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.

The post How To | Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Party appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

We recently got the new issue of Pottery Barn Kids and my 2 year old son spied the Very Hungry Caterpillar costume and insisted that is what he wanted to be because it is his favorite book. (Previously he was sure he had to be Lightening McQueen.) Making a Hungry Caterpillar costume is way easier than a Lightening McQueen Costume. I lucked out and had a large piece of green fleece that was leftover from making a Peter Pan costume a couple of years ago. My total expense for this costume was $2 (I admit I have an unusually large stash of ribbon)! If you are making this for a little child you will be amazed by how easy it is to make your own costume and not buy one for $89 from PBK!

Below is a picture of the caterpillar toy we have and what I modeled the costume after.

How To | The Very Hungry Caterpillar Costume

Supplies:

• Ribbon (varying thicknesses of red, yellow and green)
• Green fleece for body (38″ wide x 26″ high)
• Red fleece for hat
• 9×12 sheet of yellow felt
• 2 purple pipe cleaners
• Thread
• Elastic
• Scissors
• Sewing machine
• Pins
• Fabric chalk or pencil
• Safety Pin

How To:

My son is 2.5 yrs old and he is about 38 inches tall. The measurements I listed for the green fleece are based on him and are for your reference. You will want to measure your child to figure out how much fleece you need.

1. Basically this costume is a big tube. I folded my fabric in half so that my piece of fleece that originally measured 38″ x 26″ would become 19″ wide x 26″ tall. When you have the fabric folded right sides together (before you sew), add cut strips of ribbon. Pin the ribbons in place so they don’t fall out as you sew. (Pic. 1 and 2)
2. Sew along the long edge with a straight stitch.
3. To create a gathered neck you will create a casing to thread a ribbon through. Fold over the top edge about 1 inch and pin. (Pic. 3)
4. Sew along edge of fabric to form casing. Next cut two small slits in the casing so you can thread your ribbon through. (Pic. 4)
5. Cut a 36″ piece of ribbon. Add a safety pin to one end and thread the ribbon through one of the slits. The safety pin will give you something to push on inside the casing. When you get the ribbon around to the other side pull the ribbon through the slit and take off the safety pin. (Pic. 5)
6. Next you will cut arm holes. Lay your costume out so that the ribbon spine is in the center (Pic. 6). On each of the folded sides measure about 2 inches down from the top edge. Using a fabric pencil draw a semi-circle on each side of the costume. Keep the costume folded and cut out each semi-circle to form circular arm holes. (Put the costume on your child and make sure the holes are in the right spot.) If everything is correct sew a straight stitch around the arm holes. Keep the cut out circle shapes to make the caterpillar eyes on your hat.
7. Now you will create a casing for each gathered section on the body. I did not have any extra fabric so I used a ribbon to create the casing, but you can use a long strip of fabric if you have extra from your fleece. You will want the strip to be about 1″ wide.
8. With the costume inside out, pin each casing strip all the way around the inside. (Pic. 7) Space the casings equal distance apart. Sew along the top and bottom of each casing and leave a small unsewn opening on one side so you can thread the elastic through. Add a safety pin to one end of the elastic and thread it inside the casing. Push the elastic and safety pin all the way around to the other side until it comes out of the opening where you started. (Pic. 8) You will need to decide how tight you want the elastic to be, then sew the ends of the elastic together and trim off the extra.
9. Repeat Step 8 for each casing.
10. The body of your costume is now finished. If your ribbons are fraying, you can use a lighter to carefully melt the ends of each ribbon.
11. I made my hat from a pattern. (I actually wasn’t very impressed with how it fit, should have made my own pattern!) It is made from three triangular pieces of red fleece.
12. To create each antennae I folded a purple pipe cleaner in half, then twisted it together and folded over the end. (Pic. 9) When I sewed the hat together I placed the antennae inside and stuck the folded end of the pipe cleaner out a little sew they would catch in the stitches. (Pic. 10)
13. I used the green circles from the arm holes and then cut a slightly larger yellow felt piece to lay behind each circle. I pinned each set on the hat to create the eyes and then sewed around the inside of the green layer and then around the inside of the yellow layer. (Pic. 11)
14. Add a green shirt and pants underneath and you have your very own Hungry Caterpillar!

You can click on the images below and see them larger than thumbnail size.

The post How To | Very Hungry Caterpillar Costume appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.