The Very Hungry Caterpillar Themed Birthday Party

I had a hard time trying to find a theme for my oldest daughter first birthday.  First I thought that I would have this elaborate carnival birthday party with bouncy houses, bubble machines, and clowns.  But I knew that my one year old would be too young to enjoy and remember all of those things.  My second choice was a Yo Gabba Gabba theme birthday party, but I thought that would be too cliché, I wanted a theme that you wouldn't find in a store like Party City. I wanted something that would be memorable and creative.  I begin to think about what my daughter and I love to do together, and a light bulb went off in my head, we love to read books! After I get off from work, I always read to my daughter, it is our moment to bond after being away from each other. One of the stories we like to read is The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle.  The story is very child friendly and it pretty much gives you a menu of items to serve at a party.  I thought I was the first person to think of this theme, but when I begin to research, I realized there was a plethora of ideas from pinterest with moms who had the same idea.  I used some of their ideas and incorporated some of my ideas, which equaled to a fun and creative first birthday party for my daughter.  Check out the pictures below! 

 

 In the story, a baby caterpillar is born, and from birth he is very hungry, and begins to have cravings. He eats fruits for 5 days, first day he eats 1 apple, second day he eats 2 pears, third day he eats 3 plums, 4th day he eats 4 strawberries, and on the 5th day he eats 5 oranges. Than he eats a variety of  foods like chocolate cake, ice cream cone, pickle, Swiss cheese, salami, lollipop, cherry pie, sausage, cupcake, watermelon, and a green leaf, than he becomes sick. After he recovers, he spins a cocoon and stays there for two weeks. Later, the caterpillar emerges as a colorful butterfly with large colorful wings.

 

The menu for the party consisted of all the food that was in the story.  I also labeled the food with food tags that I found online. I added all the foods that is in the story, for the Swiss cheese and salami, I made a Swiss cheese, salami, and cracker tray.  For the sausage, I made sausage sliders.  For the green leaf, I made a spinach salad.  I got some of my ideas from pinterest, and this blog 

 

For the banner, I printed out the letters, and glued them on colorful construction paper.

 





On the wall, I made the very hungry caterpillar with 13 circles. Twelve of the circles showcased my daughter growing from 1 month to 12 months.

My daughter wore a custom made The Very Hungry Caterpillar Pillowcase dress  and Party hat from Etsy shops.

 

 Up close picture of the Pillow Case Dress

 

 The Very Hungry Caterpillar cake was made by the Cake Shop

 For Arts and Crafts, the children made caterpillars out of chenille stems and cotton balls.  They also made butterflies out of chenille stems and cotton balls.

 My niece displaying her beautiful creation of the butterfly the very hungry caterpillar transforms to.

 





 

Here is the template I used for the invitations , the shop is closed now, but you can still order from this shop through email on etsy.

 

 

The party was such a success that I plan on making all the themes of my daughters birthday parties after books.  This year, my daughter's 2nd  birthday party theme was Dr.Seuss.  My ten month old first birthday party is November 15th, it will also be a book themed party, so stay tuned for the theme and pictures.  I will also have a guest next week, who I will interview about a adorable party that she's planning for her beautiful daughter. Stay Tuned!