I cannot believe it!! Hazel turned 13 last month!! Thirteen is such a big year. It is often when kids become young adults, as well as of course, they become a teenager! This year I wanted it to be extra special for Hazel. I came up with the theme of butterfly for her party. I told her it was because she is transforming into a teenager/young adult. She liked the idea of butterfly but did not like my reasoning. I began searching for 13th birthday ideas. I have a Pinterest Board for it if you want different ideas! I saw a printable that says "You have been loved for 13 Years..." I saw some on Etsy as well as some free ones, but I wanted to personalize it a bit. I had planned on having it printed as a poster and hanging it on her door for when she woke up, but that plan changed. Click on it to get a pdf so you can print it out at home.
I also saw so many fun t-shirts!! I showed them to Hazel and let her pick one. She picked one that says #Official Teenager on the front and 13 on the back. I also saw one for me that says "I can't keep calm my daughter is thirteen." I asked a friend to make them for us since she has a side business making t-shirts with her Cricut. (I paid her for them.) I love how they came out! We wore them on her birthday as well as at her birthday party.
Here is a better look at Hazel's. The photo above was taken at Capital One Cafe. But I wanted to show Hazel's t-shirt better with these photos.
You may have seen the idea of adding a heart to your child's door February 1-14 with something you love about him/her. I took that idea and made butterflies with things I love about Hazel and wrote them as "You are..." Then I hung them all over her bedroom door and I hung some quotes as well as streamers and a balloon. I did all of this after she went to bed, so she woke up to it.
I have been saving butterfly clip art that was free to make these or used ones from My Memories. I made these printables using My Memories Suite.
You can download the butterflies as well as one of the Back in 2008 pages for free here. It also includes a Happy Birthday sign and an Official Teenager sign.
Hazel has a work room near her bedroom, and I decorated that door as well. I made some signs using WordArt.com. I made butterfly shapes, the numbers, balloons, and "Happy Birthday". It is free to use. I typed her name and the characteristics she has as well as her birthday and such. Then I played with colors and themes.
I also decorated the bathroom door since it is directly across from her bedroom.
Needless to say she was surprised when she woke up! She felt very loved. Then I decorated for her small birthday party. You may remember the butterfly crafts I shared previously. I put them on the windows in our family room. These also could have been an activity at the party. The girls decided on different activities though. I also decorated paper pom poms with butterfly stickers that I got at the Dollar Tree.
I used the same pom poms in our dining room and entry way.
I also recycled the Flower Hanging Fans from a previous party. You will also notice I have the Happy Birthday sign and banner that I reuse each year. I highly recommend getting something like this for birthday parties. I put butterfly stickers on them to have them go with the theme but the stickers all came off easily. I put the stickers on the flowers as well. These will not come off easily.
I also decorated our front door. I have a balloon door decoration, but I also reused one of the paper rosettes I made for a previous party. I added a 13 to it as well. I like to save the reusable decorations and reuse them. Many are hung in her clubhouse, so I just take them down from there.
Now the only other thing to share is the cake. I bought some edible wafer paper butterflies to use on the cake as well as a cake topper which I let her pick out. I bought both from Amazon.
The butterflies make the cake so easy to decorate. Plus, we used the cake topper instead of candles due to Covid. I didn't want her blowing on the cake. She had only four friends over, and they wore masks when not eating and I had a couple of windows opening. I wrote her name on the cake but didn't write "Happy Birthday".
For favors I made simple butterfly necklaces using a butterfly pendant and a cord necklace. I put them in organza bags that I already had and made some tags for them. It was a fun but quiet party. I do know she was excited to become a teenager and knows she is loved!
