Plan a Time to Grow Birthday Party
by The TomKat Studio
A birthday party with a gardening theme is perfect for an outdoor celebration in summer. A great hands-on planting activity, tasty garden-themed treats, and some fun opportunities to get dirty while playing and learning make it an all-around success -- and a hit with girls as well as boys. Use our party plan and printable designs to easily pull the party together.
THREE TO FOUR WEEKS BEFORE:
Choose a location and time. Since gardening can get messy, it's best to host the party in your backyard or another location outside. You'll want plenty of daylight and warm sun, so late morning or early afternoon are ideal times.
Send or deliver invitations. Use our printable seed packet invitation design to establish the theme for the upcoming celebration. Including seeds with the invitation makes it extra-fun for the
recipients (and gives them something exciting to do while they count the days until the party).
Plan the decorations. Decorations and accents that coordinate with the invitation help the party feel both festive and well organized. Use our striped paper pinwheels, cupcake toppers with sweet sentiments like "grow with me," and coordinating place cards to enhance the party decor.
Week of the Party:
Shop and prepare food/desserts. Shop for ingredients and supplies early in the week. Prepare any food and desserts that you can in advance to save time on the day of the party.
Set up the tables. Make sure you have comfortable seating for kids, both for when they're eating and when they're doing activities (such as the planting project). Make sure to set up an area
where you can display your tantalizing themed treats.
Plan the potting station. Choose an area for the children to pot their plants. Gather supplies for the station, including small pots, trowels, soil and starter plants. Provide alphabet stamps, a stamp pad and wood sticks for the kids to stamp with their name or type of plant.
Day of the Party:
Decorate with paper pinwheels. Use our printable templates to make paper pinwheels; hang them with ribbon or string, or attach them to dowels and make bouquets of them for display.
Prepare food and desserts. Prepare bucket lunches for each guest. Serve
healthy items like turkey wraps, granola bars and fresh fruit. Label each lunch with a name so the kids know which bucket is for them. Prepare desserts, including Carrot Cake Cupcakes and Plant Parfaits. Place printable labels by each serving dish or platter describing what the food is.
