I love planning birthday parties! The planning process to me is the most fun part of the whole party. I always start 6 months ahead to gather ideas, look at websites, and find items for the party on sale! It really does help to get the most for your money when you plan ahead!
My best friend's daughter was turning 1 and she asked me to help plan a Very Hungry Caterpillar birthday party for her. Once the 6 month mark came, I got to work! I scoured websites, stores, garage sales, you name it, to get the best of everything at a reasonable price.
We knew the basics of the party, it was going to be held at Wedgewood Tennis Villas Clubhouse, Mr. Richard was going to perform, and it was going to be from 10-1 on a Saturday. After all those reservations were met, it was time to begin the actual planning and details.
The Food! Since the birthday party was at 10 am we knew we wanted to serve lunch, but wanted to keep it simple. We decided on sandwich platters and Chick-fil-A nuggets, plus chips and drinks. We needed something to hang above the food table and found this adorable custom-made banner on Etsy. It's all fabric with a polka-dot theme.
The Food! Since the birthday party was at 10 am we knew we wanted to serve lunch, but wanted to keep it simple. We decided on sandwich platters and Chick-fil-A nuggets, plus chips and drinks. We needed something to hang above the food table and found this adorable custom-made banner on Etsy. It's all fabric with a polka-dot theme.
I also wanted something special on the food table that was representative of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I filled these vases with fruit the caterpillar ate in the story. They added a lot of color to the table. I also ordered confetti from Etsy that had all kinds of pictures from the story, but also had the #1 on them and the birthday girl's name.
The Cake! The cake is a huge part of any birthday party and this one did not disappoint! I found a caterpillar cake at Costco for only $17.99 and it was awesome. I customized it just a little so that it had mostly primary colors. We added some lollipops around it (the caterpillar eats lollipops in the story) and some primary balloons. To make the table a little more thematic we added The Very Hungry Caterpillar hardcover book (TJMaxx $9.99) and a caterpillar from Kohls ($5). 
The centerpieces were a lot of fun to put together and they served a dual purpose as the party favors. We ordered large lollipops from Oriental Trading Co. and found the buckets in the clearance section of Target's summer section. Add some newspaper, floral Styrofoam, and shredded paper and they were very easy to create. We also put gummy caterpillars in them that they kids loved to go around and eat! I also cut out butterflies, the number 1, and an apple with a caterpillar to spread out on the tables.
Every first birthday has to include pictures of the birthday child throughout their first year. Since they change and grow so much it's fun to display their changes. I used picture frames (Dollar Tree) and then put 5x7 pictures of the birthday girl in them from birth to 12 months. I glued pieces of The Very Hungry Caterpillar to the frames that I got from a game I purchased at a garage sale for $2. I also made a month by month caterpillar showing the birthday girl in each link of the caterpillar. We had leftover lollipops so we spread them on the table.
While the kids waited for Mr. Richard to play and for guests to arrive, we had little booklets of the story printed out from the internet and butterfly puppets that I got on clearance from Michaels. We put crayons in little colored buckets (Oriental Trading) so that each kid could take them back to their table to color while waiting for the show!
Finally it was time for the entertainment. Mr. Richard is a local children's folk singer that is known around town. He plays his own songs, plus a couple of familiar songs. The clubhouse was perfect because he had his own stage and the kids had a dance floor.
And finally, the smash cake. We kinda forgot to decorate the chair the birthday girl would be sitting in, so we threw in some balloons and leftover cut-outs. We made her smash cake with cool whip instead of frosting, since it's easier to clean up. However, it is really difficult to decorate a cool-whip cake because icing does not stick to it. But it turned out perfect and the birthday girl loved it!
This party was so much fun to plan! The parents didn't have to do a thing, but enjoy their daughter's first birthday party which is the best part!
Thank you for an amazing 1st Birthday party for Jordan. She enjoyed it, so did big sis, Emily...and Mom and Dad actually had time to celebrate with the birthday girl. You are officially our party planner.
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