange slices, melon, vegetable trays, hummus with baguette and organic wheat crackers and I made fresh guacamole and salsa with chips for the grown ups.  To make the clean up easy, I did still use paper plates but purchased disposable cups made from recycled materials.

The original plan was to have the party at the park, but of course, it rained!  And we had to move the party indoors.  Since there were over 20 kids attending plus adults, I opted for a cupcake-cake instead of a traditional birthday cake.  Really easy to serve and eat!  The flowers went with the Garden party theme, and the pink makes them extra girly for my princess!  It was just what she wanted!

For party activities we did face painting and I purchased inexpensive plastic pots, seeds, and soil and the kids each got to plant their own flowers.  We bought Marigolds to plant as I was informed by the nice lady at the home and garden center that they are perfect for preschoolers since they sprout within a few days!  Each child got to take home his/her flower pot instead of doing loot bags (which I don’t really care for anyway).  I always try to put together something for the kids to take home that doesn’t necessarily revolve around candy and stays with the theme of the party!

This is what their little seeds have grown into, and they are so proud!

Even with the rain, and the change of venue, the party was a huge success!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!  I love you so much!

2 Responses to “An ‘Earth Day’ Birthday Party with a hint of girly”