A Ladybug Garden Party

This post has been sponsored by Balloon Time. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This time of year, I crave the outdoors. After being quarantined with my family for the last several months, that craving is stronger than ever! When the birds start chirping, the sun is out and we can go back to entertaining outside, it’s utterly blissful. I’ve been spending a lot of time this year making sure our garden is in tip-top shape and it has paid off bigtime. The boys and I were picking herbs recently and spotted quite a few ladybugs doing their thing. This prompted a conversation around how ladybugs are such good little helpers in the garden, and it doesn’t hurt that they’re cute!

To celebrate warmer temps I thought it would be fun and adorable to throw a ladybug themed, garden party! To celebrate summer’s arrival, the boys and I invited a couple of their friends that we’ve been social distancing with over for a ladybug garden party.

Inspired by the season and the beauty of ladybugs, I worked with a red, black, white and green color palette for this party. It was super hot out so chose the sunroom as the perfect location for our party with just enough space for a festive tablescape and tons of natural light. This setup could easily be translated outdoors though, you could even ditch the table and set up a blanket for a picnic in the yard or a park! For decorations, I started by pulling out my Balloon Time Helium Tank which I always keep on hand in my hall closet. I blew up an assortment of red balloons both small and large. On the larger sized balloons I placed black, round stickers all over to replicate the spots on a ladybug. I clustered the balloons in 3 sets and tied each to a watering can to set the stage on my crafting table and bar cart where I served the food and drinks.

Now let’s talk about what to serve…keeping it fun, refreshing and EASY! I ordered the cutest ladybug sugar cookies, and with just a few custom touches I was able to turn some other store bought snacks into the sweetest ladybug treats. I popped some toppers into cupcakes, and added spots to red macarons with an edible marker, and boom...instant ladybugs!  A pitcher of ice cold lemonade to wash everything down and we were officially ready to party.

For the kids' activity, we painted terracotta pots and then planted dahlia bulbs.  I printed out a small note card to place next to each place setting so the kids could learn about this flower and how to care for it. I just love the idea of the kids leaving with their plant pots and now having the responsibility of growing that plant. It made for a great discussion and teachable moment.

I’m so thrilled with how this socially distanced celebration turned out, it couldn’t have been cuter and was a fabulous way to keep the kids busy. The boys and their friends were obsessed. The balloons were such a show stopper, and with my Balloon Time tank it couldn’t have been quicker or easier to set up. I’m already dreaming up fun party ideas for the next change in season, but in the meantime...cheers to the ladybugs!

Adult supervision is required when using balloons. Please read all warning and precautions on the Balloon Time box before use.