A Purple Butterfly Birthday {Elsie Grace turns 2!}

Happy Birthday, Elsie Grace!

Our sweet little Elsie turns 2 today! She is an absolute sweetheart with huge dimples, lots of snuggles, and an independent streak. She loves books, black olives, cats, and singing (and asking me to sing) “The Wheels on the Bus” with endless additional verses. She loves people, playgrounds, and pretzels. And she has brought more joy to our lives in her two years than I could have ever imagined.

So often I feel my heart swell and my eyes fill with tears as I thank God for the gift she is to us. Her birthday is a true celebration.

We decided to hold her birthday party a week ago on Easter so that her Auntie Juls and Uncle Brian could celebrate with us while they were in town visiting!

Party Decor

I decided on a butterfly theme with purple, lime, and turquoise – inspired by some adorable napkins. That’s right, I planned her party around napkins. But hey, you have to start somewhere!

I could go crazy with decorating… especially when I have a color and a theme to run with! But I was determined to keep things simple this year, and to focus on what Elsie would enjoy (and not on being Pinterest-perfect). An example of this is the dessert plates… I had found some cute square, turquoise plates for cake, but while at the dollar store we came across some froggy party plates. Elsie freaked out (in a good way), squealing and hugging them. That was all the convincing I needed! Froggy plates it was. It also helped that they were lime green with a little hint of purple! 😉

Another way of including Elsie (in her own party!) this year was with her invitations, which she decorated herself!

We found sparkly foam butterfly stickers (does it get any better than that?!) which she meticulously placed on blank cards. I then wrote the party details around the butterflies wherever there was space. Each invite was unique and made with a lot of love!

I reigned myself in when it came to a birthday banner. There are a billion adorable pennant banner ideas out there, but they take time and energy that I just didn’t have this year. I found the Happy Birthday banner below for $1, complete with butterflies. Elsie loves it. The paper polka dots were another cheap and easy decoration. I purchased five sheets of scrapbook paper, used various bowls and cups to trace circles on them, cut them out and taped them up!

Tissue butterflies hang in the doorway between the kitchen and living room. I simply accordion-folded a sheet of tissue, cut it to the desired width, and tied it in the middle with fishing line.

I found paper lanterns in the perfect colors for $1-2 each, so I couldn’t pass them up! I hung five (various sizes) above the dining room table. They’ll also look cute hanging in our room… and I always love decorations that can be used again! Hanging decor from the ceiling adds so much dimension. When Elsie first saw them she exclaimed, “oh! Soo beuuuuuful!” Mission accomplished.

Butterfly Food

Themed food is always a blast, but with my new-found determination to avoid artificial colors, I found it challenged my creativity! Butterfly shaped crackers (found at Target) were a no-brainer. Adorable! And tasty paired with a cheeseball. I don’t even know how many of these crackers Elsie ate… she kept sneaking back for more!! 🙂

The fruit platter… it wasn’t until I was literally assembling it that I realized two clementine wedges back-to-back look like a butterfly! Eeek!! So cute. And healthy.

The cake… oh the cake. It had to be special. It had to be chocolate. And purple. And have butterflies! The cake was my little labor of love. And here it is: a Purple Chocolate Butterfly Cake (with no artificial colors!).