OUR HUNGRY CATERPILLAR TURNED ONE!

HOW I ACHIEVED A SIMPLE AND AFFORDABLE FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY

We officially have a one year old in our household and I think I am still in shock!

This past Saturday we celebrated my son’s Very Hungry Caterpillar themed first birthday. It was a day full of smiles, laughs and lots of swimming.

I wanted to share with you all our affordable and simple set up. With our recent move I decided to keep everything low key and manageable.

My main criteria for my son’s first birthday was it had to be affordable, simple with fun and easy activities (of course).

So now let’s get into it...

DECORATIONS:

The majority of his celebrations were held outside in my parents beautiful country backyard. However, we also had some things set up in the indoor/outdoor space or better known to my family as the “party room”.

I created a sign to place just outside of the space where the décor, food and presents were displayed. For the sign I used a bristol board, die cut letters, construction paper and tissue paper. It was important to me that there was a subtle and simple flow of the theme throughout the décor.

All items for the sign were purchased at dollar tree including the balloons.

The focal point for the décor was behind the food table, because let’s face it everyone loves to gather around food!! I wanted to keep this simple and clean looking. I used paper plates and construction paper to make the caterpillar, various tissue paper for a tassel garland, a number “1” balloon from the dollar tree and a tablecloth that included most of the fruit from the story.

The plates, balloon, tissue paper, birthday hat and tablecloth were all purchsed at dollar tree. The wooden caterpillar is from a thrift store that I found a couple months ago.

For his gift, I decided to get him his own copy of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” book and have the guests write a little message in it that he could look back on when he is older. I set up a table by making a sign from cardstock, and leaves that the caterpillar “ate”.

I purchased the book from Indigo. The tablecloth and construction paper are from the dollar tree

I also made him his own special birthday hat that took me maybe 5 minutes to do with a sharpie and construction paper which said “Our Hungry Caterpillar Turned 1!

SIMPLE ACTIVITIES:

I kept the activities simple and set up ones that could be mostly child led. There was a water table, bins of water play and some tunnels (I borrowed from my sister in law).

Everything in this picture was purchased at the Dollar Tree.

I set up a “make your own caterpillar station” that included a variety of materials such as recycled egg cartons, pompoms, googly eyes, paint, and play-doh. I threw together a simple bubble station which was a hit with the little ones!! Lastly, I put together a simple sensory bin with beans, plastic insects, a magnifying glass, a scoop and a net.

The bubble wands and dishes were purchased at Dollar Tree and the bubble solution was purchased at Dollarama.

The bin, insects, magnifying glass, scoop and net were purchased at dollar tree. The beans were purchased at walmart.

The party favours were bubble wands which I picked up from the dollar tree.

Everything in this photo was purchased at Dollar Tree.

Even though it was a super hot day we had a wonderful time celebrating our sweet one year old with loved ones!!