Ordering Live Butterflies is Easier Than You Think!

“I want butterflies, but I have no idea how this works or where to start,” is probably the most common phrase I hear from my new customers. After answering thousands of phone calls and emails from people wanting to release live butterflies for various special occasions, I’ve decided to put together a complete guide to help address the most common questions I receive in order to help simplify and demystify the process. Whether you are ordering for yourself, your family, your class, or your client, right here is where to start, and I’ll walk you through every step! 

What we need for a Live Butterfly Release

All we need to make an order for a live butterfly release is:

• What type of release (envelopes, mass, mini boxes, or combo)
• How many butterflies you need
• What species/color of butterflies you’d like
• The date of your event
• Shipping info (Address, Full Name, and Email), or pick up time if local

That’s not a long list, so figuring out the details of the release is the most important part. There are several options, and it’s our job to help you figure out what will work best for your situation. Let’s move into the most common questions I go over with my customers. Each question I ask usually breaks down into a few choices, but some are just helpful to get context and help put the whole picture together of what kind of butterfly release is best.

First, the short version

If you don’t want to worry about the little details, or don’t have time to decide, or are truly stumped as to what kind of release you want, I recommend 50 mixed multicolor butterflies for mass release. It’s our most common and well received package, so you can keep it simple while ensuring you have an extravagant and beautiful release with a mix of butterfly colors and behaviors that will be a delight for everyone in attendance!

How to determine your ideal release (Long Version)

What kind of event is the butterfly release for?

Weddings, memorials, and funerals

Although these events are celebrating very different things, I’ve come to see enough parallels that overlap to realize they can usually be treated the same for butterfly planning purposes. In fact, a large portion of my releases destined for weddings are meant to be a memorial during the ceremony for family members who are no longer with us. 

Other events

If the release isn't a wedding or funeral, it’s usually either a type of birthday party, quinceanera, or school event, and other types of events come up too. Knowing the setting always helps us narrow down our options to see the big picture, and is only the start of the process.

Do you want a mass release or individual release?

If you want to bring all the attention to one place, say the bride and groom after completing their ceremony, or the casket at the end of a funeral service, I recommend a mass release. All mass release orders come with a pretty white release popup with a little bow attached, and we've found that's appropriate for any occasion. If you want everyone to have their own butterfly experience, or to spread out the butterflies among everyone, then an individual release is best. You can do an individual release with mini envelopes or our elegant mini-boxes (see more in the next section). 

These options can also be combined to first do the more dramatic mass release before the crowd is able to release their individual butterflies. Your preference and budget will determine if you will do one or both of these options, and when people aren’t sure, I recommend a combo of some in a mass release and some to pass out (at least to the key people involved in the event). 

How many do you need?

Mass Release

If your budget allows, then 50-100 seems to be the magic number for mass releases that’s affordable for most people, and gives you what I call a critical mass, which will wow everyone with a visual spectacle of butterflies dispersing around and into the crowd and dancing in the air. And you can definitely do more than 100 (since you can’t really have too many butterflies)! We did two pop-ups of 100 whites for our sister’s wedding a few years ago, and it was incredible to see! You can also do less if you are on a limited budget, are only releasing with a small group, or need a specific number that’s symbolic for the release (for example if 30 is a significant number for you), and you’ll still get a wonderful butterfly release. 

Individual Envelope Release

When giving each participant their own butterfly is the most ideal scenario, the number of guests would be the number of individual butterflies you’d want to buy. But if you have a large party, or a limited budget, then you can trim that down to one butterfly per family, or one per row of seats. You can also provide only for special guests like the wedding party or close family members. This is especially relevant for doing a combination release, where you have a mass release as well as individual butterflies to pass out. 

Individual Mini Box Release

As popular as the white butterflies are, they have one drawback- they do not handle being in the individual envelopes very well. After realizing many customers wanted white butterflies for their event, but also wanted everyone to have one, we came up with a solution that’s been extremely popular since we launched it: the mini box. These 2 inch containers are the perfect size to fit a white butterfly (or red admiral or painted lady!), and are very elegant as well! They are a bit more expensive than mass or individual envelope releases, but they are worth it to give everyone their own unique butterfly experience in an adorable little box. 

Pricing

When people ask how much a butterfly release costs, I always say “it depends on what you want.” The different options we just reviewed all have slightly different price points, but 90% of all our orders are between $120 (for a dozen) and $500 (for 100 butterflies). This gives some people sticker shock, but I’ve seen that most people are relieved it’s so affordable. Compared to most expenses during a wedding or funeral, even an all-out 100-count butterfly release is probably one of the cheapest line items, while also probably being the most memorable part of the event. Those estimates even include overnight shipping ($50) which is discussed more below, but locals here in Utah can expect their orders to be even more affordable since they can pick up their orders for free from our farm in Draper. 

What colors or species do you want?

Another important question to answer is what kind of butterflies someone should order. Once again, the mixed release comes to the rescue to offer a little bit of everything! Whites jump out the quickest, and create the most dramatic release effect. Red admirals are also strong flyers, and provide color and contrast with the whites. Then painted ladies are the slowest, but also the best to interact with- landing on people, easy to pick up, and more relaxed than the others. Each of these three species are very common throughout the continental US, and do not require any permits to release into the environment. Usually a mixed release is split evenly among the three, but we sometimes make slight adjustments based on what’s in stock, or if someone wants a few more of one kind in the mix. 

