I had my eye on The Very Hungry Caterpillar for months before Grayson’s party and luckily it became his favorite book (we had to read it probably 5 times a day, no joke!) so I knew it was the perfect theme for his birthday! This theme is SUPER EASY because there are some really cute and inexpensive ways to decorate and let the kids have fun without taking months planning and spending all your money! I went a little crazy for Cody’s Jake Birthday so I wanted to dial it back a bit! Once I decide on a theme I turn to google, pinterest and etsy for some ideas! Then I make my list for what I want to do!
The colors are easy, red and green so head over to your local dollar store for plates, cups, napkins, tablecloths, balloons and anything else you can think of. This is the cheapest place I have found these types of things. I made this adorable caterpillar (out of balloons and black construction paper). I eyeballed the feet and used black pipe cleaners for the antennas. Tape them to whatever you want and you have a cute decor on the cheap!
I got the Happy Birthday Banner from Funtastic Parties. What I LOVE about Etsy is that you can order handmade things without having to be the one to hand make them! I am certainly no Martha Stewart, but I still want cutesie craft stuff at my parties. Etsy is a great way to do that!!
I recommend punching two holes in the banner for your ribbon to go through and I used scalloped edged scissors so I didn’t have to cut the circles perfectly.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these cookies. Both stores individually wrapped each cookie with pretty ribbon so I used them as favors for the kids. I added a Thank You tag from Funtastic Parties for a more personalized touch.
I think these are such great ideas as take homes because it saves you from having to fill a bag with a bunch of “stuff” and what kid doesn’t love being able to take a cookie home for later :)
These are from Favorable Cookies2 and they were YUMMY! Be sure to check her out on Facebook to see her latest creations! She had these 4 different cookies for the theme. They were super cute and she is offering a great discount to any first time customers! When you buy 6 cookies you will get 6 for FREE! Use code “first6” for your discount!
These cookies are from RP Confections. She had a great assortment of cookies for the theme, including a butterfly, caterpillar and the name of the book on a few and also many of the other foods that were in the book. I loved how thick the cookies were she added a lot of detail to the cookies which I loved. They were also really delicious!!! She is offering a great discount as well! You will get 10% off from now until October 15th for orders to be delivered by 10/31. You will need to allow 2 weeks notice so that your cookies arrive on time! You can use “Motherhood Support” as your coupon code which you can put in the comments when your order. This discount is off of the cookie total only, not shipping. Convo her with a zip code before you order so she can look at shipping rates if you are ordering more than 1 dozen!
I would highly recommend both of these companies. The cookies were FAB, super cute and a great idea for favors. This may be my sig take homes from now on :)
I usually try to have a craft table at the party and so I google the theme name and coloring pages and you can find a lot of free options. I printed off a bunch of coloring pages and then found this cute caterpillar craft the kids could make out of construction paper. Both of these are easy enough and all the kids loved making the construction paper caterpillar. I cut the strips out ahead of time so all they had to do was glue them together and decorate!
One thing I found on Etsy that I absolutely LOVE is the Chalkboard prints! KristinZKreations did a fantastic job! These things are SOOO stinkin cute and what I love about it is that you can include their height, weight, their favorite things and have it on record in a cute way! I used it as decor for the party and then I can add it to his birthday book (which is just a sig book we do every year to hold pic memories and little notes from guests).
It has become tradition for me and the boys to make their cake every year and I try to stick with cupcakes since they are just so much easier than a cake! This year was SO easy!! I found a picture of this adorable cupcake caterpillar online!! All you have to do is make a small circle cake and then your cupcakes. Color your frosting for the head and body and shape accordingly. I used the black pipe cleaners for his legs and antennas to finish off the look. It took no time at all and was still so cute!
As for the food, I went with the food that was in the book. I took a straw and pushed it through the strawberries to make it look like the caterpillar had taken a bite! I made little caterpillars with green and purple grapes on skewers and made marshmallow pops with green and red sugar to go with the color scheme! I got the adorable tent cards from Funtastic Parties on Etsy as well. I LOVED how she had an entire printable party package so you can print off what you want and really add those special personalized touches!!
Lastly, I found this ADORABLE thank you card from Kiyomi Designs!! I love being able to add a pic of the birthday boy and I love ordering off Etsy because you really get a custom Thank You. I was able to pic the colors, wording and picture I wanted. She had the cutest wording so I kept that, but wanted a blue to match his shirt which she did for me. I love the way it turned out. Now I just have to send the image to Office Depot and they will print 20 for me for around $10! Not bad :)
Overall, everything turned out great and it wasn’t a ton of work. Grayson had a lot of fun and I still can’t believe he is 2!!! It is so crazy how time flies!! Makes me sad, but looking forward to what these boys will be getting into as the years go on!!
What types of themes have you done for your kids? Which one has been your favorite?!
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