How To | Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Party

My son who is in love with The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle turned 3 recently. He wanted a Very Hungry Caterpillar birthday party, so I was excited to fulfill his wish. Of course any proper party needs appropriate cake, food and decor. I love to make their birthdays really special, but for me it is important not to blow the budget. I also have time constraints, I do all the cake decorating (because it’s a surprise) and room decorating after my kids go to bed (you know, at the point when I just want to crash in the chair and relax). My point being, I am sure I could go a lot crazier with the decor, etc., but my reality is that I have a short time frame to accomplish the wow factor. (If you want to make a Very Hungry Caterpillar costume click here or for the cake instructions click here.)

For his birthday party lunch I served all the food The Very Hungry Caterpillar ate in the book. I told all my kids and their guest that they could wear a costume if they wanted. The kids loved having a funny lunch with all sorts of random fruit, food and treats. I also served macaroni and cheese, the birthday boy’s favorite food, as the main course.

I created my own tiered plate by putting one large plate on the bottom and then turning a tall glass upside down and placing another plate on top. I bought the streamers, balloons, candles and table cloth all at Dollar Tree. At my grocery store the bakery sells single slices of cake, single cupcakes and slices of pie. See below for my decor and grocery shopping checklist.

 

Shopping Checklist:

Decor Items –

• Green Streamers
• Assorted Color Balloons (Red, Yellow, Green, Purple)
• Red or Green Table Cloth
• Napkins, Cups, Plates, Plasticware
• Green Leaves
• Gift Bags and Tissue Paper

Decor How To –

1. To create caterpillar streamers I cut 7 foot lengths of green streamers. I used pieces of folded over painters tape to attach them to the ceiling. (See pic above.) At the end of the streamers I placed balloons (my balloon multi-pack didn’t have very many red) to represent a caterpillar head.
2. I covered the buffet area and table with red and green table cloths and sprinkled around some skeleton leaves from the craft store. (Had it been summer I would have picked green leaves from outside.)
3. I also wrapped the gifts in red and green gift bags and stuffed them with yellow, red, green and purple tissue paper.

Grocery Items –

• 1 Apple
• 2 Pears
• 3 Plums
• 4 Strawberries
• 5 Oranges
• Slice of Watermelon
• Piece of Chocolate Cake
• Ice Cream Cone
• Pickle
• Swiss Cheese
• Salami
• Lollipop
• Slice of Cherry Pie
• Sausage
• Cupcake
• Bamboo Skewers
• Red and Green Grapes
• Apple Juice Boxes

Grocery How To –

1. Arrange all the items that the caterpillar eats on plates.
2. Create caterpillar grape shish kabobs by adding a bunch of green grapes and then a red grape for the head.
3. Have red and green colored apple juice boxes available for drinks.