Searching pinterest for the perfect birthday party theme, I knew The Very Hungry Caterpillar was a good fit for his first party!
It was a simple first party with a very few special things!
I made Emerson a custom birthday t-shirt out of a plain white onesie and green, red and purple scrap fabrics. This was a no-sew shirt...thanks to liquid stitch! I used puff paints in the same green, red and purple to help seal the edges of the fabric. Yellow and green paint made the eyes and mouth and brown made the caterpillar's cute little legs. This was a completely free-handed project. I just cut things to size and rearranged them as needed. I didn't follow any sort of pattern only a little inspiration from my son's finger puppet book! He enjoyed the shirt many times after his party too! It held up great and we always got nice compliments! :)
I set pretty high standards for myself as I was preparing for his party...there are so many talented bakers out there who could've knocked the socks off of my son's caterpillar cupcakes, but I told myself I'd make all of my kids their birthday cakes/cupcakes! Pretty easy for me to say now as I only have one son (so far) and this was his first birthday party! Gasp! It took two batches of cupcakes and two batches of frosting. A lot of supplies and time however to me there is nothing more special than something homemade. I arranged the cupcakes in a caterpillar shape and frosted them accordingly using a simple wilton decorator. I took the picture too soon as I added purple spirally antenna and black feet out of pipe cleaners to complete Mr. Caterpillar's look.
Emerson has five cousins so far and with kids jello is always a big hit. Especially jigglers...why the jello gets eaten when cut into cute shapes over being molded in a bowl is beyond me! Actually, I'm sure it's the fact that the kids can say"we can eat with it our fingers"! I made green and red jello (a couple boxes of each) and let it set in a 9x13 pan and then used a round cut-out to make the shapes for the body and the head. A few pieces of black, purple, green and yellow jello and the caterpillar was complete.
And last but not least, for that personalized touch, a custom banner!
I had so much fun doing this and it's so hard to believe, my little boy will soon be 2!
Stay tuned for his 2nd Birthday Party: Under the Sea!
