For invitations, you can either print images of a caterpillar onto your invitation or you could actually make your own! It's very simple when you use a round die-cut to punch out the rounds that you need. You'll need to make about thirteen to fifteen rounds on various hues of green card. Stick them onto a piece of card with one overlapping the other until you get to the last piece, which will become the face. Using a thin felt pen, draw on the features of the caterpillar and also his antennae and feet. Decorate the card with leaf cutouts and 3D cutouts of flowers.
Green is an obvious color choice for a caterpillar birthday, but add gender specific colors to personalize the celebration. Pink, purple and yellow are wonderful choices for girls, and blue, aqua and yellow make a nice combination for boys. Purchase your balloons in these colors and replace the strings with green ribbon. Anchor the bunches in pots filled with flowering plants. You could use an artificial butterfly or a printed cut-out to decorate a few balloons in each bunch. Streamers are a great and easy addition to the room décor, and large butterflies could decorate the walls. You could also add mylar butterfly balloons to accent the décor. A fun touch is to make a caterpillar entirely out of green balloons. These are simply tied on to a piece of thick string or better, green yarn, to form the caterpillar body. The head is just decorated with cut outs from yellow card.
Position the balloon caterpillar on the wall behind the cake table to highlight it. Cover the cake table with a green cloth and a contrasting topper and then center the cake stand on it. Decorate the cake stand with a few artificial butterflies and hide the gap with artificial flowers.
Set each table with a green cloth and choose the appropriate toppers from the complementary colors. As the centerpiece, set a grass flat decorated with a large artificial butterfly and flowers in your chosen color scheme. Use different color tableware for each place setting, and tie all the colors together with the ribbons used to decorate the napkins.
An unusual dish to serve at the caterpillar birthday party would be caterpillar bread. It's simply sticky buns that have been baked in a wavy caterpillar form instead of in a pan. Decorate the caterpillar bread with white glaze frosting. Sweet and savory sandwiches cut out with butterfly cookie cutters add a cute touch. Don't forget the caterpillar food – have some sweet leaves of romaine out with vegetable sticks to dip in a ranch or green goddess dressing. And what about that special caterpillar drink? Combine kiwi juice with carbonated water to make a bubbly green drink. For added oomph, sprinkle in a few green Pop Rocks right before serving so the drink sizzles and bubbles.
A cake would be an obvious necessity, so why not make a caterpillar cake with cupcakes? Have each one form a wavy line and only decorate the head with facial features. The other cupcakes can get chocolate “stripes” or dots instead. Accent the bottom of the cake plate with grass candy and sugar flowers.
For favors, a bag filled with butterfly cookies, stickers, stencils,
and a few candies is just perfect.