Ladybug Birthday Party

We had a ladybug birthday party for my daughter this past weekend. I was terrible at taking pictures, so I don't have as many as I would have liked to but I thought I'd pass along some of the ideas.

The Invite:
Below is the invitation to her party. I just found a fun lady bug image I liked online and a fun black and white poka dot image online as well. I created the invite in Photoshop Elements and had the invites printed at Wal-Mart as 4"x6" photos.

Display:
We were going to have the party outside on our patio but we had been finishing up planting a flower bed in time for the party and didn't even think about the smell that comes with fresh dirt. Our back yard basically smelled like a barnyard so we moved the party inside. I had a picture of the bday girl in a black frame and a vase of red flowers to go along with the red and black lady bug theme. I had red plates and cups and black utensils and napkins. I had a red and black balloon. I made a banner using black yarn and small clothes pins with pictures of her each month of her first year. The birthday girl was also wearing a cute little lady bug shirt. I had a lady bug costume, but she wasn't feeling well that day so I didn't want to put her in anything uncomfortable.



The Food:
I served these adorable ladybug cracker appetizers. I made this delicious Southwest pasta salad and had some bread to go along with it. I had a tray of strawberries with a dip which is made out of a 8 ounce container of strawberry cream cheese and 8 oz of marshmallow cream. For dessert we had cupcakes. I used a yellow cake mix and added zest from one lemon to it and then I frosted it with this lemon frosting. I made lady bug toppers to put on top using the same lady bug image I used on my invites. I printed twelve of the images to a page and printed them and cut them out in a circle shape. I then cut red card stock in a slightly larger circle and glued the ladybug cutout to the red piece. I then taped a toothpick to the back and stuck in the cupcake. They turned out really cute and were delicious. We served with some delicious Breyer's vanilla ice cream.

Photo credit: Taste of Home