For my son, Joshua’s, 1st birthday, I decided to go with The Very Hungry Caterpillar (by Eric Carle) theme. He was growing like a weed and loved to eat, so that seemed the most fitting! This was a pretty easy party to pull together. I basically just followed the book to a tee.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Decorations
I got extremely lucky with this party and was able to get pretty much everything I needed to decorate, from the Dollar Store. I was most excited to have found these green ovalish shaped bowls there. They resembled leaves, in my opinion, and that was perfect! I purchased 8 of them. They also had a matching food tray with dividers, which was exactly what I needed. I printed out all of the pages of the book, onto 4” x 6” cardstock and used those on my themed food table. I found the stuffed caterpillar from Kohls (one of the Kohl’s Cares For Kids items) and purchased the Lamaze Firefly from Amazon (Looked like the Eric Carle Butterfly to me).
Along our fence, I tied 6 green balloons and one large red balloon in a row, to make the caterpillar. I made the eyes, nose and antennas from cardstock and taped them on.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Food Ideas
Like I said, for this party, I just followed all the pages of the book. They are as follows:
In the light of the moon, a little egg lay on the leaf.
One Sunday morning, the warm sun came up and – pop! – out of the egg came a tiny and very hungry caterpillar.
He started to look for some food.
On Monday he ate through one apple, but he was still hungry.
On Tuesday he ate through two pairs, but he was still hungry.
On Wednesday he ate through three plums, but he was still hungry.
On Thursday he ate through four strawberries, but he was still hungry.
On Friday he ate through five oranges, but he was still hungry.
On Saturday he ate through one piece of chocolate cake, one ice cream cone, one pickle, one slice of swiss cheese, one slice of salami, one lollipop, one piece of cherry pie, one sausage, one cupcake, and one slice of watermelon. That night, he had a stomache.
The next day was Sunday again. The caterpillar ate through one nice green leaf, and after that he felt much better.
Now he wasn’t hungry anymore – and he wasn’t a little caterpillar anymore. He was a big fat caterpillar.
He built a small house, called a cocoon, around himself. He stayed inside for more than two weeks. Then he nibbled a hole in the cocoon, pushed his way out, and…
He was a beautiful butterfly.
I place the themed cards in front of the bowls filled with the foods written on the card. For the cocoons, I made brownies and rolled them into cocoon shapes. For ice cream, I bought Yum Yum marshmallow cones on Amazon.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Cake Ideas
For Joshua’s cake, I made a chocolate half sheet cake with homemade buttercream frosting. This was the first time I had ever used fondant. I must admit, I really impressed myself! I wanted the coloring of the caterpillar, leaf, and the sun to resemble Eric Carle’s art work so I shaped them with just plain white fondant and then painted the fondant with powdered food coloring and almond extract. Once the fondant dried, I transported it to the cake. Though this cake was A LOT of work, it was the most fun to make! I love experimenting with all the colors! I also made Funfetti cupcakes for the guests who didn’t like chocolate. They were covered with green buttercream frosting.
Party Entertainment
To entertain the kids, I rented a bouncy house. Who doesn’t love to jump in a bouncy? And I’m sure all the parents appreciate the kids getting nice and tired! I also provided an ice cream sundae bar after cake. Sundaes included your choice of M&M’s, Reese’s Pieces, mini Reese’s peanut butter cups, marshmallows, gummy bears, maraschino cherries, whipped cream, hot fudge and strawberry syrup. Yumm!
I hope these tips and ideas help you plan the perfect “Very Hungry Caterpillar” party for your growing little one!
