For my daughter's 3rd birthday, we decided to have a butterfly theme party.
We had the party at a local park (for easy clean up!)I found invitations with butterflies & bugs on the border & matching bug "thank you" cards (colorsbydesign.com). I ordered all the supplies from Oriental Trading Co. I strung small wire-trimmed butterflies in bright colors from fishing line from the trees around our picnic area at different lengths to give the illusion of butterflies in flight (just over the children's heads). I also had a few garden stakes with wire butterflies on them that I placed around the party area. The market had giant dragonfly and butterfly helium balloons that I bought, in addition to standard round balloons in purple, yellow, green & bright pink. I put bright yellow (cheap) tablecloths over the picnic tables, and used wicker baskets to hold the food (chips, etc.) & had fishing line & butterflies suspended from the handles. I had the food catered because I was 9mos. pregnant, but we ordered from Acapulco (5 foot burritos, rice, salad, chips & salsa), the kids had corndogs & watermelon, and the cake was ordered from the local market w/ butterfly decor in the same color scheme. For the give-aways, I bought colored paper gift bags (in purple, yellow, green, & bright pink)and stapled brightly colored butterfly gliders to each one (oriental trading co.) Inside the bags were insect finger puppets, and each child got one butterfly or insect mask (bumble bees, lady bug, etc.) buggy tattoos, and bubble necklaces w/butterfly wings attached (all from oriental). The kids played at the park and did a butterfly bookmark craft (from oriental)on picnic blankets using glue sticks. There were butterfly gliders flying through the air all day to add to the effect!