If you're a lover of butterflies, fruit trees and the idea of butterfly releases for funerals or weddings this may be for you. Doc gave hubs and I this experience as an early Valentines gift. We were shown different types of plants butterflies like as food. We saw Darlene's butterfly nursery as well as ones that are on order. Towards the end of the tour we were each given a live butterfly in a pretty envelope to open and release. She showed us their tongue curled and how they drink. Butterflies use their legs to taste a plant. We learned about the butterflies predators too. We got to choose a butterfly or caterpillar charm as a memento of this experience. Darlene has this business and another job. She told us stories of how her family helps her business. She is a wonderful speaker, friendly, very knowledgeable. She was open to any questions and eager to explain or demonstrate. We even met 2 of her 3 four legged family members. read more

Sharing the Butterfly Experience - Party & Event Planning Near Me

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Went to the popup at Pearl Ridge mall. $9 for 15 minutes, timed entry to limit numbers. Totally worth it. Good for anyone Keiki to Kapuna. Just make sure to respect the no touching. Educational and just really cool. Butterflies, caterpillars, cocoons- everything was on display. Still on through Aug 3rd!! read more

Sharing the Butterfly Experience - Feeding the butterflies - Party & Event Planning Near Me

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Another year and another successful celebration. This time I got 16 individual butterflies for each family member to release in memory of our beloved family member. Thanks Darlene. You made it easy to pick up the butterflies with excellent instructions. read more

We were in Honolulu Jan 9- 17th for a griefcation. We took our Daughter, Son in law & their 2 children (our Grandkids) with us to spend time in the sun and ocean. While we were there we wanted to honor the person we lost and decided to do the butterfly release. I can't express in words just what am amazing experience this is. We had 12 butterflys and we ranged in ages of 56 - 3 years and we all did it and absolutely loved it & knew the loved one we honored would've loved it too. I truly can not recommend this experience enough. If you're in Honolulu to celebrate, or even heal a little it will definitely hit the mark for your special moment. The care and service we received was so gentle and kind, we'll carry & treasure this memory forever. Chi miigwech! (sorry for the long video, we had 4 phones taping, this was my phones POV) read more

Such a great experience from beginning to end! I have used this business a couple of times for special occasions and Darlene is wonderful to work with. I also was able to purchase a kit from her before lockdown and I'm so happy to have released many butterflies. Thank you Darlene for making everything such an easy process on the day of my dad's service. read more

My late mom loved anything butterfly. Her home and wardrobe closet said it all. She recently passed, so how appropriate is it to release butterflies to honor and remember her by. My niece did all the arrangements with STBE. She picked up the butterflies the day before our release scheduled the next morning. They take a lot of care and consideration in packing their beautiful butterflies, I was so impressed. Each were in it's own box, and packed in a cooler. There is also an option to release as a bunch if you prefer. We were told the butterflies are sleeping until we are ready to be released and the reason for picking them up the night before. We released 30 butterflies. They all flew away, most flew immediately and some took a while but was fun. This was an emotional experience which I know my mom would have loved. Didn't realize my family were going to get so excited and loud. Thank you STBE for allowing us to have some sort of closure having to say aloha to my sweet mom. read more

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the best experience and the most beautiful way to release. it was such a joyful and peaceful way to come together. we would recommend anyone to share this experience with there loved ones. thank you for the quick, fast and efficient and very friendly. I loved the convenience that she offered options for our purchase making it easier for us to go straight into a release of beautiful monarch butterflies. Thank you for your help and we will definitely come to you again. read more

if you want an experience EVERYONE will love, this is it. I ordered a dozen butterflies for my mom's funeral a tribute I wanted to be from each great grandchild & the grandchildren that didn't have children. Darlene is so easy to work with & has an abundance of knowledge to share. Easy ordering, easy pickup. You can bring your own little cooler with an ice pack when picking up or for a small fee Darlene can provide. The children AND adults LOVED this experience & expressed their feelings of it being a perfect meaningful tribute. What made it even more special is one stayed with my mom for a good while. another flew straight to my Grandparents, her parents, graves. What a cherished feeling. Thank you Darlene for SHARING this BUTTERFLY EXPERIENCE. read more

Sharing the Butterfly Experience - Little box the butterfly came in. - Party & Event Planning Near Me

Perfect perfect perfect!!! Darlene was so understanding with our situation and made it happen!!! Our celebration of life was so beautiful and touching with the butterflies read more

