Gardening Themed Birthday Party

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Inside Garden Party Set-UpSo since I am STILL in birthday mode this week (see last week’s post if you missed my last birthday post)…I thought I’d share another great outside inspired birthday party from the past. When my Littlest One was turning five, we planned a gardening themed birthday party. In my mind it would be held in our backyard as spring approached, with the warm sun shining down as kids ran about on a scavenger hunt, potted plants on our beautiful patio and dug in the dirt around Doug’s lovely raised vegetable garden beds. The backdrop to this party was perfect in my mind…but as had become the norm…the weather didn’t cooperate and it was a damp, extremely cold and very windy day. Another perfect party plan foiled by the weather and once again we made the best of it and moved most of it inside. So I’m sharing what we did and how you too can host a fun Gardening Party…and hopefully the weather will cooperate for you! If not, it’s totally doable inside…really it is.

Garden Party InvitationI love paper & I love cute invitations…so I was inspired to make this year’s invitation on my own..well kinda. I got the cards from Target and then added the little flower embellishments from an American Girl Paper Posies craft kit we had in our stash of craft supplies left over from something else. One of Littlest One’s nicknames is Meri…thus the appropriateness of using the nursery rhyme for her invitation. But my favorite part was inviting them to come “play in the dirt”.  I love this phrase for a Gardening Party…it invites fun and let’s those invited know how to dress:)

Dollar Tree has great Mylar balloons for only $1/each. We got a variety of colors of the flower balloons for decorations and would give one to each guest to take home with them after the party. If they don’t have them in your local store…they will order them for you…at least my store did for me!

CupcakesI made cupcakes using a flower shaped cupcake pan from Williams-Sonoma. I don’t know that they sell these anymore, but you might be able to find one on eBay. The cupcakes turned out pretty cute for the novice cake-maker/decorator that I am.

I served all the snacks in various metal buckets or galvanized tin containers that just seemed to say “garden” to me. I almost served the water and juice out of the watering cans…but the heads of the watering cans were bigger than my cups so that idea got scratched. But would be pretty fun if you had the right watering can and cup combo.

When the guests arrived the first activity was to paint a terracotta pot. I pre-wrote each guests name on the bottom of their pot to make things easier on everyone. I had a couple of different samples of painted pots to inspire them. They could use sponges if they wanted to sponge paint…or they could also use brushes if they wanted that look. I also showed them how they could use the wooden tip of the paintbrush to make polka dots easily. The kids were so creative and the colorful combinations they came up with were so cute!

Painting Flower PotsWhile the pots were drying, we braved the cold and went outside for a scavenger hunt led by my Resident Gardener himself…dressed up as Mr. McGregor. Oh the things a Daddy will do for their kids! I had clues typed up and hidden throughout the yard prior to the guests’ arrival. Clue after clue led them around our yard and ultimately to our vegetable garden where a basket full of gardening gloves and shovels for each of the guests were found.

Garden Scavenger HuntAfter this, the guests went back inside equipped with their gloves and shovels to plant their plants in the pots that they had just painted. This would have been a lot more appropriate to do outside, but it would’ve been miserable in the cold. So I sucked it up and let the mess come inside and it wasn’t so bad after all. I had extra soil in buckets for them to use as they each transplanted their flowers into their new pots. This is where they got to play in the dirt as they crumbled the soil and added more to the mix. This would’ve totally been more fun had they had more freedom to make a mess outside, but it worked and the mission was accomplished.

Potting ActivityAlong with the flower balloon, shovel, gloves and their painted pot, each guest also got two parting gifts: a pack of Zinnia seeds to plant in their own yards…which was an intentional move to encourage them to continue to play in the dirt a little more at home; and a little pre-seeded “just add water” pot that they could watch grow inside.

Parting GiftsWe were able to share our love of gardening and playing in the dirt with our friends and their kids at this party. It was really fun…and actually pretty easy, if I do say so myself! As I’ve said before, I don’t go over the top with my parties, but I do like them to be creative, engaging, fun and work within a reasonable budget.

Hope you’re inspired to get creative with your next birthday party and maybe even have a Gardening Party of your own. I’d love to hear ideas for a Gardening Birthday Party. Please share them here on RYGblog so that we can all be inspired!

Take care,
Britt initial

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2 Comments

  1. sally phillips on March 1, 2014 at 8:00 am

    Hi Brittany, I loved reading about Meredith’s birthday party .it sounded like so much fun and gave me some good ideas of things to do with my grandchildren. You are so creative and such a wonderful mother. I’m sorry the weather didn’t cooperate,but Im sure they still had a ball. Love you, Sally

    • Brittany Scott on March 13, 2014 at 11:59 am

      Thanks Sally for your encouragement! I do enjoy planning for the girls’ parties and love seeing all the guests have fun! Glad you were inspired! In fact, this could be a great Grandma Camp activity/session!
      -B.

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