Its a Very Happy Birthday, Henry!

Yay! Happy Birthday, Henry! This is totally bittersweet for me. In some ways, Henry is still just a little baby, but in other ways he seems like he is a big boy already. Of course, I want my children to grow and thrive but you can't help but miss their babyhood. To celebrate Henry's first year, we are having a A Very Hungry Caterpillar themed party for him. I got the idea just about a year ago when Henry was first born. I saw the cutest plates, sippy cups, and cutlery made by ZAK brand in the dollar section at Target. Once I saw these, I built the party around them. It is so much easier and budget friendly to find something cute on sale or clearance and go with that idea rather than to formulate your theme and then try to find stuff to go with it. (Trust me, the last couple of parties have been that way.)


 Here are the plates, cups, and cutlery I found. Each one was just a dollar and I will wash and send home the plates as the guests' party favor.

I also bought some of those cardboard letters from the craft store and painted them white and then used a dot sponge to paint dots all over them. I will put them into Henry's room after the party.

                                            Our entrance way:

These cuties I found at the dollar store. My mother-in-law bought similar ones a couple of years back and they are the best bubbles (they even smell like ice cream). I got one for each big kid. 

My lollipop planter. I got the red tin and floral foam from the dollar store and found the lollipops at Party City. 

Our table:

What was really great about our Eric Carle Caterpillar party is that there is a built-in, very healthy lunch plan! (Well, not if you count the junk-food page!) I served all the fruits, crackers, cheese, sausage, pickles, and nice green leaves from the book, and since it is a birthday party we did have a piece of chocolate cake and some lollipops for kids to take home. ;) 

We used painters tape to secure the balloons to the wall. They will fall down periodically, but they stick right back on the wall. 

The peapods are supposed to be the "nice green leaf." I added some carrots and put ranch dressing on the bottom. I like the individual portions so there are no "double-dipping" concerns. This is especially important when there are a house-full of toddlers. ;) 

Our oldest son had read our original book so much that the cover tore off. I used an exacto knife to cut out parts of the book to use for various decorations. I love how it turned out. 

The caterpillar is made up of applesauce cups. I just traced paper around them to cover the lids. 

My sister-in-law makes the best cupcakes! So yummy!

Had to have a non-chocolate cake for Henry. I found the butterflies at  Dollar Tree. 

These are "quickles." They are so easy to make and delicious too. The original recipe if from Rachel Ray, but I have tweaked it to suit my family's taste. We add more vinegar, crushed red pepper and extra garlic.
Here's the original recipe: Rachel Ray's Quick Pickles

How it all looked together. It was raining so I didn't have much light, but I loved the way it all came together! 

Other decorations floating about: 

This was the welcome sign that was hanging on the front door. I just used the same book that was damaged and re-purposed it. I just used ribbon to connect the pieces together. I wrote the welcome message on the title page of the book. 

This was a piece of foam that I spray painted and turned into a bean bag toss. I found fake fruit at the dollar store for the kids to throw in it. I think my big boy was the only one that was into it. LOL Cute and easy to make though!  My inspiration came from The Enchanted Schoolhouse Blog: here

My Wreath I loved making this! I found pictures from birth until now to put into it. I will save this one. :)
Inspiration found: on Pinterest (I love the head in the middle though.)

As our craft we made Very Hungry Caterpillar Hats.

The Birthday Boy!!!

This was a fun party. I am a little exhausted with a ton of toddlers and babies in our little home, but they all seemed to have a great time. I put a ton of work into all the decorations and I thought it paid off. You don't need to spend a lot for it to look awesome! Almost everything I used came from the Dollar Store or was upcycled or re-purposed. :) Thanks to everyone who came and helped us celebrate our baby's big day!