Wow! Simply wow! Darlene is hands the most caring person. She made this experience AMAZING! Bought some butterflies to release for my sisters memorial. Her communication was phenomenal. I am so grateful for this experience. Highly recommend! read more

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My butterfly release experience was so special and easy to do! I highly recommend this company for any special butterfly events. I got a dozen monarchs for release in honor of my fathers memorial , the process to purchase and pick them up was SO easy and the owner was very communicative and easy to work with. I will be using them for any future events! Mahalo Nui read more

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My family recently lost my grandmother and wanted to fo something special for her during her burial. I found STBE online and immediately called and spoke with Darlene who was such a joy to work with. We ordered 36 butterflies in individual envelopes about 2 months prior to the services. Darlene was very quick to answer any questions we had and very accommodating in letting a close friend pick up my butterflies. Also,, because our cooler was too small she even let us borrow hers. Now my fiancé plan on doing a butterfly release for our wedding in the near future. read more

Sharing the Butterfly Experience - The butterfly (my grandma) didn't want to leave my shoulder. - Party & Event Planning Near Me

It was a beautiful light touch to giving a final "Aloha Oe" at my Dads Celebration of Life. Darlene is totally willing to work with you & your vision. She had my kids & I over to look at her butterfly farm. She's just the sweetest thing, & I'm so happy I found her. She made the whole experience so easy! Thank you Darlene read more

`I was looking for that one extra touch for our 20th anniversary party. I came across Darlene and the Butterfly experience. We met up at Darlene's home and saw all the butterflies in their environment from caterpillar, to cocoon, to butterfly. Her and her husband were very kind and she helped me decide to release 20 butterflies at our party. We also had a few extra for the kids. The butterflies came in a beautiful white lantern vase that we displayed at the entrance till we released them. It was a definitely a beautiful touch for a special occasion, and I would definitely recommend Darlene and her butterflies for any occasion! read more

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Absolutely amazing! Owner was so helpful in teaching us how to carefully handle the butterflies and rented us a few of her potted plants so they would stick around for the photoshoot. This was a dreammmm if mine and she was a huge part in making it a reality. The butterflies were packaged safely so they could be transported with easy and released into a beautiful garden. It was an experience I'll treasure forever! read more

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Our family was so fortunate to be accommodated on July 10th for my late grandmothers memorial/celebration of life/birthday. My grandma loved and embraced butterflies in every way imaginable so it meant a lot to celebrate her life with the butterfly release! Such a BEAUTIFUL and WONDERFUL experience. Darlene communicated with my Aunty Monica and did everything in her power to help our family and we will be forever grateful to her. The release was easy and majestic Great way to celebrate the loss of a loved one as well as many other occasions! Highly recommend this experience! read more

They came to my kiddos pre-K academy The Growing Patch and all of the kiddos absolutely loved it. It's amazing how they can pop up the tent and create such an experience. The butterflies for lack of a better word were like animals - you can actually hold them and their wings gently if needed. The owner and staff had a tremendous amount of patience and were super friendly and encouraging to participate. Feeding the butterfirled was also such an excellent experience for the kids along with being able to touch the caterpillar and the chameleon. Who would even something like this vendor exists. Definitely a must do for any school or event for any and all ages! read more

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Our butterfly experience has been awesome! The service provided by Darlene has been outstanding. She made me feel like we have known each other for years. Darlene and her husband were so kind, friendly and informative. Watching the butterflies grow from a day old to forming in its J-shape to chrysalids and then releasing them as butterflies has brought such joy and excitement to us! Thank you so much Darlene!! read more

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There was a recent loss and I thought a butterfly release would be a great way to remember the memorial. Darlene was super helpful and responsive to my inquiry. When we picked up our butterflies she showed my young son around and let him hold the caterpillars and butterflies. That experience was so great that we went back to her to purchase caterpillars for my son's preschool so the kid's can see the life cycle of a butterfly. She provided everything we needed, even instructions and a plant to potentially start other butterfly cycles. Thank you Darlene! I highly recommend her! read more

Sharing the Butterfly Experience - Party & Event Planning Near Me

Thank you Darlene for helping me with making our dear coworkers request come true. Your beautiful butterflies were so meaningful to everyone that attended the service. I am forever thankful for you. read more

Sharing the Butterfly Experience - Party & Event Planning Near Me

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Darlene supplied Monarch butterflies for my mother's spreading of the ashes ceremony. Each guest spread a spoonful of ashes, then released a Monarch butterfly which was resting in a small envelope. The butterflies imparted a special magic to the ceremony. One of them came back and lingered for a long time on my wife's lei near her heart as if my mother was expressing her appreciation for the loving care which she provided. We had not previously known about butterfly releases and are so grateful to Darlene for offering to do this for. A highly recommended addition to any special event. read more

