Our Very Hungry Caterpillar has a Birthday Party

Carter's birthday party was held on Sunday, May 29th.  When we had Carter we were excited about the possibility of his birthday always falling on Memorial Day weekend in hopes that our out of town relatives would always have a three day weekend to come celebrate with us.  However, as we progressed through the party planning process we quickly discovered that having a birthday around Memorial Day can actually be a royal pain because it also means that we have to compete with high school graduations.  We ran into complications when planning the party, ordering the cake, and  buying balloons at the party store all because of high school graduations. I have a feeling that we'll always have this issue when planning Carter's parties!  This year we learned our lesson and will begin to plan his parties much farther in advance!

The theme for Carter's party was based on the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.  We love to read the book to the kids at bedtime and Carter loves to have it read to him.  The bold, primary color scheme  made it perfect for a first birthday party and Carter is our Hungry Caterpillar because he eats and eats and eats and grows and grows....  I made several Caterpillar decorations to hang throughout the house and had a lot of fun planning and shopping for the decorations and favors.  I have told people that planning parties for my kids has filled the void I had from not teaching and being able to plan fun classroom activities and units. 




We had family and friends over on Sunday afternoon for an afternoon of birthday fun.  We were so happy that so many of our family and friends were able to make it.  Carter was excited to so many people and was eager to play with the kids and watch them run around around.  We had set up the pool, water table, and several other activities in hopes of keeping most of the activity outdoors.  However, mother nature wasn't as cooperative as we would have liked as is rained on and off all afternoon.  It did let up enough for Derek to grill and for us to move the highchair on the deck for the big first birthday cake moment.  Carter wasn't too sure about digging into the cake at first, but eventually warmed up to the concept by forgoing the use of his hands and diving in head first!  That's my boy!








As the afternoon moved into early evening the rain let up and the kids managed to find their way to the backyard and somehow ended up in the pool.  Although the water was too chilly for most adults' liking, the girls were having a blast in it.  Carter elected to wtch poolside, but had a great time playing with the landscape rocks by the a patio.


Overall Carter's Very Hungry Caterpillar party was a lot of fun and went very well.  We are thankful to have so many wonderful people in Carter's life who love him.  We loved being able to throw a party in our backyard and not having to worry about anyone getting hit in the head by golf balls!  The party concluded a first birthday celebration that seemed to span over several days and many sweet treats for Carter.  He loved every minute of it and  we look forward to many more back yard celebrations and get- togethers with family and friends.