Last weekend we celebrated the second birthday of our "baby" daughter. The first book that she ever loved was Brown Bear Brown Bear by Bill Martin, Jr with illustrations by Eric Carle. The second was The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Oodles of books have come and gone since then, but these two remain her favorites. So, I being a diligent mother, HAD to throw her birthday bash in Eric Carle style. It was a lot of fun. Guests received invitations that read "Annabelle, Annabelle, What do you see? I see a brown bear, a hungry caterpillar and my friends looking at me." Get it? I used mountaincow to do them as well as matching thank you notes and all the paper things you see. The design highlights follow (though, the kids were what really made the party). A) guests were greeted by a paper lantern very hungry caterpillar. The fabulous Amy at http://stemparties.blogspot.com/ uses them liberally and since I am SO on her bandwagon that I actually consulted her about doing this party (but I found my inner planner and did it myself--I'll bring in the big guns when I really need them).....B) the minis were shown to the "Carle Crafts". Due to the unpredictable St. Louis weather, I had to place them in my garage, but the garage was resplendent in kids' tables, the craft area, and a Very Grouchy Ladybug Juice station. Three various age-level appropriate crafts were featured--a pudding paint brown bear, an egg-crate caterpillar and a v.h. caterpillar bookmark. C) After free-play with tunnels, inflatables, balls,etc, the kids headed to story hour. Our sitter read books by EC and Anabelle's grandmas enacted the stories with a sign language bear and an adorable hungry caterpillar velcroy-story-tellingy-apron. D) Next it was inside to eat the things the caterpillar eats (for those of you who don't have kids: the caterpillar eats his way through the week but remains hungry until Saturday when he feasts on all sorts of goodies and gets a tummy ache). I have to admit that I am in love with the centerpiece I made--it explained the buffet to anyone who may not have been listening during story hour, by which I mean the daddies. Check out the lollipop cookies--thanks to http://www.headofthetableblog.com/for featuring those just when I needed lollipops! You'll see I used a lot clothespins through the party--they were painted by my soon to be four-year-old daughter (who will get the party treatment herself on the 28th with a Pinkalicious "Pajama" Party). She was such a big help with her sissy's party, right down to making sure that each kid went home with a goody bag (E). (F) You'll see both girls (clothing custom made by my friend Cynthia at shopniadesign.com-- she is awesome)
