charlotte's 'very hungry caterpillar' party

our sweet little charlotte turned one on february 8th. this may sound weird, but for me, parties are kind-of like a love letter to my children. i put my heart and soul into them. i also just LOVE planning a party, and knowing this was my last one-year-old party, it took me a long time to figure out my theme. admittedly, i can get a bit, well, obsessed, when planning a party. this one definitely took over my life a bit ;)

for bella's 3rd birthday, we had a pinkalicious party.  i LOVED the idea of a book-themed party, so i decided to do that again. storytime during a birthday party is a great way to get all the little ones back together! i have always been a big fan of eric carle (i once made jeff stand in line with me for several hours to meet him when we lived in davis). so i decided on the book, the very hungry caterpillar. once the theme decision was made, the dreaming (um, obsessing) began!

the ex-teacher in me loves stations, so i decided on 5 craft stations for a choose-your-own-adventure type of party. since it was going to be in the evening, we had to do dinner. i figured we'd have to have all the foods the caterpillar ate through! i found so many great ideas for decorations and activities on different internet sites. there is so much out there!

after a month filled with lots of dreaming, crafting, and creating, it was finally party time. i was very excited with how it turned out, and i think it was really fun! charlotte had a great night and loved her little cake. enjoy the pictures!

(ps... this is not our house :) we were able to use an apartment clubhouse, which was perfect and very spacious for this many people

the invitation

i made the party signs for the birthday girl to spread around the room on the walls.

the entryway table. a little charlotte-caterpillar sign, and a basket full of antennaes for people to wear.

i made the antennaes with black headbands, black pipe cleaners, and little styrofoam balls spray-painted black

auntie stacey and auntie cam modeling the antennaes :)

the entrance to the party. there were photos of charlotte's first year backed with cute papers up on the pillars, bright-colored pennant banners, and birthday signs to welcome the guests.

my sweet friend becca helped me make this banner with her cricut machine and circle cutters. took a bit longer than we had planned :) we tied all the circles together with multiple ribbons and used 3 different patterns of papers. one of my favorite things.

a close-up view :)

a table with some gummy worms... just to stick with the 'buggy' theme

each of the guests were given a white paper plate with their invitation and then were asked to make it green somehow. people got SO creative, covering them with pipe cleaners, tissue flowers, shaving cream concoctions... it was really fun! we took all the green plates and made a giant caterpillar along the wall. adorable. these pictures just don't do it justice.

the final product with everyone's plates

i had backed a ton of my favorite pictures from her first year. we hung them from the light fixture to create a cute 'chandelier'

the first craft station was egg carton caterpillars. i collected a bunch of egg cartons from friends and then spray painted them all green. kids could add eyes, pipe cleaners, stickers, glitter.... they were adorable.

the next station was thumbprint caterpillar bookmarks. kids could use stamp pads to make their thumbprints on a bookmark in the shape of a caterpillar. totally my favorite craft of the night.

station 3 was clothespin butterflies. kiddos colored a coffee filter using markers (watercolors are way prettier, but i wasn't bringing that mess into the mix) and then put it inside a spray-painted clothespin. add a pipe cleaner antennae & voila! butterfly.

i always love a beading station for my bigger kids. i had regular beads and bug-shaped foam beads. they made necklaces, bracelets & bookmarks.

and finally, just a little coloring station. i'm always amazed how many kids just want to color :)

all the kid tables set up for food

i made charlotte's birthday hat with scrapbook paper, stickers, and some pom poms.

this was my favorite thing at the party. i made a caterpillar cupcake-cake. it was definitely a labor of love. as you'll see below, the cupcakes and her smash cake were all made into a rainbow (you color and then layer the batter before baking). i got the recipe from our best bites, which i am now totally obsessed with. they have the yummiest food!

caterpillar sugar cookies.

i used the foods from the book, along with sandwiches and chips for dinner. (i really, really wanted to drill little holes through all the strawberries like the caterpillar had crawled through them, but i just ran out of time. )

half of the food table (not yet fully set up and ready at this point, but it was the only pic that got taken)

lollipops- something else the caterpillar crawled through

the caterpillar cake (from costco, cause their cakes are so yummy) for all the grown-ups

i made her shirt :) i cut out circles and the branch/leaves/hearts using felt, and then hand-stitched them to the shirt. i couldn't get a great picture, but it was so cute. i also made her sparkly antennaes, which she was not a big fan of!

a sweet friend, shelley mcintosh, made this gorgeous tutu for her! i showed her the shirt i made and she totally matched it. it was SO cute to see her crawling around all night with the tutu!

storytime with daddy

time for cake! she wasn't too sure about everyone singing to her...

hmmm.... what is that?

this might be okay.....

um, yes. i think i like this.

(by the way,this is the rainbow cake i was talking about earlier :) the cupcakes were even cuter as they were perfectly lined up as a rainbow. )

all the cute birthday party-goers, minus early-leavers and those not in the mood for pictures :)

as you can see- it was a ton of work, but a ton of fun! definitely a success!

jackson's 5th birthday is in a little over a month.... and yes, i'm already working on it ;)

posted by mommy

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