Birthday Ideas Needed

Get some smooth river rocks and let them choose one to paint as a ladybug - red and black paint only or use permanent markers - it can be there pet rock and a paperweight!

You can make paper plate lady bugs. Have them color a plate red and put black dots on it. Get googly eyes and pipe cleaners for the antennas and the legs. Have each one of them come up with a cute little name for their lady bug.

Also, you can make cupcakes and let them decorate them, making them lady bugs.

Hope you have a great party!

THey can do thumb print ladybugs with finger paints, make ladybugs out of stampers and construction paper....ladybug cupcakes.. lots of stuff.

Have fun!

Pin the spot on the ladybug is lots of fun! Cut a lady bug shape out of red posterboard. draw a cute face and most of the spots. leave one spot without being filled in. Blind fold each child and have them open a oreo cookie, lick and stick the icing on the ladybug. The one closest to filling in the empty hole wins! You might want to do this game outside, it can get a little messy. We used it at my one year-olds party and everyone loved it. There is also a bug cake pan. I made the cake and it turned out terrific!!!

Wow, there are some great responses here. I did not see "pet rocks" they would make a great take home. I think my gramma still has mine...
To make it a bit easier on the day of the party you can plan ahead and paint some rocks red, and the eyes and antenna. Then at the party they can use their fingers or thumb the paint the black spots. Like most said here you really don't need a whole lot of activities, kids that age have the attention span of a gnat so having a few activities that they can float to and from as they see fit. You can also instead of using a table cloth lay down butcher paper and crayons and pens and the kids can decorate their own.
What ever you decide make sure you have enough time to enjoy the day, it only happens once!
God Bless.

You could do a very loose version of pin the tail on the donkey but make it pin the dots on the ladybug. All the kids should be able to get close to the body of the ladybug so everyone wins.

Have fun,
H.

My neighbor and I planned a "craft day" for all the children in our neighborhood last December as a gift to all the parents. The kids were left here and the parents got a full day (10 a.m. - 5 p.m.) to themselves to shop or whatever. We had planned about 7 crafts and only ended up being able to do 2. The kids just wanted to play together. They really weren't very interested in the crafts.

My point is, spend the time enjoying your daughter's 1st birthday and not so much time worrying about entertaining the kids. They will entertain themselves and you won't miss out on the special moments. Happy Birthday to your little one!

What a cute theme! You can set up a couple craft stations with easy things for the kids to do.

You can make ladybugs out of construction paper.
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/valentines/mheartladybug.htm

Have a coloring table. Print out ladybug coloring sheets or just roll out some butcher paper and provide a bucket of crayons. You might want to have this set up outside in case the little ones go crazy with the crayons!

Set up a bubble machine. Make sure you place it somewhere high so the kiddos can't dump out the bubbles!

Make ladybug bean bags and have a bean bag toss.

Here is a website with some cute ideas.
http://www.kids-birthday-party-guide.com/ladybug-birthday...

I host build-your-own stuffed animal parties for kids in your home - Or send it as a party to go if your out of my area. I have a Bumble Bee Bear and a Pink Frog, keeping with the summer theme or you can choose Cuddlez our most colorful bear perfect for any theme! I have many other choices as well. Go to www.mylittlebugparties.NET and click on the link Parties 4 Kids and it will take you to my party site. I can also make you some ladybug bows for her birthday if you want ;0)

I hope you have fun planning your daughter's very special 1st birthday. It will be great no matter what! Enjoy!

You don't need to plan much. We had kids from 4 months to 6 years at my sons 1st birthday. The younger ones played with my sons toys and then we sent the older ones outside with balloons. I had sidewalk chalk. The simpler the better on you.

If you want something for the older kids have a color station, water station (boats), sidewalk chalk, etc. Kids at these ages don't need much to be entertained.

Our party lasted 2 hours.

http://familyfun.go.com/parties/birthday/feature/famf58bi...

Very cute lady bug ideas for tiny tots! :) What fun!

Get small stucco flower pots, soil and plants you can re-plant...not the seeds. Decorate the outside of each pot for each kid, re-plant the flower and this can be their "goodie Bag" to take home. Hobby Lobby has small lady bugs that you can put in the plants.
Another cute idea: get the unfinished wood letters for each kid (initials only), paint it red and paint small black dots on that to look like a lady bug.
I have a great kids cookbook with lots of great ideas like strawberry ladybugs, ice-cream caterpillar, ice-cream wafer cone plants with cookie crumbs, jelly worms and a fake flower in it and different types of punch. If you would like, I can scan the pages from the cookbook and email it to you.
I just had a lady bug party for my daughter in January. I think I had more fun planning for it. The kids loved the indoor "picnic theme"
call me if you would like me to send the recipes or if you would like to come by and look at the whole book. I own the indoor playroom/ party room in Schertz so I am here during the day until 2pm every day. I can bring the book up here.
I LOVE planning parties!!!
Good luck and have fun with it.
C. Cooper

www.birthdaypartyideas.com they usually have good ideas.

Kim

We had the exact same theme for my daughter's 1st birthday. We did a ladybug picnic. We covered all the tables with plastic picnic tableclothes. The one thing we did that appealed to all the kids (even the 8 -12 year olds) was picture frames. I bought foam pictures frames with magnets on the back. Bought some stickers, ladybug ones included and let the kids decorate their own frames. We had about 10 kids and they took turns at the table. We found a great pack of flower & lady bug stickers. I got zoo stickers for those not into flowers. That was there gift from us also. For the adults who came that did not have/bring kids (grandparents) I printed out a picture of my daughter taken the day before in a dress with a ladybug on it and gave it to them in a little square frame with a magnet. Most of them still have the picture on their fridge even though she is 2 now.

check out http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/ladybug_party.html
It is a great resource. People who have had that party tell all the details of the party. You can also google it and you will find several different ideas.
Also
http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/party.ladybug.htm

Have fun!

While it don't necessarily fit your theme consider bubbles. We recently went to a party with one of those little machines that blew bubbles and the kids seemed to like it. We did "bubble boogie" at my daughter's party: encourage them to dance to kids music while trying to pop the bubbles from the machine. Great fun, just watch that the surface doesn't get slippery outside on grass or a wood deck is ideal (weather permitting). Another idea, that would fit your theme is to find (or make) a pinata in the shape of a ladybug. It would be a cool decoration and at a party we went most kids seemed to think it was kind of cool to try and hit open (this included my then 18 month old daughter). And they all laughed when the birthday girl's daddy took a swing or two at it.

You could probably supply a foam craft project. They have designs such as crowns, lady bugs, castles, etc. No glue is required as the designs are peel and stick.

You can find them at Oriental Trading, Garden Ridge, Arnie's, Paper Boy.