Selected as Party of the Day on January 21st!

Very Hungry Caterpillar

Heather T By Heather T  in Birthday

Drinks

Party Recap

My cousin wanted a Very Hungry Caterpillar party for her son's first birthday. My kids made little caterpillars out of egg cartons which were hidden in the yard for a caterpillar hunt. My cousin purchased inexpensive magnifying glasses for the kids to hunt with. For some decor we made caterpillars out of balloons and placed them on the fireplace. I made the cake out of a bunt pan and cut it into pieces to get the shape I wanted. The appetizers were the foods the hungry caterpillar eats in the book. I wrote a story about the birthday boy's first year that followed the format of the Hungry Caterpillar story. A photo for each milestone was posted next to the story. My own children made the decorations by simply watercoloring pictures I printed from the computer. They also watercolored coffee filters and we turned them into butterflies with pipe cleaners. We also made antenna for the kids to wear instead of hats. It was a very different and memorable party for everyone.
www.mythreetinythings.blogspot.com

Idea

Party Highlights

  • Activities / Games

    Kids went on a caterpillar hunt using magnifying glasses to find them in the yard.

  • What People Ate

    Snacks were the same as the food in The Very Hungry Caterpillar story.

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18 comments

  • Lindsay P

    Lindsay P wrote:

    I am stealing SO many of your amazing ideas for my daughter's 2nd birthday! Where did you get the platters the cakes are on. They are perfect! Did you make them?

  • Heather T

    Heather T wrote:

    This cake is just on a cardboard cake board (from JoAnn's). I google imaged "Eric Carle art" and found the dots. I copied and pasted them to a word page, enlarged it and printed from my home computer. I think I ended up printing a total of 4 sheets. I taped the paper around the perimeter of the cake board then set the cake on top to decorate. There is just plain cardboard under the cake. I also put wax paper under the edges of the cake while I frosted it so that it wouldn't get the paper messy. It was super cheap and easy. The smash cake was on an actual Very Hungry Caterpillar plate that was purchased off the computer too.

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    Laurel K wrote:

    Hi Heather! what cute ideas you came up with for the Very Hungry Caterpillar bday party!! I was wondering if you have any digital copies of the food signs you created that I might "borrow" for my son's first birthday party. Please share your thoughts with me at [email protected] Thank you so much!! Laurel

  • Heather T

    Heather T wrote:

    Hi Laurel, I don't actually have anything saved for this part of the project. I found some Eric Carle printables by Googling "Very Hungry Caterpillar printables". There was a page full of the foods from the story so I printed it, colored it in and cut out each piece of food. Then I just glued each piece of fruit on top of the printed words (which match the text from the story). The colored background is actually made from photo "mat stacks". The cards were just kind of pieced together with stuff I had laying around the house. I'm sorry I don't have anything I can email you for this part and I didn't save the cards or I would give them to you. Sorry I couldn't be more help. I hope your party goes well.

  • Maya B

    Maya B wrote:

    How did you get the cake to come out of the pan so cleanly? Any special tricks? And is the cake just a bundt cake cut up and re-arranged?

  • Heather T

    Heather T wrote:

    I used a bundt pan that I sprayed with Pam. I popped it out and then I cut it into many pieces and arranged the caterpillar on wax paper first. I wanted to make sure it would fit on top of my sheet cake. It took quite a few tries to get it just right. Once I had it laid out the way I wanted it, I set it on top of my sheet cake piece by piece and I used frosting as the glue. Then I mixed several shades of green to get the Eric Carle watercolor effect. Hope this helps!

  • Megan C

    Megan C wrote:

    Heather I was wondering did you also use the bundt cake for the caterpillar's head? and what did you use for the antena's?

  • Heather T

    Heather T wrote:

    Megan C, I actually used a large cupcake pan for the head. You could just cut out a circle from a regular cake too. I sliced off one side to make it flush with the body. The antenna was made from fruit snacks that I smashed and pulled into the shape I wanted. Hope this helps.

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    Amanda G wrote:

    This may be a strange question, but can you tell me how you did that? I would like to do the same thing for my daughter's VHC party. Thx.

  • Heather T

    Heather T wrote:

    Amanda I just found a caterpillar on google images and cut and pasted it on a word document a bunch of times. Then I typed a color under each caterpillar. I used crayons to color in each caterpillar. If you have a bunch, you could just make one and color copy it, but we only had a few kids so I did each one by hand. I'm sure there is a better way to do it but this was the only way I knew how.

  • Morgan C

    Morgan C wrote:

    what kind of icing did you use? I tried to make it tonight with a buttercream icing and I think it was too messy and melty. I think I am going to try the Wilton recipe which calls for shortening. Did you decorate the caterpillar on the white cake?

  • Heather T

    Heather T wrote:

    Morgan C, I used a version of the Wilton frosting. I did use shortening. And i frosted it right on top of the sheet cake. I used my spatula and started at the base of his body (where he touches the sheet cake) and used upward strokes.

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    Tricia L wrote:

    How thick were the slices you made for the bundt cake?

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    Lori B wrote:

    Hi Heather, I was wondering how you made the caterpillar on the top of the cake? It is adorable! I would love to try and replicate it if possible! Thank you, Lori

  • Heather T

    Heather T wrote:

    Hi, If you look on the page with the photo there is a convo between another mom and me. It pretty much tells step by step how I did it. Basically I used a bundt pan for the caterpillar and cut it up to get the shape I wanted. Hope that helps.

  • no photo

    Lori B wrote:

    Thanks for the super helpful info Heather. This is amazing and I'm going to try my hand it. We'll see how it goes. Thanks again - I'm inspired by your creativity :)

  • Heather T

    Heather T wrote:

    My pleasure Lori B! I hope it goes well for you! Good luck!

  • Lindsay G

    Lindsay G wrote:

    oh my gosh this is exactly what I am looking for to for my son's first birthday! Is your sheet cake just 1 - 9x13 cake?