The birthday child begins as the Octopus in the middle of a large playing area. All other players are Fish who must try to run past the Octopus to the other side of the playing area. If a Fish is tagged, he or she holds hands with the Octopus and become a tentacle to help tag more fish. The last Fish alive, wins!

Be sure to check out the rest of our Undersea Fish Themed Birthday Party Ideas and all of our Photo Birthday Invitations for your party!

This game is based on the traditional Duck, Duck, Goose game, but instead of a goose chasing a duck, a shark chases a fish! Start with all your little fishes seated in a circle. Designate a leader to walk around the circle, tapping guests on the head and calling each person a fish. After several guests have been tapped, the leader chooses one guest and yells out “Shark!” when tapping him or her on the head. The Shark chases the leader and tries to tag her as she races around the circle and back to the Shark’s spot. If the leader is caught, then she remains the leader another round. If the leader escapes the Shark, the Shark becomes the new leader. Repeat the game until every guest has a chance to be the leader.

Be sure to check out the rest of our Undersea Fish Themed Birthday Party Ideas and all of our Photo Birthday Invitations for your party!

• Play Rainforest Sounds Music throughout the shower.
• Build a tree out of colored butcher paper to designate the gift table. (Wrap brown paper around a cylinder. Leave some folds and crinkles in the paper to make it look like bark. Unfold some wire coat hangers. Cut out leaf-like shapes about 2 - 2.5 feet long (think banana trees) out of green paper and attach one leaf to the end of each wire. Stick the bare ends of the wires into the cylinder so that the wire side of the leaves are facing up and the wires are hidden. Attach a few frogs to the trunk of the tree and place on a table.
• Use banana leaves (on plates) to serve food. Use dark wood or bamboo serving dishes and utensils.

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Also see version 1 of this game for more ideas!

Nursery Rhyme Game - Version 2:

Write down questions from old Nursery Rhymes or children’s songs and see how many of your guests can guess the answers. Some ideas:

1) What did Peter Piper Pick?
2) Who were the three men in a tub?
3) What did Georgie Porgie do to the girls to make them cry?
4) Who did the three blind mice run after?
5) What is Tuesday’s child full of?
6) How many blackbirds were baked in a pie?
7) What did Little Miss Muffet sit on?
What was Little Jack Horner eating in the corner?
9) What did Mother Hubbard go to the cupboard for?
10) What did Tommy Tucker sing for?
11) Whom did Simple Simon meet going to the fair?
12) What kind of flowers grow in Mistress Mary’s garden?
13) What did Tom the Piper’s son steal?
14) What was Wee Willie Winkie wearing when he ran through the town?
15) How much wool did the black sheep have? Three bags full
16) What was Yankee Doodle riding on when he went to town?
17) How old was the pease porridge in the pot?
18) In Hickory Dickory Dock, what time did the mouse run down the clock?
19) What couldn’t Jack Sprat eat?
20) What was the cat playing when the cow jumped over the moon?
21) What did the three little kittens lose?
22) What was Humpty Dumpty sitting on before he fell?

Answers: (more…)

Here is a collection of all of our butterfly birthday party ideas that we posted over the past few days, feel free to add your own ideas in the comments below also. We have several butterfly birthday invitation designs in our galleries for your party also, or you may adapt any of our other designs to add butterfly theming for your party if desired.

Party food ideas:

Kool-Aid Buggy Surprise!

Delectable Treats Butterfly Cake

Cloud in a Cup

Butterfly Treats

Butterfly party activities & crafts:

Make Your Own Kite

Flutter-Bye Fans

Buggy Bean Bag Toss

Butterfly Relay Race

Make Your Own Butterfly!

Materials:

Coffee Filters

Markers

Pipe Cleaners

Spray Bottles
Magnets

Have the children color the coffee filter with markers (the more color the better). When they are finished, spray water on the entire filter (this gives a tied dyed look) & let it dry (a clothes line hung beforehand outside is nice for this). Pinch together in the middle, wrap a pipe cleaner around it, turn the top of the cleaner for the antennae, then put a magnet on the back. You can also tie a clothes pin to it with pipe cleaner, then add the magnet to hold messages on your fridge.

Be sure to also check out all of our Butterfly Birthday Party Ideas and our butterfly birthday invitation designs for more ideas to make your party special!

Be sure to also check out all of our Butterfly Birthday Party Ideas and our butterfly birthday invitation designs for more ideas to make your party special!

Ingredients:

Cake:
1 (18.25-oz.) pkg. Pillsbury Moist Supreme Yellow Cake Mix
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil
3 eggs

Frosting:
1 (16-oz.) can Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Vanilla Frosting
Purple gel or paste food color

Decorations:
1 (8-inch) piece black licorice twist
1 black jelly bean
2 (5-inch) pieces black string licorice
Purple decorator sugar
Black decorating icing, if desired

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour one 8 or 9 inch round cake pan; line 12 muffin cups with paper baking cups. In large bowl, combine all cake ingredients; beat at low speed until moistened. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Fill paper lined muffin cups 2/3 full; pour remaining batter into greased and floured cake pan. Place cake pan in oven first, then muffin cups.

2. Bake cupcakes for 20 to 30 minutes; bake cake in pan for 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake and cupcakes in pan for 15 minutes. Remove cake and cupcakes from pans; place on wire rack. Cool 30 minutes or until completely cooled.

3. Cut cake in half crosswise; cut each half into 1/3 and 2/3 pieces. Place cake pieces on platter or foil covered cardboard to form butterfly.

4. Add purple food color to frosting; blend well. Frost cupcakes and cake pieces. Cut black licorice twist in half and place, side by side, between cake pieces for body. Place black jelly bean above licorice for head. Bend string licorice to form antennae; insert into cake near jelly bean. Decorate “wings” and cupcakes with decorator sugar and decorator icing.

Betty Crocker also has a cute Butterfly Cake recipe on their website which takes just 20 minutes to prepare and FamilyFun has one involving a Twinkie which looks cute too!

Before the party, freeze “bugs” (raisins, mini chocolate chips or other tiny candies) in ice cube trays filled with water. Then, prepare your child’s favorite flavor of Kool-Aid according to package directions (or use juice). At the party, drop a few ice cubes into each child’s glass and add Kool-Aid or juice. Your guests will giggle when they discover bugs in their drink.

Be sure to also check out all of our Butterfly Birthday Party Ideas and our butterfly birthday invitation designs for more ideas to make your party special! Graphics courtesy of pcHugWare