A very hungry caterpillar party

I made an unforgivable reproductive error by delivering Elise on December 29th. Four measly days after the excitement crescendo of Christmas-- long enough for family to have traveled back to their homes and the flutter of Christmas activity  to have settled down. But not long enough for a second wave of festivity to be brewing. Anticlimactically situated right in between Christmas and New Years. Potential party guests are out of town or on vacation or just plagued by post-holiday overstimulation and exhaustion. Even the most enthusiastic and well-intentioned of party-planning moms finds it easy to drop the ball when barely recovering from Accomplishing Christmas. So I made the executive decision to delay Elise's birthday party a couple of weeks, giving everyone time to recuperate, family motivated to re-make the drive to our house, and me time to plan/execute. As The Very Hungry Caterpillar is one of her favorite books, and she is, in fact, a very hungry caterpillar herself, the theme seemed obvious.

Couldn't bear paying a zillion dollars on Etsy for a one-use birthday shirt... so I made this cute albeit very homemade looking alternative. E loved it, so I was pleased.

Decor was Noveau Caterpillar.

There were caterpillar themed crafts for the kids

A Caterpillar Bean Bag Toss...

Which turned into a great guilliotine-style prop

And Caterpillar Favor Bags

Caterpillar lacing card, rainbow pencil, various toy bugs, and "caterpillar food" (jelly beans)

Food paralleled what the little critter ate in the book:

On Monday he ate through one apple, but he was still hungry, etc. 

Apples, pears, plums, oranges, strawberries...

Cheese, Salami...

As well as this friendly caterpillar sandwich guy

"Caterpillar Juice"

And of course, cake.

I was disappointed that I couldn't get the icing to be brighter hued, but at a point I feared the kids would have some sort of adverse reaction to enormous doses of food coloring, so I gave up. Nonetheless, my dessert-lovers found it acceptable.

Candles were blown out, with the maximum amount of toddler-spit possible.

Sadly, the ONLY family shot I have. Oh well.

Presents were opened.

The most entertaining of objects is rarely the gift itself.



And fun was had by all.

Happy 2nd birthday, my Very Hungry Caterpillar. I could eat up your smile, laughs, and hugs every day and STILL be hungry...