Our son recently turn two years old and we threw him a Very Hungry Caterpillar themed birthday party. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is his favorite book – we read it every night and its just the cutest theme for a little one’s party.
In this post you’ll see how we incorporated the book theme throughout our party and hopefully get some ideas for your own!
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Themed Party
Invitations
I created our invitations in Canva and sent them to friends and family through text messages. Next time I would still create my own graphic but might use an online invitation system to help with keep track of RSVPs.
I used to text from the book “One Sunday morning the warm sun came up and POP!…” which was perfect for our Sunday morning party.
Food
Fruit platter with apples, pears, plums, strawberries, and oranges (the fruits from the first 5 days in the very hungry caterpillar book).
Our party was at 10am, keeping 2 year old nap times in mind. We served bagels, cream cheese, tuna and egg salad. And mini bagels for the little ones.
We were so impressed with our cake from Publix from Aaron’s birthday last year so we decided to order from them again. You really can’t go wrong with a cupcake pull apart cake. They can get more creative with the shape and it makes serving so much faster and easier.
You can order the leaf trays here.
Decorations
I saw some really cute balloon arch ideas on Pinterest. But we were a little limited with decorations because of our location choice. Our local parks near the beaches do not allow balloons (because we care about our local turtles).
I ordered these hungry caterpillar party sign decorations and these hanging ones. Then I taped them up around our pavilion and on some of the tables.
For plates, napkins, and plasticware we decided to go with the three caterpillar colors to be a little more budget friendly. But we did have these cups with the caterpillar print on them.
Activities
Having structured and scheduled activities is so hard with little kids. Aaron and his friends from school are only 1.5 – 2 years old. We purposely rented a park pavilion next to a playground for just that reason. The were all back and forth – play a little, eat a little, repeat.
I ordered a few The Very Hungry Caterpillar themed activities to put on the table for kids (and their parents) to do on their own. We had this puzzle and these lace cards. And after the party they just got added to Aaron’s toy lineup.
One of the best ways to keep little ones busy and happy is a bubble machine. When we pulled it out the kids all ran over and started chasing the bubbles.
We also borrowed a corn hole set from a friend for the adults, but it quickly got taken over by the little ones.
And right before we sang happy birthday, we gathered everyone back into the pavilion and my husband Jon read The Very Hungry Caterpillar book to everyone.
What to Wear for a Very Hungry Caterpillar Themed Party
My son wore his short sleeve leaf button down shirt. He’s had his from Janie and Jack for a while but here’s a similar one from Amazon. I went back and forth about ordering personalized shirts from Etsy or Zazzle but it felt like too much money for something that would only be worn once. I love that his shirt was on theme but is also something he wears all the time. (He also wore it on his first day of preschool).
I wore this strawberry dress – if you haven’t noticed, I love dressing to theme. Its similar to a much more expensive designer version. The one I wore is about $30. Unlike the designer version the tulle is only one layer. It is lined and has the most fun strawberry details. I added a pink bandeau bralette underneath as its way too low cut to be appropriate for a kid’s party. I also added another tulle skirt from my closet for more poof on the bottom.
You can see watch a video review on my YouTube channel here.
Check out Aaron’s first birthday (hole in ONE themed) HERE.