Sharing the Butterfly Experience - A maximal moment. A butterfly returns to say thank you. - Party & Event Planning Near Me

Butterflies are very symbolic for our family to remember my Aunty who passed away a couple years ago because she loved them so much. Ever since she's passed away butterflies have been around us more than ever before. So having a butterfly release at her memorial was perfect! We found Darlene online and she is such a blessing. In such a short amount of time she was able to provide an amazing amount of butterflies for our butterfly release. Price doesn't matter for this situation but if I had to rate on price, Very Reasonable for a priceless experience. Thank you Darlene for all that you do with your beautiful butterflies! read more

Such an amazing experience. The owner of this company was so educated and her customers service was so wonderful. From start of contact to ending. Releasing of the butterflies was an added touch to our function. I would recommend this company. I'll also be doing future business. read more

Sharing the Butterfly Experience - As we celebrated new life and released our beautiful butterflies one landed on my mother in laws urn. And stayed the whole day. - Party & Event Planning Near Me

We wanted an inaugural celebration of life for my mother in law's passing and release some butterflies. Darlene helped us with that and more. She was great to work with from beginning to end and even checked on us afterward. But all of our butterflies flew and it was an amazing experience that touched our family and we couldn't have done it without Darlene! read more

The Butterfly experience was STUNNING!!! Darlene was so helpful! she delivered the butterflies to us with a cooler and 2 ice packs to alternate to keep them sleeping until we were ready to release them. Thank you again Darlene for all you help and assistance. read more

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My son wanted to share a spring-break project with his visiting grandmother. I panicked for a moment when he chose butterflies... no caterpillars or milkweed... but then I found Darlene. She made it all possible! I've had as much fun as my boy has watching these little hungry caterpillars. My son named each one and has learned responsibility in caring for them. Unfortunately, we lost a few before they went into chrysalis, so that was a life lesson for him, as well. But the process has been fascinating and now... We have butterflies!!!! UPDATE 3.23.17 - We found some full milkweed plants to put in the yard. Now have 4 baby caterpillars and a ton of eggs! We get to keep the life cycle going and do our part for Monarchs. Truly grateful for the lessons and experiences. Thank you, Darlene! read more

I ordered butterflies 2 days ago. It was my sons 12th birthday on the 13th of October and he is no longer with us. He passed last year. I told this wonderful lady that I was in urgent need of them. She was very helpful and kind. She helped me get the best out of everything and helped me choose things that were perfect for us!! I fully recommend this to EVERYONE!! I have ordered butterflies a few other times from other places, THIS IS BY FAR THE BEST ONE YET!!!! The butterflies were HUGE!! What an amazing experience, I will be ordering again!!!! MAHALO!!!!! read more

Sharing the Butterfly Experience - This was the box that my butterflies came in!! It's beautiful!! - Party & Event Planning Near Me

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It's mommy's first anniversary since gaining her wings and because she deserves extra I wanted it to be special and the process was simple and easy I was worried about the timeline and when sunset came the butterflies flew off one by one my siblings and niece and nephews all enjoyed the experience I will definitely consider this experience again! read more

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This was one of the best parts of our entire ceremony! A GREAT SURPRISE FOR THE BRIDE AND OUR GUESTS. Darlene McDowell of "Sharing the Butterfly Experience", was wonderful. She met us at the location on time and her car was very recognizable do to butterflies all over it. She had to travel a ways to get there and was willing to do so. I appreciate everything she did and the butterflies were a great hit at the wedding. I can't thank her enough for making our ceremony even more beautiful. The butterflies were amazing and added a great personal touch. I recommend if you are in Hawaii, to contact Darlene McDowell at "Sharing the Butterfly Experience". They can be used for different events and she walks you thru everything step by step. Economical and professional! Well deserving of ALL 5 STARS!!! THANKS AGAIN MS. DARLENE! read more

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The most beautiful and enlightening experience that I have had since losing my son. To mark the 25th anniversary of his passing my daughter, husband and myself released butterflies over the ocean. It was uplifting and joyous. One of the butterflies would not fly off and rested for several minutes on my daughters shoulder, it was very spiritual. All of us felt the love of the unique moment. Darlene was beyond amazing, we communicated for several weeks before I decided what to do, she was patient and kind and when I finally was able to meet her in person, so genuine and sweet. Thank you again Darlene for such a beautiful experience. We will be back next year to celebrate again and will of course be Sharing the Butterfly Experience. Beck K. read more

