{ grant's 1st birthday party! }

My little guy, Grant, has enjoyed the classic story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, since he was a few months old.  He always giggles like crazy when I read the, "but he was still hungry!" part.  It seemed like a natural choice for the theme for his first birthday party. 

I went with this colorful invite, and it really got my creative juices flowing.

Calling all caterpillars to crawl inside to play!  It's time to celebrate Grant's 1st birthday!

P A R T Y   T I M E !

I tend to go a bit overboard with the sweets. Oops.

 I was obsessed with these adorable cut-out cookies. Trix cereal turned out to be a pretty dandy platter filler for these little lovelies.

I really liked the idea of a tall, simple white cake. Can you believe this is an $8 grocery store cake?!?   

I added Skittles around the top and bottom, plopped a fondant caterpillar on top, then added a cute little bunting. I love how it turned out.

It was almost too pretty to cut!

 I tried to add a few healthy choices too.  I sure didn't want any caterpillars to have a stomach ache ;)

What's a party without silly hats for friends?! 

A special hat for my tiny birthday boy.  I save all the hats that I make for my little men, and use them as decor in their bedrooms. 

We had a little table for the older kiddos to enjoy some caterpillar crafting.

These guys were really digging the glue.  Whoa, that's a LOT of glue.  Teehee. I'm sure their future preschool teachers are gonna have a lot of fun with this action :P

I asked the partygoers to write a special note to Grant in his birthday edition of the book. 

  Big brother, Jack, and his friends took some time out from playing to pose for a photo under the balloon caterpillar. He's a friendly sort of fellow that we named Curtis. 

 These sweet faces get me every time!

 Grant and his buddies are still getting the hang of this posing for pictures thing.  Dang, they are CUTE! Can you handle all those chubby cheeks?!? My super mommy friends are pretty talented at getting these little cherubs all lined up in a row for pics.

Unfortunately, our precious Georgia doesn't have the best party manners, so this is what she was doing for most of the festivities.  Seems she dumped out all of her food in protest too. You are loved, cute puppy.

Big friends went home with fun treat bags. Tucked inside was a caterpillar or butterfly wind-toy and a snack mix (with a few gummy caterpillars thrown in) for the ride home. 

I struggled with what to give the little munchkins.  It was hard to come up with something that was age appropriate. I came up with these fuzzy guys.  I cut lengths from feather boas and attached a giant red pom pom head.  I figured they'd be great for some sensory, tickle-filled fun.

Yikes, I have a feeling you've developed quite the sweet tooth already, little buddy.

Hmm.  I wonder where he's picked that up? We had such a blast at our party!

I can't believe my pumpkin is already a year old! Happy 1st birthday, sweet Grant!  Mama loves Y O U!

XOXOXO!

Sources for Grant's Very Hungry Caterpillar Party:

cupcake toppers~Two Sugar Babies

cut-out cookies~Sweet Treats by Bonnie

caterpillar applique tee~ Peachy Keen Designs

cake~ Giant Eagle (fancified by me)

treat bags~found at Target (on clearance!)

invites and party graphics~yours truly, with LOTS of help from the wonderful Eric Carle

dotty paper behind party table~Target giftwrap

***UPDATE***

Very Hungry Caterpillar food labels available for free download! 

Enjoy the cuteness and happy partying!

Make sure to click DOWNLOAD ORIGINAL to get the best quality print possible.  You'll need Adobe Reader to open these files.

VHC food label pg 1

VHC food labels pg 2

VHC food labels pg 3

*I was sad to be without my awesome pro photographer for this party (unlike our last shindig), so I need to apologize for the general grainy, ickiness of most of these pics. I really need to get better at taking photos.