Butterfly Garden 4th Birthday Party

We celebrated my daughter’s 4th birthday with a Butterfly Garden themed birthday party full of butterflies and birthday wishes! Flutter on by to check out all the photos and details below!

Both my girls love butterflies and while we’ve hosted a similar Fairy Garden Party for my older daughter, I knew Ivy would love a butterfly garden theme for her 4th birthday. She had so much fun helping me pick out designs and colors for her party table.

I’ve included resources below as well as a prep timeline for anyone that might find it helpful.

Butterfly Party: Tablecloth & Plates

I typically begin any tablescape design by deciding on my table covering. I fell in love with this darling green and pink rose pattern as it reminded me of an English garden. I ordered the tablecloth directly from Spoonflower. Super easy, just make sure you have a few weeks lead time.

Next up, I spotted these absolutely darling butterfly plates by Mottahedeh. They are the green apple lace pattern. While these were more a splurge, I know I’ll use them year after year from Easter to special dinners. Eventually, I’ll pass them along to Ivy to have when she is older.

The white dinner plate and placemats are from my collection of dinnerware. The beaded placemats are originally from Frontgate. The pink check napkins are an Amazon find! The gold and white flatware is also an Amazon find that I love love love!

The pink glassware is a set I’ve had for years, but here is a similar set! Here are the birthday party hats. They do require putting together, but it wasn’t too difficult and the pastel colors are so pretty! Of course, I had to hot glue on a few little extra butterflies.

Butterfly Party: Centerpiece Flowers

By far my favorite part of this butterfly party table has to be the floral centerpieces. I created a similar design for my oldest daughter’s first birthday which was garden themed. While I don’t still have those centerpieces (that was back in 2015), my Mom and I knew we could make them again and smaller this time so they’d be the right size for my dining room table.

To make the picket-fence style flower boxes, I first bought these wooden planter boxes and sprayed them both white. They come with a plastic liner and floral foam which is SUPER helpful!

Home Depot sells pieces of white picket fence that we cut and glued around the sides of the white planter boxes to give the garden fence design.

Lastly, we simply dropped down in the plastic liner and the floral foam soaked with water and stuck down in lots of flowers and greenery. The flowers were all finds from area grocery stores, nothing fancy. When mixed together with sprigs of fern from the garden, the look came together beautifully!

Butterflies for the Party

Let’s dive into the butterflies! For a butterfly garden party, I went all out, adding them everywhere I could. I’m absolutely in love with how it all came together!

As far as sourcing the butterflies, I looked for “feather butterflies” online and found most on Etsy but a few on Amazon too. Here are some as well as here too. I aimed for a variety of colors and sizes to vary things visually.

I used floral stem wire down in the floral planter and hot glued the butterflies on to make them appear as if they were flying in and out of the garden.

I wrapped greenery and flowers around my chandelier and hung extra butterflies from clear fishing line from the chandelier as well as a few from the ceiling. The best part was whenever someone walked in or out of the room, the movement in the air would cause the butterflies to flutter a bit. It was so pretty!

Ivy’s Butterfly Garden Sign

I spotted these darling wooden signs over on Etsy that had a garden-feel to them, and I knew I wanted to add one down in her floral centerpiece. Now that the party is over, Ivy is going to stick it outside by her fairy garden in our backyard. She’s so excited!

Butterfly Party Birthday Cake

Let’s talk cake—one of my favorite details at every party! Here’s a little secret: we gifted our daughter a Charleston single house dollhouse that we were building right up until the day of the party, so I needed to save time during party week.

What’s a busy mom to do? I ordered two round cakes from Publix, stacked them myself (with dowels for support), whipped up a batch of pink buttercream frosting, and decorated with a mix of fresh flowers, faux florals, and extra butterflies. It turned out perfectly!

Megan of King Party Pants here in Charleston, SC once again helped make our party room with festive with the most gorgeous balloon arch! I highly recommend her services if you’re local!

Prep Timeline

4-5 WEEKS OUT: I like to come up with my theme (if I haven’t already) at least 4 weeks out so I have time to order anything needed online that might require long shipping timelines like tablecloths, customized signs from Etsy, etc. Be sure to book any balloons, cake, etc.

3 WEEKS OUT: I spray painted my planters and did some brainstorming for what else I needed to order.

2 WEEKS OUT: I ordered butterflies, party hats, decided on napkins, set up an example place setting so I knew my color scheme.

1 WEEK OUT: I typically set the party table “basics” at this point just to get a feel for what else I need.

2 DAYS OUT: Do anything you can get done at this point as far as hanging butterflies, little signs, etc.

1 DAY OUT: Pick up all flowers and arrange fully. Prep cake if making yourself.

DAY OF: Hopefully it’s just a matter of tweaking a few florals at this point. I really like to have everything I can have done in advance so I can enjoy the party too!

If you want to see more of Ivy’s past birthday celebrations, click below:

• Ivy’s Charleston Rainbow Row Party
• Ivy’s “Off 2 The Races” Birthday Party
• Ivy’s Sailboat 1st Birthday Party

Setting party tables is obviously one of my love languages. I adore the creativity and finding themes that delight my girls. They love to help in the process too. I hope I’ve inspired you if you are hosting a butterfly party soon!

If you have any questions that I didn’t answer above, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below!