NOW LISTEN/READ CAREFUL! Darlene was AMAZING!! The first thing you HOPE for when getting any kind of service like this is for it "to just work out, not be a bad idea or whatever". WELL, not only was it one of the highlights of our wedding it was beautiful and had everyone's hearts. When getting the butterflies from Darlenes location to the island of Maui she stopped at nothing to make sure my brides day wouldn't be a let down. I would recommend this for any special occasion and I'd give a 100 star rating if it was an option. I understand that reviews arenot always what you hope for but I know what Darlene did for me and it was nothing short of perfetc!! Of all the things that will be an expense in Maui, I suggest this as a must have. It brought tears to everyones eyes and was LITERALLY awe inspiring. Great job goes out to Darlene. Mahalo!! read more

Darlene is such a wonderful person to work with. We have done butterfly releases for the passing of loved ones over the past several years. Each time is just as magical as the last. She is so easy to work with and the butterflies help to truly make it a celebration of life. A butterfly release has become a family tradition and helps us to remember the metamorphosis our loved ones experience when moving on to heaven! Can't say enough about how special this tradition has been. read more

I'm not a writer. It's nearly impossible for me to express my gratitude and appreciation for Darlene at Sharing the Butterfly Experience. Her communication is perfection, the best you can receive. I had emailed Darlene and within hours I was invited to her home. She set me up with my own butterfly garden. The $50 starter quick is worth every penny and it includes Darlene's knowledge. Better than any YouTube video or Pinterest pin. Seriously, I am so impressed with Sharing the Butterfly Experience that I am lost for words, but have about 50 future butterflies to be released at home. read more

Darlene is a sweetheart! I am a bartender that does many weddings. I've raised butterflies as a hobby for 8 years now, but I don't always have butterflies when I need them for my clients - 3 times Darlene has come to my rescue with butterflies for me! Whereas I just do it as a hobby, her set up is very lovely as you approach her place you can see butterflies just swarming the neighborhood :) She's as sweet as can be. Highly recommended! Cynthia! read more

The Spirit of Christmas lives throughout the Year, IF you allow your heart and mind to see it. That's what I experienced when I contacted Darlene! In the process of helping my friend with her mother's funeral, I came across the idea to surprise my friend with butterflies. Her mom was an avid gardener and loved nature so much, that even in her recent dreams, she shared that she had dreamt of walking through a beautiful, lush garden. In her mom's honor and for her close family members to share an intimate, and yet inspiring few moments together at the burial site, I've decided to contact Darlene, who was my angel! Darlene understands her customers' needs and will do her best to suit their situation. Even if she was out of town at a business conference, she was available by phone and her family members here, locally, were able to assist me with my dire, last minute request. I felt very blessed, as she REALLY went above the call of duty!! Thank YOU Darlene for your gift of wings, nature, inspiration, and life-long memories!! PS. Mahalo to Keegan Passos of Creations from the Heart and Ms. Rona P. Berry for sharing their photos!! read more

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Ok, first of all Darlene is SO nice and helpful. I texted her and she invited us to her home to see the butterflies and her AMAZING garden. She was so sweet with my kids and was very patient while I nervously pinged her with questions. We bought three plants, an enclosure, a book, and she graciously gave us 10 caterpillars. What a fantastic experience and I am in awe of her expertise. I highly recommend her!! Go see her and her garden! read more

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Had such an amazing butterfly experience, was able to help find caterpillars eating crown flower. Seeing them as a chrysalis. And seeing them and holding the beautiful butterflies. read more

Sharing the Butterfly Experience - Was able to get my butterfly fix! - Party & Event Planning Near Me

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Thank You Darlene - I live in Washington and my daughter was on vacation in Hawaii. Darlene was a delight to talk to. She is a honest trustworthy business lady she got the job done delivered on time my daughter loved the beautiful butterflies read more

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Another last minute order for a loved ones special day and Darlene delivered. She literally drove our keepsake box of butterflies to my home for the wedding. Bride and groom were very happy to receive this gift and share the magical moment with guests attending. Thank you so much Darlene! read more

Releasing butterflies to mark a special occasion is a truly unique and uplifting experience. Darlene went above and beyond to help us mark an important family milestone and I wholeheartedly recommend her and Sharing the Butterfly Experience. read more