From there, the next most common would be an all white release. All whites are common for memorials and weddings due to their color and the symbolism they hold. And again, while they are the smallest species, they are easily the quickest to jump out and give that magical butterfly fountain effect or explosion people expect when doing a butterfly release. Regular and especially slow motion videos really capture the magic of the moment for whites. They also tend to stick around the grounds for a while, especially if there are flowers nearby. 

Painted ladies are also a great affordable option if you are on a budget, or want a slower and more intimate release since they can be easily picked up out of the release container or off the ground or flowers. They don’t seem to mind people as much, so are easy to get on someone’s finger or clothes, and are sometimes even attracted to land on people on their own. They are the most photogenic, and are the species we recommend for general pictures and photo shoots.

We also occasionally have monarch butterflies for release. These beauties are huge, graceful, and a total pain to raise on our farm! We price the monarchs significantly higher than the rest of our species to make up for the difficulty, but we are also very limited as to which states we can ship them to. It’s best to contact us directly to determine if they would be an option for you.

As a bonus, customers in our state can do our “Utah Mix”, which includes buckeyes, yellow sulphurs, and monarchs (if we have them). We aren’t able to ship these out of state like the rest of the species, so residents can enjoy even more color and variety. Buckeyes are smallish and brown, with bold blue eye spots that they are always keen to display. Yellows behave very similarly to the whites, but add a splash of golden yellow color that we absolutely love. When we have all our typical species in stock, nothing beats a mass release with 5+ colors of butterflies flying around!

How do we ship the butterflies to you?

All butterfly orders must be shipped overnight, which costs $50, whether it’s for 1 butterfly or 100. It’s the only way to guarantee safe arrival at any time of year. UPS picks up our packages each weekday in the evening, and delivers them by 12pm the following day (except for very remote areas, which usually arrive between 5-8pm). There is no delivery on Sundays, so be sure to place your order ahead of time. Most people ship to their homes, but we often ship to a hotel, funeral office, or wedding venue if that's more convenient. They just need to put the box in the fridge or straight to you once it arrives (see more info below).

Since most events are on a Saturday or Sunday, orders for weekend events are shipped out Thursday to arrive 1 or 2 days before release on Friday. Otherwise, we ship your order out to arrive the day before your event (i.e. Wednesday event means we ship Monday to arrive Tuesday). All orders are shipped with insulation and plenty of ice packs so that they stay asleep and safe during transit. On occasion, some butterflies might not survive the journey, but that’s very normal for insects and we always add a few extras to every order. We probably have a 95% - 98% survival rate overall, if not higher, which is a lot better than what they would get if they were on their own in the wild. 

A brief note on Monday and Tuesday events: Since UPS does not have any shipping service on Sundays, the logistical timing for Monday or Tuesday events can be tricky. We’ve come to learn that things work best if we ship for Monday events to arrive on Saturday. For Tuesday, if it’s not to be released until late in the evening, then we can ship Monday to arrive Tuesday- or if you are too anxious about possible delays - which are uncommon- then it should also be shipped to arrive the Saturday beforehand. 

On the rare occasion of a total failure from UPS to deliver the package on the scheduled day, we will either determine whether the package has a good chance of arriving on time the following day, or send a brand new overnight package at no charge to you (with an updated shipping address if needed). If the logistics are particularly damning due to extreme weather, a federal holiday, or other UPS issue, we may need to reschedule the release or offer a credit for another day. 

How do you store and prepare them for release?

We are almost there! Once the butterflies arrive, they come with a basic instruction sheet. I will only summarize the main points here. Once the butterflies arrive, they go into the fridge or box/cooler with ice until it’s time to warm them up about 30-45 minutes before the release. There are a few other details to know, but I don’t want this to be another instruction sheet! Here is a link to our full adult butterfly release instructions.

If the weather is below 60*, or it's very cloudy, windy, or rainy and below 75*, you might need to give them extra time to warm up, or wait until the weather clears up before the release. And as long as you keep them protected from prolonged exposure to extreme heat, it can't really be too hot for a butterfly release- the warmer, the better!

Besides needing to be warmed up, the butterflies are release-ready! There’s never any need to transfer or otherwise handle the butterflies beforehand. We get all that organized when we prepare the packages, so you only need to take them out and enjoy the beautiful release!

Summary

That’s it! After reading this, you are now an expert in ordering butterflies for yourself, your family, or your client! Ultimately, we are always available to help break down all the options with you, but if this has helped you decide exactly what you want, you can order anytime online. There is a comment box in your cart page where you state the date of the event so we know exactly when to send your order. And UPS tracking emails bring peace of mind to know the butterflies are on the way! You can also email us your info and what you'd like, or give us a call to place the order over the phone. We appreciate your support, and think that releasing live, native butterflies for your special event is the perfect way to celebrate the occasion while also giving back to the environment. Thank you!

This article was written completely by hand by the owner, Michael, and is protected by copyright. Use of this material for the training of AI systems or large language models is explicitly prohibited.