The Very Hungry Caterpillar Party!

 

 

Oh my!  I really must be scatter-brained these days.  I totally thought I had shared pictures of my son's "Very Hungry Caterpillar" first birthday party (that we celebrated a month ago), but I guess not.  I will spare you the family and friends photos and simply post the ones that might intrigue you teachers and mommies out there.  So here goes!

 

 

I grabbed some bubbles from the Dollar Tree and wrapped them with personalized labels that I created for each child guest.

 

 

There was a picture on the back of each one...the butterfly, the caterpillar, etc.

 

 

I included this one so you could see my "Very Hungry Caterpillar" t-shirt.  I ordered it from "Out of Print Clothing" through Amazon.

 

 

My mom baked and I frosted green and red cupcakes, then I just placed them on the platter (Dollar Tree) so it - sort of - looked like the caterpillar.

 

I made this lawn caterpillar using paper plates (Dollar Tree) and large paint sticks (Wal-Mart).  The face is just made from construction paper.

 

Even though there was a playground right next to our rented picnic and pavilion area, I was super paranoid the kids might be bored, LOL.  So I set up some stations, just in case!  There was a puzzle station.  I am sorry...I cannot remember where I bought it, as I have had it for years now.

 

There was a coloring station and a bubbles station.  I found the "Very Hungry Caterpillar" crayons and buckets in the dollar section at Target.

 

There was a photo booth station.  No one actually used this, but I totally blame myself...there were no directions and no modeling, LOL!  But anyway, the frame was cut out from a cardboard box and spray painted red.  The hat, bow, and sunglases were from Party City.

 

There was an age-appropriate party favor bag for each baby and child... and almost everything was "Very Hungry Caterpillar."  (I had been hunting and collecting for MONTHS!)  I had rattles, bibs, socks, and things like that for the babies.  I had sippy cups, snack containers, board books, sticker books, mini books, etc. for the little kids.  The older kids just got buckets with gummy caterpillars worms in them.  Oh yes, and everyone was welcome to take a balloon home.

 

We were at a public park and while I was thrilled to have bathrooms connected to the pavilion, I was not so happy to have to share them with non-guests.  So I assembled these bathroom baskets, just in case we faced any undesirable bathroom conditions.

 

Yikes!  Bad picture... sorry about that.  During my son's first year, I took monthly pictures (and weekly, if I am being honest), so we could see his growth.  I printed the monthly pictures, stuck them in some cheap plastic frames (Wal-Mart), and placed one at each table as a simple centerpiece.

 

We served green Kool-Aid, red Kool-Aid, lemonade, water, soda, and beer.  I had fun, colorful straws for the kiddos.  My son's smash cake is there on the left; it was in the shape of the number 1.  I placed "Very Hungry Caterpillar" items around as decorations.

 

We served the various foods that the caterpillar ate in the story.  On Saturday, he eats through one ice cream cone.  I was not willing to risk melting ice cream on a potentially hot June day, so my mom (thank goodness for her, because I could not have pulled off the baking part of this party without her) baked ice cream cone cupcakes!  She coved a cardboard box lid with wrapping paper (Dollar Tree) and cut out holes in order to make a cone holder.

 

The caterpillar also ate through one cherry pie.  My mom and I made mini cherry pies using refrigerated pie crust and cherry pie filling.  They were SUPER EASY to make! 

 

Some of the other foods that the caterpillar ate in the story: salami, Swiss cheese, lollipop, pear, orange, plum, apple, watermelon, etc.

 

Yeah, these pictures are totally not in any order that makes logical sense.  Oops!  Anyway, I posted his birthday party invitation on one of the tables (which I made...pretty proud of that!)

 

It is difficult to see in this picture, but hanging on the wall there is a banner that I made.  I printed the letters in color on cardstock, cut them out, then taped them onto black paper plates.  I punched two holes into the top of each plate, then laced a fun green ribbon (Wal-Mart) through the holes.

 

In the story, the caterpillar eats sausage.  I cooked up some Cheddarwurst, then put it in a crockpot with was Velveeta cheese.  We also served Sloppy Joes and chips.

 

My mom made that awesome pennant banner with "Very Hungry Caterpillar" fabric that she ordered online.  I set this up directly behind the gift table.  In order to hang the pennant banner... I first purchased three tin buckets (Dollar Tree) and filled them with colored craft sand.  I also picked up a thick dowel (Ace Hardware) and they cut it into smaller pieces right in the store for me for free!  My hubby spray painted the dowels red.  I stuck them into the craft sand, then tied the pennant banner to the top of each dowel.

 

I ordered this balloon arch from a local store called "Balloonee Toonz."  Unfortunately, I did not take into account that the party was outdoors and the wind might be problematic.  Thank goodness for my friends who were able to figure out how to make it stand - by attaching it to the pavilion and tree, ha!

 

I placed little lawn caterpillars all along the edge of the pavilion.  I just printed the image on cardstock, cut them out, then taped them to paint sticks.

 

Do you ever put tons of time and energy into preparing for an event, and then totally forget (or lack time) to take certain pictures?  I feel awful because I only snagged a few pictures of the birthday boy.  Anyway, I wanted to post this one so you could see his onesie that his Nana made him.  She used "Very Hungry Caterpillar" fabric (ordered online) to sew on the number "1" and the caterpillar on a blue onesie.

 

 

 

My son's actual birthday fell on a weekday, but I still wanted him to be able to do something fun.  So I taped some butcher paper to our kitchen floor (please ignore the fat cat) ...

 

... and then slapped some washable Crayola paint down and let him go crazy!

 

My hubby cut out a small section of his "artwork" and I put it in his baby book.

 

Well, I guess that is it!  I hope you are able to snag an idea or two for your own child's party or classroom.  Thanks for stopping by!  :)