A Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Party!

My little girl will be three in September and as I have started to plan her third birthday party, I realized that I never blogged about her second birthday party! My daughter loves books, and last year at this time, one of her favorites was the beloved children’s classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I thought it would be an adorable theme for her second birthday!

*Photo from kodakgallery.com.

Invitations
I ordered these adorable invitations from kodakgallery.com and they were perfect for setting the stage for the party!

Decorations
I wanted to stick with the bright, bold colors seen throughout the book. I was so excited when I found these brightly colored metal buckets at a local craft store. I stuck some floral foam in the bottom of each bucket, covered it with fake grass and stuck a bunch of Dum-Dum lollipops into the foam. The lollipops also represented the lollipop that the caterpillar eats through in the book.  To decorate our home, I bought bright  red, orange, yellow, green and blue balloons and tied them up all over the inside and outside of our house. I also used a bright green table cloth for the food table, and bright, multi-colored plates, napkins, cups and plasticware.

Food
In the book, the caterpillar eats many different foods on his journey and I used this as inspiration for our menu.

One apple, 2 pears, 3 plums, 4 strawberries, 5 oranges- All of these fruits, plus grapes served with fruit dip.
Chocolate cake- The bottom layer of the cake was a chocolate cake.
Ice cream cone- We served ice cream with the cake.
Pickle- Small bowl of pickles with the other savory food.
Swiss cheese– A plate of assorted cheeses, including slices of Swiss, for sandwiches.
Salami- A plate of assorted meats, including salami, for sandwiches.
Lollipop– See decorations above.
Cherry Pie- A bowl of fresh cherries with the other fruits.
Sausage– Sweet and sour kielbasa, as well as meatballs, in a large crockpot.
Cupcake– Cupcake bites for favors.
Watermelon- Fresh watermelon wedges.
Green leaf– Seven Layer Salad.

We also had a big basket of rolls, lettuce, tomato and assorted condiments for the sandwiches, as well as chips and salsa. To drink we had assorted sodas, and I made a batch of this rainbow punch.

For dessert we had cake and ice cream. The bottom layer of the cake is a 9×13 chocolate cake, frosted with plain white buttercream. To make the caterpillar, I baked a yellow cake in a tube pan and once the cake was cooled, I cut and turned a portion of the cake to make the caterpillar shape. I did have to trim the cake a bit and once I had all of the pieces lined up to look like a caterpillar, I glued them together with buttercream frosting. I frosted the caterpillar with various shades of green frosting for the body, red for the head and the eyes are buttercream as well. The antennas are pieces of licorice, the feet are Hershey’s Kisses and the bright colored balls below the caterpillar are gumballs. The cake was a bit time-consuming, but I was really happy with the end result!

Favors
I made a batch of red velvet cupcake bites for party favors. The bottoms were milk chocolate and the tops were various colored candy melts. I topped each one with an M&M. These were the hit of the party and people were sneaking bites before the party even got started!

The party was a success and the birthday girl had a great day!

You may also like:

• Abby’s First Birthday!