Party ideas & tips
Lovely Ladybirds theme
Lovely Ladybirds
Little girls love ladybirds and that one tiny creature can inspire a whole party. Foil-wrapped chocolate ladybirds will be your secret weapon – they can be hidden around the garden for a treasure hunt, given as prizes, included in the treat bag and used to decorate the table. Other decorations can include placemats cut from green paper into the shapes of leaves, and bunches of red and black balloons, or even red balloons with black dots drawn on.
Fly away home, it’s game time!
- When it’s time for a game, instead of a Hot Potato there could be a Jumpy Ladybird. Have the guests pass a toy ladybird around in a circle – if you’re holding her when the music stops, you’re out.
- And there’s Pin the Ladybird on the Flower, which means everyone’s a winner.
- Or put a spin on Duck Duck Goose by playing Ladybird Fly Away Home. With the children sitting in a circle, one child as the Ladybird walks around the outside tapping the others saying ‘Ladybird’ with each tap, until she says ‘Fly Away Home’. That child gets up and chases the Ladybird around the circle and becomes the Ladybird if she can catch her.
Sweet little lady cake
Taking centre stage on your table is the ladybird cake, a dome shape iced in red, detailed with chocolate buttons (black licorice circles and strips would look better but most littlies aren’t going to eat that), a black-iced cupcake head and black pipe cleaner antennae. She’s going to need some garden friends, so cupcake bees or flowers could be her supporting cast, as well as meringue caterpillars with tiny silver ball eyes. Chocolate-dipped strawberries sit well with the theme, and if you’re looking for a healthy option, watermelon scooped with a melon baller can form ladybirds. Just cut the balls in half and decorate with sultanas.
Lady-like arts
Crafty girls might want to make their own ladybird headbands, using a thin red Alice band, black pipe cleaners and red foam balls for antennae. Or for something perhaps more wearable later, a soft white cloth headband could be painted with ladybirds using red and black fabric paint. Guests can also make their own pet ladybirds, using smooth pebbles, red, black and white paint and glued-on eyes. That’s a good activity for the start of the party, waiting for guests to arrive and so they dry in time to be taken home.
