It's Friday, Let's Party! Very Hungry Caterpillar Party from Mathews Family Happenings

Hello Auntie Lolo crafts readers! I'm Mary Kathryn from Mathews Family Happenings and I'm so delighted to be sharing a party post with you today! I blog about crafting, DIY projects, thrifting, my 3 kiddos and my crazy hubs. Today I'm sharing the Very Hungry Caterpillar party we had for my daughter's 1st birthday at the beginning of the month. Here's the deets:

Mary Martin's party theme was the Very Hungry Caterpillar and I had so much fun putting her table together! Here are some pics, followed by details of where the items came from and instructions for anything I made-

1. I love using paper lanterns as party decor because they're inexpensive but they pack a big punch. The large orange lanterns are from the dollar spot at Target and the smaller red and green ones are from Big Lots.

2. I showed you how I made those topiaries in THIS post, and since I attached the fleece with tape, I can always start from scratch with another color for another party.

3. Since the theme for this party was a BOOK, I went straight to the source and copied a couple of pages out of it to make the paper food garland.

Here's a closer look-

since the Caterpillar eats his way through a lot of FOOD in the book, I thought it'd be cute to have the food strung on the FOOD table.

Makes sense, no?

I grabbed my kiddos board book, found the food page, stuck it in the copy machine,

and got this-

and since I DON'T like to waste paper, I cut off the bottom half of the paper, stuck it on top of the book , hit copy again...

and got this-

I cut each of the food pieces out, leaving a small white border around each one-

and then punched out a hole on top of the hole that was already present in the picture-

Using a tiny punch, I created small holes on each piece at the top and strung them together on some thin twine.

LOVED how this came together and plan to use this same idea again for future parties.

I also could have gone much BIGGER with this and used the regular-sized version of this book, but for this particular party, the small garland was perfect.

I even added a bit to the hutch in the dining room-

back to the table...

4. The butterfly in the center is made from a super-think felt and cost about $2 at Michael's. I used fishing line to hang it from the light fixture above the table.

That super cute two-tiered stand was a gift from my mum and came form Target.

5. On the table, I tied one end of the garland to the topiaries and attached the other end (using a small piece of scotch tape) to the turquoise cupcake stands in the center.  If you'll recall, those cupcake stands used to look like this-

(purchased on clearance from hob lob)

BUT, after a quick sanding and some spray paint, they looked 100% better.

6. For the table coverings, I used a 2-yard piece of thin linen in a light tan color (already had on hand), and layered a 1-yard piece of Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric I found on ebay (9.50 a yard). Since that's more than I usually spend on fabric, you can bet your sweet bippy I'll be looking for a cute project to use it in. LOVED how it looked on the table though.

7. I picked up that stuffed caterpillar at FAO Shwartz in NYC when the hubs and I were there on our anniversary 3 years ago.

8. The sillhouette of the child in the highchair is another from the cricut cartridge A Child's Year. Popped it into a frame I already had on hand from the hob lob.

9. The colorful boxes on the table covered with caterpillars, flys, and all sorts of cute bugs were purchased on clearance at the hob lob.

Here's a closer look-

Since I didn't use all of the paper food that I cut out on the garland, I scattered the rest of it around the table as a sort of 'food confetti'.

10. The Very Hungry Caterpillar plates and napkins were purchased at Target.

11. Green/white striped straws came from THIS etsy shop.

12. Vintage milk bottle holding the straws came from THIS etsy shop.

13. Glass jars holding forks, knives, and spoons all came from the thrift store.

14. Here's a look at the other side of the table, where I had a big copy of the book on display (thanks mom!) You can also see Eliza's Barbie table on the other side of the room-

and here's what it looks like when I stand on one of the dining room chairs, hold the camera above my head, and take a picture.

Here's the table all 'prettied up' with cupcakes (made by my Aunt C)

LOVE the cupcake caterpillar!

They were lime flavored, by the way, and were DEEElicious.

I also purchased a dress on etsy for MM to wear at the party-

(from THIS shop)

and here's my cutie in her dress,

holding a drumstick,

because as long as the 12-month old is semi-still for the picture taking,

it really doesn't matter what's in their hand.

I'm hoping that there were at least a few helpful tips in this post that can help you in the future. I've used the 'copy pages straight out of a book' method many, many times before to not only make garlands, but invitations and favors as well.

so.stinkin.simple.

until next time, friends!

Thank you so much Mary Kathryn! Can you believe how awesome that party was?! She has 2 more that she will be sharing in the next few months and I can't wait for you to see them as well. Make sure to go and visit her blog for more Mary Kathryn awesome-ness :) And she is doing a giveaway for fabulous chevron pillowcases.

Be sure to come back next Friday for another great party!

Oh and be sure to enter my giveaway HERE.