Claire's Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Party

Yesterday we celebrated Claire's second birthday with a party at our house. I decided to use one of Claire's favorite books, Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar, as inspiration for the theme. All the activities, decorations, and food were inspired by the book. I had a ton of fun planning the party and everyone had a great time. We had about twenty little ones running around and their various parental units. The weather cooperated, thankfully, and we were able to have the party inside and outside. Claire had an awesome time and was completely excited by all the people and activity.


My caterpillar balloons were inspired by an idea I found online, as were the invitations, goody bags and the banner decoration.


Various elements of the party were labeled with the corresponding quote from the book. I tried to re-create the story throughout the party.


At the door, each guest got to pick up an egg with a gummy worm inside,marking the start of the party and the caterpillar's journey.


Throughout the caterpillar's journey, he eats various foods, all of which we had at the party. Yum!

My friend Kristy made this amazing cake!

Claire had a ton of fun playing with all of her friends.

The first craft that the kids did was to color in a paper caterpillar, which they then folded up, accordion-style and threaded a pencil through the holes to hold the body together.

I think Claire enjoyed playing with the markers more than she enjoyed drawing on her caterpillar.

The second craft the kids did was to make tissue paper butterflies. They each got a foam butterfly that was sticky on one side. They then crumpled up small bits of tissue paper to make a colorful butterfly.

Claire spent a lot of time running around the garden, having fun. Here she is with her friend Cole.

Claire was all decked out like a caterpillar herself, with a caterpillar t-shirt, green tutu and caterpillar hair bows. She certainly matched the theme!

Then, all the kids went outside to play the cocoon game. Some of the big kids knew that in order for a caterpillar to become a butterfly, they make a cocoon and sit in it for a little while, then they come out a butterfly. In this game, each kid had a partner. Each team had a roll of toilet paper. One kid was the caterpillar and the other made the cocoon. Even though they all didn't "get it" they all had a great time. After they broke out of their cocoons, they ran around, flapping their wings like butterflies... well, some of them did.

Claire and her mommy both had a fun time!

Here we are, getting ready to do the cake.


Claire certainly loved all the attention she was getting from the big kids, including Chrysta and Kyle, who spent a lot of time holding her hand and walking around.


Ice cream and cake were the only things Claire would eat all day. She was too busy and excited to sit down and eat anything else.

The party ended with a butterfly pinata, which was packed full of candy, and difficult to break. Everyone certainly got their fill of hitting the pinata. After some help from Claire's Daddy, the pinata finally broke.
Thank you to all of you who came and made this a great party. To those of you who couldn't be here with us, we missed you!