Garden Party (Bugs)  For my daughter's first birthday we had a garden party. It was in May and the weather was perfect for this occasion.   The invitations had a picture of my daughter on the front holding a flower.  Her name is Lily, so the whole theme pertained to her name.  The wording on the inside of the invitation read, "Spring has Sprung...It's Time for Some Fun...Lily is turning One."  Below that, I wrote a little poem:    Have you heard??? The bees are all buzzing, the grasshoppers hopping, and the butterflies fluttering. A special garden party  is waiting for you. We will see you at four, come to the back door. We'll have food and some cake, birthday wishes we'll make. So, don't delay, make your plans right away, we'll see you on the 12th of May!!!  The backyard was full of bug and garden related themes. There was a face painting area where the older children painted flowers and bugs for the little ones. We had a bug juice center where they made "bug Juice" using a variety of colored Kool Aid layered in a baby food jar like sand art. The lid was placed on the jar, a fabric circle of friendly bugs was added and a piece of rafia was used to tie the jar. We had a large pin the ladybug on the flower area. My mother made two flowers out of felt and mounted them to a large felt banner.  Then the children tried to "pin" their ladybugs (velcro on the back) to the flower.  The large one for the older children and the little one for the little kids.  We played Bug Boogie (similar to red light/green light) where the children had to move like a particular bug (fly, bee, grasshopper, etc.). The gifts were displayed in a wheelbarrow that was placed outside. The food consisted of a cookout with hamburgers and hotdogs.  There were two cakes: a butterfly and a sunflower (homemade).  The butterfly was done in a tube pan, sliced in half, turned curved side to curved side and frosted to look like a butterfly, then decorative candies were added.  This was my daughter's cake to enjoy. The sunflower cake was a 9" round frosted yellow with 16 Twinkies frosted yellow and placed around the outside of the cake. Then Hershey kisses were placed all over the cake for the seed-look.  We also made ladybug and bee cupcakes. For favors, each child received a dragonfly or butterfly fuzz character that had a clear string that could be hung from the ceiling. The adult guests received a package of Forget-me-Nots with the following note attached to it: Plant these seeds  and watch them grow. When they bloom, you're sure to know. Far or near, I love you so!!! Love, Lily I also created candy bar wrappers for Kit Kats that read, Lily just turned one thanks for joining in the fun. This had a little ladybug image along with it.  Overall, it was a great success.  We live away from our family and friends so this was held at my parent's home and we had lots of adults and children attend.  Lily enjoyed her first birthday and we all had fun.